Install figures and their limits
/apps/metrics/installs/history (and the MCP tool app_metrics_installs_history) returns an app's total installs worldwide, at most one point per day. Google Play's number is a count; the App Store's is an estimate. Read this before quoting either.
What you get
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
refreshed_at | The day the figure is for. Points are in date order; days without data are absent. |
total | Installs to date, worldwide. |
total_bucket | total as a range, e.g. 500,000,000+. On Google Play this is the range the store page itself shows; on the App Store it is the range of our estimate. |
daily | The gain per day since the previous point. null on a first point with no earlier data and on a day the total fell. |
from and to (YYYY-MM-DD) pick the window. Without from it is the 30 days ending at to; without to it ends today. to cannot be before from.
Google Play: an exact count
Google keeps an exact install count for every app but shows only a rounded range on the store page. total is the exact number and total_bucket is the range the store shows — Discord's store page says 500,000,000+, its total is 693,524,399.
App Store: an estimate
Apple publishes no install numbers, so every App Store figure is our estimate, not a count from Apple. Its total_bucket is a range taken from the estimate; the App Store itself shows none. Keep these limits in mind:
- Approximate for any single app. An individual app can read noticeably high or low. The figure is most reliable for following one app over time and for comparing apps of the same kind — don't present it as an exact install count.
- Not every country is included. Countries without enough usable data are left out, so an app that sells mainly in those markets reads low.
- Gains can arrive in steps. The underlying store data refreshes unevenly, so growth can land on one day instead of spreading smoothly across several.
- It can fall. The estimate is sometimes revised down;
dailyisnullon that day. - A day behind. The estimate is computed once a day, so its latest point can trail Google Play's by a day.
Worldwide only
There is no per-country install figure. Google publishes one number for the whole world, so both stores report worldwide — a chart never mixes a worldwide Google Play figure with a single App Store country.
Reading daily
daily is the gain per day since the previous point: the change in total divided by the number of days between the two. For consecutive days that is simply the difference; across a gap it is the average over the missing days. Because it is a rate, adding up daily undercounts any gap — for the growth over a window, subtract the first total from the last.
The first point of a window still has a daily when earlier data exists. It is null on a first point with nothing before it, and on any day the total fell.