App discovery, ASO, AI visibility, and growth marketing for mobile apps and SaaS - how users find, compare, and choose you over other products in 2026 (and beyond).
By Jarrah Robertson, Chief Strategist, 44Degrees Limited
How launched consumer apps grow downloads and revenue with real users making short-form video - without a large paid ads budget. Foundations first, then formats, then the creator pod.
Successful apps are created when users talk about you - not when you talk about it yourself. Better, not louder = trust, remarkability, and metrics that matter when anyone can copy your features.
When frontier models ship your feature natively, thin AI wrappers collapse. How "unhobbling" kills wrapper apps - and why invisibility in AI search makes it worse.
WWDC26 Creative Assets, Google Ask Play, Play Shorts, StoreKit subscription changes, and open-internet UA budgets - the June roundup for app founders who need signal, not noise.
Google Ask Play and Apple Creative Assets change how users find apps before they ever see your screenshots. Here's a practical playbook for ASO and discovery teams.
While building an app has become much cheaper, the real risk is not having a clear distribution strategy, and then it's product execution in a world where anyone can spin up a competing app with AI.
If your ASO strategy looks the same as it did in 2024, you're optimising for a discovery landscape that no longer exists. Here's what's changed - and what to do about it.
A step-by-step audit you can run today to see exactly how your app appears across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews - plus the quick wins to start fixing it.
There's a narrative building that AI agents will make app stores irrelevant. Having spent 15+ years in this industry, I think the truth is more nuanced - and more interesting - than the headlines suggest.
The Meta Andromeda update is significant, but 20-creatives-a-month advice assumes seven-figure budgets. What lean app and SaaS teams should do instead in 2026.
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