How Can You Identify Your App's Direct and Indirect Rivals?

There's nothing quite like the sinking feeling of discovering another app that does exactly what yours does—but launched six months earlier and already has thousands of users. Many app developers learn about their competition the hard way, stumbling across rivals after they've already invested time and money into development. This reactive approach can derail even the most promising app concepts and leave you scrambling to differentiate your product in an already crowded market.

Understanding your competitive landscape isn't just about knowing who else is building similar features; it's about mapping the entire ecosystem of apps that could potentially steal your users' attention and screen time. The mobile app space moves fast—new competitors emerge weekly, existing ones pivot their strategies, and user preferences shift based on what's trending. Without a clear picture of who you're up against, you're essentially building in the dark.

Knowing your competition isn't about copying what they do—it's about understanding what they're missing and how you can do it better

I've seen too many talented development teams create technically sound apps that fail because they didn't properly research their competitive environment before building. They end up launching into markets that are either oversaturated or dominated by well-funded competitors with years of user data and marketing budgets. The good news? There are systematic ways to identify both obvious and hidden competitors before you commit significant resources to development. This process will help you understand not just who your rivals are, but how to position your app for success in the marketplace.

Understanding Direct vs Indirect Competition

When I start working with clients on competitive analysis, one of the biggest misconceptions I encounter is thinking that competition only comes from apps that look exactly like theirs. This narrow view can be dangerous because it blinds you to the real threats—and opportunities—in your market space.

Direct competitors are the obvious ones; they're building apps that solve the same problem as yours using similar methods. If you're creating a fitness tracking app, other fitness trackers are your direct competition. They target the same users, offer comparable features, and you're essentially fighting for the same downloads.

But here's where it gets interesting—indirect competitors might be doing something completely different on the surface, yet they're still competing for your users' time and attention. That fitness app isn't just competing with other fitness trackers; it's also competing with gaming apps, social media platforms, and even Netflix. Why? Because they're all vying for those precious minutes when your potential user picks up their phone.

The Attention Economy Reality

I've seen too many app projects focus solely on direct competitors whilst completely ignoring the indirect ones that actually pose the bigger threat. Your meditation app might have better features than every other meditation app out there, but if people are choosing to scroll through social media instead of meditating, then social platforms are your real competition.

Understanding both types of competition gives you a complete picture of your market landscape. Direct competitors show you what users expect from your category; indirect competitors reveal what's actually capturing user behaviour and time—which is often more valuable intelligence for building apps that adapt to changing user behaviour.

Researching Your App Category

Before you can identify your specific rivals, you need to understand the broader category your app sits within. This isn't always as straightforward as it seems—many apps cross multiple categories or create entirely new market segments that didn't exist before.

Start by looking at how app stores categorise similar apps. Check both the App Store and Google Play Store to see where comparable apps are listed. You'll often find that successful apps appear in multiple categories, which gives you insight into different ways users might discover your type of app. A fitness app might be listed under Health & Fitness, but also appear in Lifestyle or even Social Networking if it has community features.

Category Research Methods

I always recommend looking beyond the obvious category labels. Research which app categories have the most downloads rather than just looking at what category you think it belongs in. If you're building a meal planning app, don't just look at "Food & Drink"—check productivity apps, health apps, and shopping apps too. Users don't always search in logical categories.

Download the top 20 apps in your primary category and spend time using them. You can't understand your competition from screenshots and descriptions alone—you need to experience the user journey firsthand.

Pay attention to app store rankings within your category. The top charts show you which apps are currently winning users' attention, but don't ignore apps ranked between positions 50-100. These often represent your most direct competition—they're targeting the same audience but haven't achieved dominant market position yet.

Understanding Category Dynamics

Each app category has its own user behaviour patterns and monetisation models. Gaming apps rely heavily on in-app purchases; productivity apps often use subscription models; social apps focus on engagement and advertising revenue. Understanding these patterns helps you identify which apps are truly competing for the same user attention and spending.

