Advanced Search is a powerful tool for finding apps based on the text that developers publish on their app product pages. It can be accessed at any time by clicking the magnifying glass icon in the top navigation bar.

Advanced Search lets you search for any app in the Apple App Store, the Google Play Store, or across both. Advanced Search allows you to search against the following app storefront copy:

• App Store
• Name
• Description
• Subtitle
• Promotional Text
• In-App Purchase

• Google Play Store
• Name
• Description
• Short Description

Fields other than Name will be in the language of the country in which the app is most prevalent.

You can control which of these fields you want to include in your search with the Search By filter, and when using the Unified view, you can toggle both App Store and Google Play store fields.

When searching for a phrase, results will only include those where the phrase searched for is matched exactly. For example, searching for learn a language will only return those that contain learn a language, and not those that just contain learn, a, or language.

Searches are indexed against the most recent version of these texts. So if a publisher used to include a word or phrase in their app’s description, and then removed that text in an app update, that app will not be returned in search results.

Advanced Search data is updated on a daily basis. This means if you change something in your app, you may not be able to search by it for up to 24 hours. 

Batch Tagging with Advanced Search

Also available via Advanced Search is our batch tagging functionality. Search for an app or a grouping of apps and then easily select and tag those apps into a Custom Field.

You can then use this Custom Field to easily select those apps again throughout the rest of the Sensor Tower platform. You can learn more about our Custom & Global Fields here.

Sample Use Cases

Improve App Store Optimization strategy by analyzing how competitors are positioning their apps

ASO teams continuously monitor the pulse of their competitive space by understanding which keywords their competitors are ranking for and using those learnings to inform their own ASO strategy.

Taking it one step further, ASO teams want to understand how competitors are explaining their app’s value and creating a first impression for their users (via metadata like description). Rather than checking each app in App Overview, here’s how Advanced Search can help:

1. Select Name, Description, and Subtitle in the Search By dropdown.
2. Search for a phrase or keyword. For example, Wordscapes describes itself as a “relaxing” puzzle game. How many other puzzle games are described as “relaxing”?
3. From here, narrow down your search results further, using Global Fields to select relevant criteria.
4. Select and add these to a Custom Field, so you can continue to monitor this subset of apps with similar positioning. You can also research these apps more closely in Keyword Rankings to understand which other keywords may be helpful for your own app’s ASO strategy.

Identify apps that are improperly using your company’s IP and stay ahead of copyright infringement

Licensing teams at entertainment companies are constantly on the lookout for apps that are misusing their intellectual property (IP).

In a normal IP licensing partnership, the entertainment company officially partners with a developer to launch an app, and therefore takes a cut of the revenue. When developers bypass this process and decide to incorporate IP into their apps without the permission of the entertainment company, this leads to copyright infringement issues and loss of revenue for the IP holder (the entertainment company).

Here’s how Advanced Search can help licensing teams stay on top of copycats:

1. Select Name and Description in the Search By dropdown.
2. Search for a brand or IP. For example, searching Disney in Advanced Search will show all of Disney’s licensed IP partnerships, as well as any illegitimate apps that are profiting off of Disney’s content.
3. From here, narrow down your search results further, using Global Field Release Days Ago (WW) to identify newly-launched apps that may or may not be legitimate.
4. Select and add illegitimate apps to a Custom Field and export this data, so that the legal team of the entertainment company can take further action.