Apple’s App Store is a frantic place. There’s no good way to keep track of what’s new or what’s changed among the more than 700,000 apps in there. For instance, when a great app goes free for a promotion, wouldn’t you like to know about it? Believe it or not, there’s an app for that. AppsGoneFree 2.0 launched Tuesday.
Apps don’t cost a lot of money, but if you’re the type of person who likes to try them all, it adds up. So AppsGoneFree updates every day with the latest free promotional offers for paid apps. AppsGoneFree 2.0 has an iPad version and nine languages and App Store locations, so more people can take advantage of the offers.
It also has a new feature called AppBump, which lets the million members of AppsGoneFree nominate their favorite apps to be featured. If the developer agrees to make the app free for a day, AppsGoneFree will feature it prominently.
AppsGoneFree is a service from AppAdvice, a site dedicated to reviewing the latest and greatest iOS apps. The site’s knowledge of the app universe helped it identify an area of need for developers and customers alike, and AppsGoneFree is the result.
App Store Struggles
Apps in the App Store live and die by the buzz. By temporarily going free, they can quickly climb the charts and get attention. This hopefully leads to future sales.
“The problem with this methodology is the App Store is too crazy a place for methodologies,” says AppAdvice editor in chief Jamie Young. “There are literally several hundred apps reducing their price to free each day. This technique doesn’t work reliably to draw any attention to an app.”
So AppsGoneFree helps developers get an additional bump out of those promotions, and its new democratic features let the community of app enthusiasts give valuable feedback and generate exposure.
And whether you’re an enthusiast or not, if you want to know when great apps go free, just install AppsGoneFree (it’s free), and the app will alert you when the day’s issue comes out.
Disclosure: Jon and Jamie used to host The Dock Podcast together, which is why Jamie tipped him off to this update.
