The Dashboard That Made Me Feel Like An Idiot
First time I opened Google Play Console after launching my app, I felt overwhelmed. There were at least 20 different metrics, dozens of charts, graphs showing data I didn't understand.
"Active device installs" vs "User acquisitions" vs "Install events"—what's the difference? And why do I have three different user counts that don't match?
I spent three days trying to make sense of it all. Downloaded reports. Compared numbers. Googled definitions. Felt stupid when nothing clicked.
Then I talked to a developer who'd launched 15 successful apps. She told me something that changed everything:
"Most of those metrics are useless. I only look at six numbers. That's it. The rest is just noise."
This guide is about those six metrics—and how to actually use them to improve your app.
You don't need to be a data analyst to use Play Console effectively. You need to know which six metrics matter, what they mean in plain English, and when to take action. Everything else is optional.
The 6 Metrics That Actually Matter
Forget everything else in the dashboard for now. These six numbers tell you whether your app is healthy or dying:
1. Crash Rate
What it is: The percentage of daily active users who experience at least one crash.
Where to find it: Quality > Android vitals > Crashes and ANRs
What's good: Below 1.09% (Google's threshold for "good")
What's concerning: 1.09% - 2%
What's terrible: Above 2%
Above 2%, Google starts penalizing your search rankings. Above 8%, you get a warning and potential suspension.
My first app launched at 4.2% crash rate. I didn't notice for two weeks. By then, my rating had dropped from 4.5 to 3.2 stars. Users were furious.
2. Retention Rate
What it is: The percentage of users who come back after installing your app.
Where to find it: User acquisition > Retention
You'll see three key numbers:
- Day 1 retention: Users who return the day after installing
- Day 7 retention: Users still active after a week
- Day 30 retention: Users still active after a month
Low retention means users install your app, try it once, and never come back. That's a product problem, not a marketing problem.
3. Store Listing Conversion Rate
What it is: The percentage of people who visit your store listing and actually install your app.
Where to find it: Acquisition reports > Conversion analysis > Store listing visitors to installers
What's good: Above 30%
What's average: 15-30%
What's poor: Below 15%
If this number is low, your store listing isn't compelling. Poor screenshots, unclear description, or low ratings are killing your downloads.
When I improved my screenshots and title, my conversion rate jumped from 12% to 28%. Same app, same users, just better presentation.
4. Average Rating
What it is: Your average star rating across all reviews.
Where to find it: Dashboard (top of page) or Reviews section
What's good: 4.5+ stars
What's acceptable: 4.0-4.5 stars
What's problematic: Below 4.0 stars
Below 4.0, your app looks sketchy. Users scroll past. Conversion rates tank.
More important than the number: the trend. Is your rating improving or declining? A 4.2 trending upward is better than a 4.5 trending down.
5. Install Count (Total Users)
What it is: Total users who've ever installed your app.
Where to find it: Dashboard > Overview (or Statistics > Installs)
This number is mostly for ego. It doesn't tell you much about app health.
What matters more: the growth rate. Are you getting more installs each week, or is growth flatlining?
My second app hit 10,000 installs in month one. But by month two, I was only getting 200 installs per week. Growth had stalled. That's when I knew I needed to improve ASO and add features.
6. ANR Rate (Application Not Responding)
What it is: The percentage of daily users who see an "App Not Responding" dialog.
Where to find it: Quality > Android vitals > Crashes and ANRs > ANR rate
What's good: Below 0.47%
What's concerning: 0.47% - 1%
What's terrible: Above 1%
ANRs happen when your app freezes. Users see a popup asking if they want to wait or force close. It's almost as bad as crashes for user experience.
Google tracks "bad behavior thresholds" for crashes and ANRs. Cross these thresholds and your app gets penalized in search rankings, deprioritized in recommendations, and may even get suspended. Check Android Vitals weekly at minimum.
How To Actually Read The Graphs
Okay, you know which metrics matter. Now let's talk about how to interpret the charts without a statistics degree.
Understanding The Timeline
Every chart lets you select a time range. Here's what to look at and when:
Reading Line Graphs
Most charts are line graphs. Here's what different patterns mean:
Steady upward trend: Good. You're growing consistently.
Flat line: Stagnation. Growth has stopped. Time to iterate on product or marketing.
Sudden spike: Could be good (viral moment, press coverage) or bad (bot attacks, fake reviews). Investigate the cause.
