What will you find when you go to the Google Play Store and search for “Copyscape” (or click on one of the application’s many links)?
If you’re like most people, you’ll land on a page that shows the Top Free Apps based on downloads. If you scroll down, you’ll see a long list of similar apps.
These days, with so much competition, every app-marketing savvy business wants to know how long their app will remain on the Play Store’s Top Free list before they have to “pay to play.”
What does that mean?
If you suspect that your app will be among the first five or six results when someone searches for “Copyscape,” then you should probably expect to pay the equivalent of about $8 to $15 per day to maintain that ranking. Beyond that, the competition’s going to get pretty tough.
So, how long is the Copyscape application?
As of today (February 25, 2020), the Google Play Store lists the app’s status as “Optimizing for newer devices.” Which one of those things are you?
Let’s take a quick tour of the app so you know what you’re getting into.
An Overview of Copyscape
When you first launch the application, you’re presented with a short tutorial designed to walk you through the various tools and features.
If you’re following along, all of this will probably seem pretty familiar. After all, you’ve probably used some of the same software (or tools) to save a copy of your own work.
From the looks of it, Copyscape is a fairly basic text-editor clone. It supports basic editing operations like finding and replacing text, deleting words and phrases, and cutting and pasting. It also has some handy features like a thesaurus, auto-complete, and word-completion. So, it will probably be pretty easy to figure out.
Why Pay To Play?
The issue of “pay to play” isn’t new, and it’s definitely not unique to Copyscape. Every year, Google Play introduces a new list of apps that are free but will rank you in a premium category if you choose to pay. In other words, Google Play puts a “price tag” on apps.
If you want to keep your app on the Top Free list, you need to pay up. There’s no other way around it. Fortunately, Google Play also provides you with the option to “Optimize for newer devices.” Perhaps you’re using an older device and are experiencing performance issues? Or maybe you just want to keep your app’s quality high regardless of the device used by the end user?
If you choose to “Optimize for newer devices,” then you have the opportunity to make your app cheaper and still enjoy a spot on the Top Free list. The catch is that you’ll need to do some research first to find out how much cheaper you can make your app and still maintain a good balance between profit and performance. Otherwise, you’ll just be running up a quick debt-payment that you won’t be able to recover from. So, it’s important to consider all the pros and the cons before you make a decision.
How It Works
As I mentioned earlier, every year, Google Play introduces a new set of apps that are free but will rank you in a premium category if you pay. So, how does the app’s ranking work?
When someone searches for “Copyscape” on the Play Store, six apps will initially come up in the results. When the user clicks on any one of those apps, they’re taken to a “pre-install” page where they have the option to install the app (for free) or visit the Play Store’s main page to continue their searching.
If the user clicks on the Install button, they’re taken to a license agreement where they have the option to agree to the terms (for free) or cancel the installation. Whether they agree or not, the app is now installed on their device and can be used to complete tasks like typing or scanning documents. When the user performs one of those tasks, a temporary text file is created that is tied to their Google account and specific device. This file can then be opened in the app’s text editor and saved as a standalone document (with a custom file name and icon). The document is then added to the user’s Google Drive, making it accessible from any computer, tablet, or smartphone. The more documents you have, the more you’ll be able to access from any device.
What are the Performance Issues?
A few months back, I wrote an in-depth article that examined the topic of performance and how to optimize your Android app for maximum speed and minimal battery use. As I mentioned in that article, you can use different tools to examine the performance of your app. One of the most popular tools is the Digital Mobile Marketing Platform (or DMMP for short). You can get a free trial of the DMMP tool or check out the full version if you’re serious about performance analysis.
From my own personal experience, I’ve found the DMMP tool to be rather accurate when it comes to determining a specific app’s performance issues. After all, I’ve used it to pinpoint dozens of performance issues (triggered by various tasks, such as scanning a PDF or using a Google Search bar).
In most cases, I’ve been able to improve a specific app’s performance by fixing its many small issues. For example, if your app’s primary function is to type and you notice that it’s rather slow compared to other apps (especially if you have a lot of text to type), then you can optimize it by fixing the issues that cause it to be slower than others. In most cases, you’ll be able to fix the problem in a matter of minutes and see a significant increase in performance – sometimes even by as much as 50% or more.
The Bottom Line
In most cases, you can expect to see a performance hit whenever you “release” an app. This is mainly because developers need to code specific optimizations into their apps to make them compatible with as many devices as possible. If you want your app to reach its maximum potential, then you should probably consider paying for the “Optimize for newer devices” feature. The upside? You’ll be able to charge less for your app and appear higher on the list.
While it’s always good to keep your customers satisfied, it’s not always easy to find the right balance between providing excellent customer service and making a profit. When it comes to the latter, you’ll need to consider all the pros and the cons before making a decision. Are you sure that your customers will appreciate the extra effort you put into making your app cheaper? Or will they just see it as an additional “cost” that needs to be covered? The choice is entirely up to you.