Apple has made some behind the scenes tweaks to which apps are displayed are displayed in the top charts in the Apple TV App Store. German developer Equinux noted in a blog post that installed apps are now hidden when viewing the stores top charts.
The change appears to have taken effect last week, said Equinux in a blog post. The company noticed that its Live TV app mysteriously vanished from the Top Free section of the App Store, even though it was previously one of the top 10 downloads. To verify if anything was wrong, Equinux checked iTunes Connect and crash logs, and refreshed the App Store.
The company found that once an app was downloaded and installed on a user’s Apple TV, that app is replaced in the list, and the next-lowest ranked app is listed in t=its place, for that device. Downloaded apps will also disappear from the featured slots in the App Store’s “front window.”
Apple now hides an app in the charts once you’ve installed it. Give it a try: Go install TV Pro Mediathek (VOD for German TV content) from the App Store (currently #3 Top Grossing in Germany) and then go back in to the App Store: boom — it’s gone from the charts and the next-placed app has moved up.
This tvOS top charts algorithm change even affects featured apps on the start page: TV Pro Mediathek no longer shows up in its featured slot on the start page of the German App Store once you’ve installed it.
While the change should make apps a bit easier to discover, especially among the popular entries such as Netflix and the television network’s apps, it has the side effect of making it harder to gauge the true popularity ranking of an app.