• Check app store category rankings weekly to spot emerging competitors
• Look at user ratings and download numbers to gauge market reception
• Notice which apps appear in multiple relevant categories
• Study the monetisation models used by category leaders
• Track new app launches in your category using app intelligence tools

Using App Store Analytics Tools

The app stores themselves offer some of the most valuable data about your competition, but you need to know where to look and how to interpret what you find. Apple's App Store Connect and Google Play Console provide basic analytics for your own apps, but third-party tools give you much deeper insights into what your rivals are doing.

Tools like Sensor Tower, App Annie, and Mobile Action let you peek behind the curtain of competitor performance. You can see download estimates, revenue projections, keyword rankings, and user acquisition patterns—information that would be impossible to gather any other way. I've watched clients discover that their biggest threat wasn't who they thought it was; sometimes a newer app with smart keyword targeting was quietly stealing their organic traffic.

Key Metrics That Matter

Focus on download velocity rather than total downloads when assessing competition. An app gaining 10,000 downloads per month is more threatening than one with a million total downloads but declining growth. Look at keyword rankings too—if a competitor ranks in the top five for your main keywords, they're directly competing for your potential users.

Reading Between the Numbers

Revenue estimates help you understand which competitors have found successful monetisation strategies. If an app with fewer downloads generates more revenue than yours, study their pricing model, in-app purchases, or subscription structure. Rating trends over time tell stories too; a gradual decline might indicate technical problems or user dissatisfaction that creates an opportunity for you to capture market share. The data is only useful if you act on what it reveals about your competitive landscape.

Social Media and Marketing Intelligence

Social platforms have become goldmines for competitor intelligence—your rivals are practically advertising their strategies, user feedback, and engagement levels right in front of you. When I'm helping clients map their competitive landscape, I always start by searching for their main keywords across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn; you'd be surprised how many competing apps pop up in those results that never showed in the app stores.

Look at how your competitors present themselves on social media—their tone of voice, the features they highlight most, and which posts get the most engagement. Pay close attention to their advertising spend too; if you're seeing the same competitor's ads repeatedly across different platforms, they've likely found a profitable user acquisition channel. Facebook's Ad Library is particularly useful here since it shows you exactly what creative assets and messaging your competitors are using in their paid campaigns.

Mining Social Conversations

The real treasure lies in monitoring what users say about competing apps on social platforms. Search for mentions of competitor names, check their social media comments sections, and look for hashtags related to your app category. Users often complain about missing features, bugs, or pricing issues—information that can help you identify gaps in the market and refine your own positioning.

Social media monitoring reveals not just who your competitors are, but how users really feel about them when they think the companies aren't listening

Don't forget about LinkedIn either; while it might seem less relevant for consumer apps, it's where competitors often announce partnerships, hiring sprees, or major feature releases. Following key team members from competing companies can give you early warning about their product roadmap—product managers and developers love sharing their wins on professional networks.

User Review Mining Techniques

User reviews are goldmines of competitive intelligence that most app developers barely scratch the surface of. When I'm helping clients understand their competitive landscape, I spend considerable time digging through reviews—not just reading them, but properly analysing them for patterns and insights that reveal what users really think about competing apps.

Start by collecting reviews from your direct competitors across both the App Store and Google Play Store. Look for recurring complaints about missing features, poor user experience, or functionality gaps; these represent opportunities for your app to excel where others fall short. Pay attention to what users praise too—these are table stakes features you'll need to match or exceed.

Systematic Review Analysis Process

I've developed a structured approach for mining user reviews that goes beyond casual browsing. Focus on reviews from the past six months to capture current user sentiment, and don't just read the headline reviews—dig into the middle-rated ones where users often provide the most balanced feedback about what works and what doesn't.

• Extract common feature requests that appear across multiple reviews
• Identify pain points users mention repeatedly
• Note specific use cases and workflows users describe
• Track mentions of competitor apps within reviews
• Document technical issues and performance complaints

Tools and Techniques for Scale

For larger competitive analysis projects, tools like App Follow or Sensor Tower can help you track review sentiment and extract keywords at scale. However, there's no substitute for manually reading through reviews yourself—automated sentiment analysis often misses nuanced feedback that could inform your app's positioning strategy.