Sudden drop: Red flag. Check for crashes, bad reviews, or competitor launches. Fix immediately.
Weekend valleys: Normal for productivity apps. Users download/use apps more on weekdays.
Weekend peaks: Normal for entertainment apps. People have more free time on weekends.
The "Device & Demographics" Trap
Play Console shows you detailed breakdowns of devices, Android versions, countries, languages, etc.
This data is interesting but mostly useless for new developers.
Don't waste time optimizing for a specific device or region until you have at least 10,000 active users. Focus on the six core metrics first.
I see new developers spending hours analyzing device breakdowns, carrier data, and granular cohorts. This is procrastination disguised as work. Master the six core metrics first. Everything else is advanced optimization for later.
When To Panic vs When To Relax
Analytics can trigger anxiety. Every dip feels like the end. Here's when to actually worry:
Panic Immediately If...
- Crash rate above 2%: Fix this TODAY. You're losing users and getting penalized by Google
- ANR rate above 1%: Same as crashes. Your app is freezing. Debug and fix immediately
- Rating drops 0.5+ stars in a week: Something broke. Read recent reviews to identify the issue
- Installs suddenly drop 50%+: Could be a policy violation, store listing issue, or seasonal change. Investigate ASAP
Investigate Within 48 Hours If...
- Day 1 retention drops below 20%: Users aren't finding value. Survey users or test onboarding
- Conversion rate drops below 10%: Your store listing needs work. Update screenshots or description
- Growth flatlines for 2+ weeks: You've hit market saturation. Time to expand marketing or add features
Relax If...
- Weekend dips in usage: Normal for most app categories
- Single bad review: Every app gets them. Only worry if it's a pattern
- Small day-to-day fluctuations: 5-10% variance is normal noise
- Slow initial growth: Most successful apps had slow starts. Consistency matters more than virality
Don't react to metrics immediately. Wait 48 hours to see if concerning trends continue. One bad day doesn't mean disaster. Three consecutive bad days means you need to investigate.
Using Analytics To Make Decisions
Data without action is just trivia. Here's how to actually use these metrics:
Scenario 1: Low Retention
The data: Day 1 retention is 18%. Day 7 is 6%.
What it means: Users try your app once and leave. They're not seeing enough value to return.
What to do:
- Read your 1-3 star reviews. What are people complaining about?
- Survey users: "What would make you use this app daily?"
- Improve onboarding. Make sure users understand your app's value in the first 60 seconds
- Add push notifications (optional) to remind users to return
When I fixed my onboarding flow, Day 1 retention jumped from 22% to 34% in two weeks.
Scenario 2: High Crash Rate
The data: Crash rate is 3.8%.
What it means: Your app is unstable. You're hemorrhaging users and getting penalized by Google.
What to do:
- Go to Quality > Android vitals > Crashes
- Sort by "Impacted users" to find the most common crash
- Click the crash to see the stack trace
- Fix the bug immediately and release a hotfix update
- Check back in 48 hours to confirm crash rate is dropping
Don't wait. High crash rates tank your app's reputation fast.
Scenario 3: Poor Conversion Rate
The data: 1,000 people viewed your store listing. Only 80 installed (8% conversion).
What it means: People are finding your app but not downloading it. Your listing isn't compelling.
What to do:
- Check your rating. Below 4.0? Focus on fixing crashes and bugs to improve reviews
- Improve your first screenshot. Make it show your core value immediately
- Rewrite your description's first 80 characters (the preview text in search)
- A/B test different approaches and monitor conversion rate changes
Scenario 4: Declining Rating
The data: Your rating dropped from 4.4 to 3.9 in two weeks.
What it means: Recent users are unhappy. Something changed for the worse.
What to do:
- Read your most recent 1-2 star reviews
- Look for patterns. Are people complaining about the same thing?
- Check if you released an update recently that introduced bugs
- Respond to negative reviews explaining you're fixing the issue
- Release a fix update ASAP
Users appreciate when developers respond to feedback quickly. I've had users change 1-star reviews to 5-star after I fixed their issue within a week.
Your Monitoring Schedule
You don't need to live in Play Console. Here's a realistic monitoring schedule:
Set up email notifications in Play Console so Google alerts you to critical issues (policy violations, high crash rates, etc.).
