Benefits of Insignio in Light of iTunes Search Changes

app-icon-finalApple has recently changed how they rank apps within the App Store.  Before, when you searched for an app your results were based on the “keyword” in the app’s name.  Now Apple is also ranking apps based on how many times it has been downloaded and on the amount of reviews.  Which means a FREE app with lots of downloads could rank higher than an app that costs $1.99.

This is where BridgingApps search tool “Insignio” comes into play.  Regardless of how Apple ranks their apps, Insignio will always rank special needs apps that we have identified first and then display the generic results from Apple.  And, since most apps are not special needs focused, volume of download is not an important measure.  Our measure is the benefit an app has for a person with a disability.

Mike Johns, developer of Insignio, commented “We only show iTunes results as a last resort after our searching our database, so there won’t be much impact on us from this.  Insignio is mostly driven by data added by BridgingApps reviewers instead of the title/description/etc.  It goes back to Sami’s example of only getting a handful of results when searching iTunes for “finger isolation” — nobody puts that in the name or description of their app, but since BridgingApps reviews (and our users are searching) from that perspective, Insignio is tailored for that sort of thing.”

So, if you are looking for an app for a person with a disability, and want to avoid digging through “popular free apps” we suggest “Insignio” is the way to go.

 

 

 

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