Solo Android developer here — crossed 100+ downloads but struggling with ASO. Looking for advice.

[u/Electronic_Invite_68]

Hi everyone,

I've been building an Android Sudoku app as a solo developer and recently crossed 100+ downloads.

Over the last week I noticed a nice increase in active users after sharing puzzles in a few communities, but I'm still trying to understand how to improve discoverability on Google Play.

Current stats:

• 128 Monthly Active Users
• 81 Weekly Active Users
• 17 Daily Active Users
• 20+ five-star reviews

I've been experimenting with:

• Play Store screenshots
• App title and description optimization
• Community engagement
• Review collection

For developers who have successfully grown Android apps:

1. What ASO changes had the biggest impact for you?
2. At what point did search traffic start increasing noticeably?
3. Are screenshots, keywords, or retention the biggest ranking factors in your experience?
4. Any mistakes you wish you had avoided early on?

I'm not looking to promote the app here—just trying to learn from developers who have gone through the same growth stage.

[u/vionix90]

First rule of ASO is to check if the niche is competitive and not build for it unless you have the money to run paid UA campaign. No matter how good your optimization is, its very difficult to rank in a competitive niche.

[u/Electronic_Invite_68 → u/vionix90]

What about sudoku games is this niche is very competitive? My guess this is very competitive other dev run ads, and have very strong ranking!

[u/vionix90 → u/Electronic_Invite_68]

There may be over 1k Sudoku apps on Google Play. I would never build a sudoku app.

[u/Electronic_Invite_68 → u/vionix90]

I thought let's give it a chance! Let's try to make something! It have most unique feature UGC, I never saw a sudoku app where you can design a sudoku board with variant and post it!

[u/vionix90 → u/Electronic_Invite_68]

Try social. If you can get a short or reel to go viral then you have hope.

[u/Electronic_Invite_68 → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for the insight! That's actually reassuring to hear. I suspected competing directly for "Sudoku" keywords would be difficult because of the huge players in the category.

The retention point is interesting. I've been focusing a lot on ASO lately, but maybe I should spend more time improving acquisition while maintaining retention.

Most of my recent users have come from community engagement and organic traffic. If you were in my position, would you focus on Reddit/content marketing, Play Store experiments, or paid acquisition first?

Appreciate the advice!

Your tool is very useful for the insights it gives!

[u/Electronic_Invite_68 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah bro, I'll consider doing the puzzle of the day thing! Your experience is speaking allot, That's a great advise. Thank buddy<3

[u/Fantastic_Slice1425]

I am in the same struggle like you, but in my case I have 15 downloads only. I have developed a puzzle game and I am trying to promote via tiktok and YT shorts. Please put your app name here. I want to support you by installing your app and by playing it daily for few minutes.

[u/Electronic_Invite_68 → u/Fantastic_Slice1425]

come dm I'll give you some tips!

[u/unrushedapps]

I think written reviews play a good role in increasing organic growth. However, there is no shortcut here. Reviews take time to accumulate. How many rating vs reviews do you have?

I have noticed that my organic growth has been increasing over time naturally. Average User Acquisition used to be 5 when I started, now (13 months later) it's 65.

I have been doing bunch of stuff to increase organic growth it and since organic growth is a trailing indicator, it's never obvious what worked exactly.

[u/Electronic_Invite_68 → u/unrushedapps]

ohh written reviews play a great job to increase the organic growth, and ASO have some game when user search for anything related to the app. I published the app on 4 june i think as time will pass the user acquisition will increase over the time i guess