Advanced: Comparing Cohorts
Once you've mastered the basics, cohort analysis helps you understand user behavior over time.
What's a cohort? A group of users who installed your app during the same time period.
Where to find it: User acquisition > Retention > Cohorts tab
This shows you how different groups of users behave. For example:
- Users who installed in January vs February
- Users from organic search vs paid ads
- Users before vs after a major update
If January users have 35% Day 7 retention but February users only have 18%, something changed. Maybe you modified onboarding. Maybe you introduced a bug. Cohort data helps you identify what.
But honestly? Don't worry about this until you have 5,000+ users. Focus on the six core metrics first.
Setting Up Custom Reports
Play Console lets you create custom dashboards with your favorite metrics.
Here's the simple dashboard I use:
- Go to Statistics > Overview
- Click "Customize report"
- Add cards for: Installs (last 28 days), Crash rate, Average rating, Store listing conversion rate
- Save as your default view
Now when you open Play Console, you see the most important metrics immediately. No digging through menus.
On launch day, take screenshots of all six core metrics. This becomes your baseline to compare against as you make changes. It's incredibly useful for tracking progress over time.
What To Ignore (Yes, Really)
Play Console shows tons of data. Most of it doesn't matter for small apps. Here's what you can safely ignore until you're bigger:
Ignore the noise. Focus on what moves the needle.
Real Example: How I Used Analytics To Save My App
Let me walk you through a real scenario from my second app:
Week 1 after launch:
- 500 installs
- Day 1 retention: 28%
- Crash rate: 0.8%
- Rating: 4.3 stars
- Everything looked fine
Week 2: I noticed Day 1 retention dropped to 22%. Not terrible, but trending down.
Week 3: Retention hit 18%. Now I was concerned. I read reviews.
Pattern emerged: "The app is great but I forget to use it."
Week 4: I added optional daily reminder notifications.
Week 6: Day 1 retention climbed back to 31%. Day 7 retention improved from 9% to 16%.
One feature, added because analytics showed a problem and reviews explained why, doubled my engagement.
That's the power of actually using your data instead of just looking at it.
Analytics show you WHAT is happening. Reviews and user feedback show you WHY. Use both together to make smart decisions about what to fix or improve.
Common Questions Answered
Why do my numbers not match between different reports?
Google uses different data sources for different reports. "Installs" in one place might mean "install events" while another place shows "users who kept the app installed." It's confusing but normal.
Focus on trends over time rather than absolute numbers.
How long does it take for data to update?
Most metrics update daily. Some (like crash rates) update every few hours. Revenue data can lag 24-48 hours.
Don't refresh the dashboard obsessively. Check once per day max during your first month.
What if I have zero data?
During testing with 12 testers, you won't see much meaningful data. That's normal. Analytics become useful once you have 100+ active users.
Focus on tester feedback during the testing phase, analytics after public launch.
Should I export data to Excel/Google Sheets?
Only if you love spreadsheets. The Play Console interface is fine for 95% of use cases.
I only export data when I need to present to investors or create custom visualizations.
Final Thoughts
Google Play Console looks intimidating at first. There's so much data that it's easy to feel overwhelmed or incompetent.
But here's the truth: you only need to understand six metrics. Master those, and you'll make better decisions than 90% of developers who drown in data without extracting insights.
Check crash rate and ANR rate weekly. Monitor retention and rating monthly. Use installs and conversion rate to gauge growth.
That's it. Everything else is optional.
The goal isn't to become a data scientist. The goal is to spot problems early, understand your users better, and make informed decisions about where to focus your limited time.
Start simple. Master the basics. Add complexity only when needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's a good retention rate for a new app?
Day 1 retention averages 25-40% for quality apps. Day 7 retention around 10-20%. Day 30 retention of 5-10% is typical. If yours are significantly lower, users aren't finding value—investigate why.
How many crashes per user is acceptable?
Google recommends keeping crash rate below 2% (less than 2 crashes per 100 daily active users). Above 2%, your app risks being deprioritized in search results. Above 8%, you get a 'bad behavior' warning.
When should I start caring about analytics?
Start monitoring during testing to establish baselines. After launch, check daily for the first week, then weekly for the first month. Analytics help you spot problems before they tank your ratings.
Written by Priya Sharma
Expert in Google Play app testing and Android development. Helping developers navigate the app approval process with practical insights and proven strategies.