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How does a download counter tell you if people immediately uninstall the app because it sucks?



Depends on implementation.

One way, which is less private, show active installs by having the phone reports back to the store if it's unstalled

A more secure way, show downloads for each version/build. Graph it. If an app is releasing/being updated regularly but more users are uninstalling, you'd expect the downloads per version to decrease or stay level


Don't know about the parent, but for me VS Code's download count + star rating mental combo does make not download some extensions.


If you install it once and then remove it, you only do a single download. If you install it and keep it installed for several app updates, you download it for every update. If a lot of people download it at the same time due to an app update, you'll see a huge download spike immediately after a release.

It's a very rough metric, but it could be added without adding any kind of additional telemetry to the client, and it would give at least a small hint of what's happening.




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