Recently Epic Games’ Fortnite was removed from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The main reason being Epics bypassing of in-app purchases instead of using the officially sanctioned system for both platforms. While it is still possible for you to download Fortnite directly, this large scale case brings to light the duopoly of Apple and Google in the mobile market.
For most developers, these two stores account for almost all of their revenue and userbase. While Epic Games will be fine to go without, for the time being, what about the other 99% of developers who rely on these two stores for distributing and monetizing their apps. In this article, we’ll provide some of the alternative stores available for both developers and consumers for finding or distributing apps.
For one reason or another, you may have found yourself wondering, ‘where are some other places I can go to find and download new apps and games for my mobile device’? Or ‘are there any other marketplaces for me to share my apps’?
For the longest time, Google Play and Apple App Store have dominated the market. Has this 2 store duopoly begun to decline as more consumers are making more informed decisions about their consumer habits? Or maybe as a developer you’re looking for a platform with less competition than the already 2.1 million Android apps and 1.8 million iOS apps.
In this list, we will provide you with some of the alternative stores available for you. Some of the advantages of the many alternative stores are:
Most don’t charge an app listing fee
With fewer apps existing on the alternative stores, the likelihood of your app being featured in the recommended app list greatly increases
Promotional opportunities are more frequent as the stores increase their catalog and look for great apps that can bring more users to the stores
Best iOS App Store Alternatives
Appland
Appland makes it possible for consumers in Indonesia, Mexico, Oman, USA, Iran, El Salvador, Malaysia, Jordan, Iraq, Bangladesh, Panama, Myanmar, Cambodia, Egypt, and many more countries, to play the world’s best games and use playful kids apps for an ideal entertainment experience. Appland has installed its solutions on over 1- million mobile devices in more than 200 countries.
GetJar
With 30 million users and great recommendation services for discovering new apps. This App Store actively encourages its developers to use its freemium model which includes adverts and in-app currency. GetJar Gold is one of the largest virtual currencies in use and is available to millions of users.
TutuApp
With a user base of over 300 million users and support for multiple languages, this iOS App Store alternative requires some SDK integration, a relatively easy app submission process, and multiple payment methods supported.
Best Android App Store Alternatives
SlideMe
SlideMe ‘one App Store alone can’t reach everyone and everywhere with the apps they want’. Quickly rising to fame as the second-best App Store alternative to the Google Play Store. SlideMe makes security a top priority as all applications are scanned for exploits, malware, and viruses. They also boast a large community of app developers that help each other with code snippets, bug fixes, and optimization.
Aptoide
Aptoide allows its, users, to discover a healthy selection of Android apps and categories based on many categories for the users. This means that the end-users have a much easier time finding the apps that interest them the most. This is also great for developers as they have a greater chance to be recommended to the end-users and grow their app on the alternative store.
With over 300 million users worldwide, over 7 billion downloads and 1 million apps, Aptoide gives a new meaning to the way we discover and install apps. With unrestricted content and the opportunity to create and share your own store, Aptoide is revolutionizing app distribution and discovery.
Amazon Appstore
While it won’t come as a surprise that Amazon has its own Appstore there is a huge ecosystem for apps sold through Amazon, thanks to their Kindle Fire and Fire Phone.
It only takes a short time for developers to get their app compatible with the Amazon Fire OS and many Android apps can already run perfectly fine on Fire OS. Developers can even publish HTML5 and web apps on the Amazon Appstore.
These were just a few of the available alternatives that developers and consumers can find when looking outside the App Store and Google Play Store. The growing 3rd party App Stores and spaces that are becoming available to developers show that in the upcoming years it is possible that we see more market share split between a greater amount of stores and spaces.
For developers looking to gain more traction for their creations, less competition in a competitive space, more chances to get featured, and more possible revenue earning channels, this alternative store list can act as an introductory piece into the wider possibility available in the mobile market.
