App update frequency: how often 2,672 top iPhone apps ship

App update frequency is one of those numbers every mobile team has an opinion about and almost nobody has measured. Ship weekly and you risk bugs and review delays. Ship quarterly and your listing starts to look abandoned next to competitors. So how often do successful apps actually update? Apple does not publish it, and most advice online is a guess.

So we measured it. On November 4, 2026 we pulled the top 100 apps from 33 App Store charts in the US storefront (Top Free, Top Paid and Top Grossing, overall and in ten categories), 2,672 unique iPhone apps in total, and recorded when each one last shipped an update. This post shares the numbers by chart and category, the minimums Apple and Google enforce, a short Node.js script to run the same check on your own category, and a way to turn the result into a release cadence you can defend.

Key takeaways

• The top of the App Store ships constantly. In the overall Top Free chart, the median app had updated 2.3 days earlier, and 81% had shipped an update in the last 7 days.
• Across all 1,023 apps in the Top Free charts we checked, 57% updated within 7 days, 88% within 30 days and 97% within 90 days.
• Category matters. In Top Free, Productivity had a median of 3.0 days since the last update; Utilities had 10.2 days.
• Top Paid is a different world: median 139 days, and 35% of those apps had not been updated for more than a year.
• The store minimums are far below that. Apple flags apps not updated in three years that are barely downloaded, and Google Play hides apps that fall behind its target API level from new users on newer devices.

How we measured app update frequency#

Apple publishes its top charts as public feeds, and the iTunes lookup endpoint returns each app's currentVersionReleaseDate, the date the live version was released. For every app in each chart we computed the days since that date at 23:08 UTC on November 4, 2026.

What this measures, and what it does not:

• It is a snapshot, not a release log. It tells you how fresh each app is right now. If an app ships on a steady interval, a random check lands, on average, in the middle of that interval, so a median of 2 to 3 days is consistent with apps that release roughly weekly.
• It covers successful apps. Chart apps have bigger teams than most. Treat the numbers as what your strongest competitors do, not as an average for the store.
• It is one storefront and one day. The charts were US iPhone charts, captured on a Wednesday.
• Lookup data can lag. As our guide to the iTunes Search API explains, the lookup endpoint is cached and occasionally reports an older version for a while, which makes some apps look slightly staler than they are.

How often top apps update, by chart#

The overall free and grossing charts are dominated by apps with large teams and continuous delivery. On the day we checked, ChatGPT, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and MONOPOLY GO! had all shipped in the previous three days. Instagram's live version was less than half a day old.

The paid charts behave differently because many of their apps are finished tools. A one-time purchase does not pay for a release train, and a paid utility that works can stay at the top for years with very few updates. That does not make slow updates a strategy for a free or subscription app: the free and grossing charts show what users of those apps are used to.

How often apps update, by category#

Within the free charts, category changes the picture a lot. These are the Top Free charts for each category we checked:

Three patterns stand out:

• Commerce and money move fast. Shopping and Finance apps shipped often, and 94% to 96% of them within 30 days.
• Productivity is led by AI assistants. Its top eight free apps were all AI assistants or Google and Microsoft apps, and Muse from Meta, ChatGPT, Claude, Google Gemini, Grok and Microsoft Copilot had all shipped within the previous four days.
• Utilities are the slowest free category. Many are small single-purpose tools: TV remotes, cleaners, scanners. Even there, three in four apps had updated in the last month.

The grossing charts follow the same order with longer gaps, from a median of 4.7 days in Productivity to 20.5 days in Shopping.

An older academic study points the same way. McIlroy, Ali and Hassan studied 10,713 top Google Play apps and found that only about 1% updated more than once a week and 14% at least every two weeks, that frequency "varies across store categories", and that "users highly rank frequently-updated apps instead of being annoyed about the high update frequency" (Fresh apps, Empirical Software Engineering). Those apps were measured in 2014. The 2026 App Store charts above ship far more often.

The minimum update frequency the stores require#

There is no rule that says how often you must update, but both stores penalize apps that stop.

Apple. Under its App Store Improvements process, apps "that haven't been updated within the last three years and fail to meet a minimal download threshold" get a notice in App Store Connect. The developer then has 90 days to submit an update, or the app is removed until one is approved. Apple also notes that "apps that crash on launch will be removed immediately."

Google Play. Google enforces freshness through the target API level. According to Play's target API level requirements, from August 31, 2026 new apps and updates must target Android 16 (API level 36), and existing apps must target at least Android 15 (API level 35) to stay available to new users on newer Android versions. Since the required level rises every year, an Android app that never updates gradually becomes unavailable to new users on newer devices.

In practice, then, the floor is about one update a year on Android and one every three years on iOS. Every chart above sits far above that floor.

How often should you update your app?#

The data does not say "ship weekly". It says what your category is used to. A practical way to set a cadence:

1. Measure your category. Run the script below for your primary category and note the median and the 30-day share.
2. Pick a ceiling, not a target. If 90% of the top apps in your category updated within 30 days, never let your live version get older than 30 days. A small, real fix is enough. A listing whose last update is three months old looks unmaintained next to competitors whose dates are all recent.
3. Fit the cadence to review time. Apple says App Review typically reviews "at least 50% of submissions in less than 24 hours and 90% in less than 48 hours" (App Review). A weekly train is realistic for most teams on iOS. Leave more margin on Google Play during busy periods.
4. Make each release worth reading. Frequent updates help only if they do not break things. Watch the rating and the first reviews after every release, and keep a release history so you can match a rating dip to a version. Our guide to App Store version history shows how to keep one.
5. Watch competitors' cadence, not just their last date. A competitor that moves from weekly to monthly releases has usually changed priorities. One that ships three versions in four days has usually shipped a bug.

