Apple Opens Analytics Beta for App Developers

Apple developers are about to get quite a bit more data from Cupertino.

Apple this week launched the beta program for its new "Apple's App Analytics" service. Interested developers can request access via the iTunes Connect developer portal, or by visiting analytics.itunes.apple.com.

It's unclear just how many spots Apple is opening up in the beta, but TechCrunch reports that interested developers will be given access on a "first-come, first-serve basis." So, if you're at-all intrigued by the idea of getting raw data from Apple—app and in-app purchase sales, visits to an app's App Store page, website referrals, etc.—sign up soon.

The benefit to using Apple's solution instead of competing third-party analytics platforms is that Apple will be able to provide mobile download and engagement data. That's currently a metric those third-party apps can't get from Apple. Developers also won't have to rely on any kind of guesswork from third-party analytics services to figure out how they're doing. Analytics will work for developers' apps as soon as they log into iTunes Connect—no need to tweak one's app or insert additional code to get the stats.

"iTunes connect analytics shows App Store app pageviews, which gives the dev info about how many people see their app's page. This will give a dev info if they should improve their metadata (if people are just seeing & not downloading) or they need to concentrate on marketing (if no one is seeing their app's page) or work on their app more instead," one app developer told Cult of Mac.

Admittedly, some of these competing analytics platforms might invariably offer different or more complex analyses than Apple. There's probably no reason for developers to shy away from Apple's offering, but it remains to be seen whether developers will also turn away from other (pricey) analytics services.