The real value comes from synthesising this feedback into actionable insights about market gaps, user frustrations, and unmet needs that your app could address better than existing solutions.

Feature and Functionality Comparison

Once you've spotted your competitors, the real work begins—breaking down exactly what their apps can do compared to yours. This isn't about copying what they've built; it's about understanding where you fit in the market and finding the gaps you can fill better than anyone else.

I always tell my clients to create a simple spreadsheet listing every feature across all the apps you're comparing. Start with the obvious stuff like user registration, core functionality, and payment systems, then dig deeper into the details that users might not notice at first glance. Things like how many steps it takes to complete a key action, whether they offer offline mode, or how they handle user onboarding can make or break an app's success.

What to Look For

Focus on both what features exist and how well they work. A competitor might have a feature you're planning, but if it takes six taps to access it or crashes half the time, that's a massive opportunity for you to do it better. Pay attention to their app permissions too—some apps ask for way more data than they need, which can put privacy-conscious users off.

• Core functionality and user flows
• Registration and onboarding process
• Payment and subscription options
• Offline capabilities
• Push notification strategy
• Social sharing and integration features
• Customer support and help features

Finding Your Edge

The magic happens when you spot what nobody else is doing well. Maybe all the fitness apps in your space have terrible social features, or perhaps every competitor makes users jump through hoops to cancel subscriptions. These pain points become your competitive advantage when you solve them properly.

Don't just list features—rate how well each competitor executes them on a scale of 1-10. This helps you spot opportunities where the market leader might actually be weak in specific areas.

Market Positioning Analysis

Once you've gathered all that competitor data, the real work begins—figuring out where your app fits in the market and how to position it for success. This isn't just about being different; it's about being different in ways that actually matter to your target users.

Finding Your Competitive Gap

Look at your feature comparison spreadsheet and user feedback analysis. Where are users consistently complaining across multiple competitor apps? These pain points represent your biggest opportunities. I've seen apps succeed simply by fixing the one thing that annoyed users most about the market leader—sometimes it's as simple as a confusing onboarding process or poor customer support.

Price positioning matters more than most people think, especially in crowded markets. If three major competitors charge £9.99 monthly, you need a compelling reason to charge more or a clear strategy for competing at a lower price point. Free apps with premium features often work well, but only if your free tier provides genuine value without feeling like a limited trial.

Creating Your Position Statement

Your positioning should answer three questions: who is this for, what problem does it solve, and why should someone choose you over existing options. Be specific about your target user—"busy professionals" is too broad, but "sales managers who travel frequently and need offline access to client data" gives you something concrete to build around.

• Identify the top three pain points your competitors fail to address
• Define your unique value proposition in one clear sentence
• Choose whether to compete on features, price, user experience, or market focus
• Test your positioning with real potential users before committing development resources

Remember, the best market position is one you can defend and improve over time. Don't just find a gap—make sure it's a gap you can own.

Conclusion

Finding your app's competitors isn't a one-time task you tick off your list and forget about—it's an ongoing process that needs regular attention. The mobile app market moves fast, and new competitors can appear overnight whilst established ones pivot their strategies or launch new features that suddenly put them in direct competition with you.

Throughout this guide, we've covered the tools and methods that actually work in practice. App store analytics give you the hard data; social media monitoring reveals marketing strategies and user sentiment; review mining uncovers what users really want from apps like yours. Each method tells part of the story, but when you combine them all, you get a complete picture of your competitive landscape.

The most successful apps I've worked on didn't just identify their competitors—they studied them obsessively. They knew which features were working for rivals, which weren't, and most importantly, where the gaps existed. These gaps become your opportunities to identify your app's unique competitive edge and capture market share.

Remember that indirect competitors often pose the biggest threat because you don't see them coming. That productivity app might seem unrelated to your social platform, but if it's solving the same underlying user problem in a different way, it's competing for the same attention and screen time.

Your competitor research should inform everything from your feature roadmap to your marketing messages. When you understand who you're really competing against and why users choose them over you, you can make smarter decisions about where to invest your development time and marketing budget. This knowledge becomes the foundation for building an app that doesn't just survive in a crowded market—it thrives.