Check your own category with Node.js#

This script reads one Top Free chart and reports how recently its apps were updated. It needs Node.js 22 or later and no packages. Pass a genre ID (6007 is Productivity, 6002 Utilities, 6014 Games, 6015 Finance) and a storefront country code:

// update-frequency.mjs: how recently the top 100 apps in one App Store chart were updated.
// Usage: node update-frequency.mjs [genreId] [country]   e.g. node update-frequency.mjs 6007 us
const [genre = '', country = 'us'] = process.argv.slice(2);
const chart = `https://itunes.apple.com/${country}/rss/topfreeapplications/limit=100` +
  `${genre ? `/genre=${genre}` : ''}/json`;

const feed = (await (await fetch(chart)).json()).feed;
const ids = (feed.entry ?? []).map((e) => e.id.attributes['im:id']);

// The lookup endpoint accepts many comma-separated IDs in one request.
const lookup = await (await fetch(
  `https://itunes.apple.com/lookup?id=${ids.join(',')}&country=${country}`,
)).json();

const now = Date.now();
const ages = lookup.results
  .filter((app) => app.currentVersionReleaseDate)
  .map((app) => ({
    name: app.trackName,
    version: app.version,
    days: (now - Date.parse(app.currentVersionReleaseDate)) / 86_400_000,
  }))
  .sort((a, b) => a.days - b.days);

const share = (max) => Math.round((100 * ages.filter((a) => a.days <= max).length) / ages.length);
console.log(`apps: ${ages.length}`);
console.log(`median days since last update: ${ages[Math.floor(ages.length / 2)].days.toFixed(1)}`);
console.log(`updated in the last 7 days: ${share(7)}%, 30 days: ${share(30)}%, 90 days: ${share(90)}%`);
console.log('least recently updated:', ages.slice(-3).map((a) => `${a.name} (${Math.round(a.days)} days)`).join('; '));

Run for Productivity in the US on November 4, 2026, it printed:

apps: 99
median days since last update: 3.0
updated in the last 7 days: 65%, 30 days: 89%, 90 days: 94%
least recently updated: Smart Cleaner-Ai Cleaner (205 days); AI Easy Cleaner (311 days); Office Word:Edit Word Document (812 days)

Swap topfreeapplications for toppaidapplications or topgrossingapplications to check the other charts. Keep the request rate low: one chart and one lookup call per run is plenty.

Snapshots show freshness, history shows cadence#

The script answers "how fresh is my category today". It cannot tell you how often a given competitor ships, because the App Store exposes only the current version's date. To get real release intervals, you have to record the version every day and keep the history. The same applies on Google Play, where the listing shows an "Updated on" date but there is no free official API for other developers' apps, and to browser extensions, as our guide to Chrome extension version history explains. For extensions, a sudden release after a long silence can also be a warning sign; see browser extension monitoring.

Extenify is an app version tracker that does this recording for you. It checks your apps and your competitors' apps on the App Store and Google Play every day, next to your Chrome, Edge and Firefox extensions, keeps every version it sees, and sends a "new version" line in your daily digest when anyone you follow ships. Over a few weeks that history turns into each competitor's real release cadence, alongside the ratings and reviews that followed each release. Every plan starts with a free trial; see Extenify pricing.

If you own an Android app, your own version adoption is in Play Console's statistics. Our guide to the Google Play Console BigQuery export shows how to query installs by app version every day.

App update frequency checklist#

• Measure the median days since last update in your primary category's chart.
• Set a maximum age for your live version based on the 30-day share in your category.
• Keep Android builds on the current target API level, and never let an iOS app go three years without an update.
• Plan for review time: up to 48 hours on iOS for 90% of submissions.
• Record every release with its date and notes, and watch ratings after each one.
• Track competitors' versions daily, so you see their cadence and not just their last update.

Frequently asked questions#

How often do apps update?#

The top apps update constantly. In the US App Store on November 4, 2026, 81% of the Top Free overall chart and 74% of Top Grossing had shipped an update in the previous week. Across 1,023 apps in the Top Free charts we checked, 88% had updated within 30 days.

How often should you update your app?#

Often enough that your live version is never much older than your category's norm. For most free and subscription apps that means at least monthly, and every one to two weeks if you have a team that can test properly. Look at your category first: Utilities updated far less often than Shopping or Productivity.

Does updating an app often improve its ranking?#

Neither Apple nor Google documents update frequency as a ranking factor. What the data does show is that almost every top free and grossing app updates often, and a large study of Google Play apps found that users rate frequently-updated apps well. Updates also give you a reason to refresh screenshots and release notes.

What happens if I never update my app?#

On iOS, an app that has not been updated in three years and has very few downloads can be flagged and removed if you do not submit an update within 90 days. On Google Play, an app that falls behind the target API level stops being available to new users on newer Android versions.

How can I see how often a competitor updates their app?#

The App Store and Google Play show only the current version and its date. To see a competitor's cadence, record their version every day and keep the history, either with a small script or with a tracker that stores every version it sees.

Summary#

Top iPhone apps update far more often than the stores require. In our November 4, 2026 snapshot of 2,672 apps, the median Top Free overall app was 2.3 days past its last update and 88% of all Top Free chart apps had updated within a month, while paid apps were much slower. Measure your own category, set a maximum age for your live version, stay above the Apple and Google minimums, and track competitors' release history so you know their real cadence instead of guessing.

Image credits#

• Cover photo: Six decorative wall clocks by Dilip Modhavadiya on the WordPress Photo Directory, CC0.