What are peer group benchmarks in App Store Connect?

Apple compares your app's conversion rate, crash rate, day-1/7/28 retention and average proceeds per paying user against a privacy-preserving group of similar apps — same category, similar business model and download scale — and shows where you fall as percentile ranges (25th, 50th, 75th). It's the only benchmark source that compares you to genuinely comparable apps, and it ships free in App Analytics.

Is my conversion rate good for my category?

Peer group benchmarks answer this directly: at or above the 50th percentile means you convert better than half of genuinely similar apps; below the 25th means conversion is your funnel's weakest stage and the highest-leverage fix. A global average like "4%" can't tell you this — categories differ several-fold.

Why don't my benchmarks show data?

Peer group benchmarks need a large enough peer group to preserve privacy — very new apps, tiny niches, or unusual category/business-model combinations may not have enough peers to display. Retention and engagement metrics also come from opted-in devices only, so small apps can show gaps.

FunnelHound / Guides / Peer group benchmarks

Apple's hidden benchmarks: how your app compares to its category

By Emin — indie iOS developer building FunnelHound · Published 26 Aug 2026

Plot twist: Apple already computed whether your conversion rate is good. App Store Connect benchmarks your conversion, crash rate and retention against percentiles of genuinely similar apps — same category, similar model and scale. It's the best free answer to "is this number good?" in the entire store. Most developers have never seen the screen.

What the peer group actually is

Not "all apps" and not a blog post's global average. Apple builds your peer group from apps with the same category, similar business model (free, freemium, paid) and comparable download scale — then shows your metric against the group's 25th, 50th and 75th percentiles. The group is anonymous and privacy-preserved: you never learn who's in it, competitors never learn you're in theirs, and no individual app's numbers are exposed. What survives is the only comparison that means anything: you, versus apps that could actually be you.

Why percentiles beat every blog benchmark

Global averages — the "3.5–4%" in our own conversion guide — are directional at best, because categories differ several-fold: utilities convert strangers on sight, games browse-shop, dating apps live a different life entirely. A percentile deletes the noise. Above the 50th: conversion isn't your bottleneck, spend the week on visibility instead. Below the 25th: found it — that stage is the leak, and fixing it outranks any keyword swap (start with screenshots). One glance replaces a forum thread of "is 3% good??" with an answer scoped to your actual peers.

The metrics in the set

Conversion rate — the headline: how well your page turns viewers into installs, versus peers.
Crash rate — quality signal with teeth: crashes feed bad reviews, and reviews feed everything (opted-in devices only).
Retention (day 1 / 7 / 28) — whether installs stick, the signal widely believed to feed ranking itself.
Proceeds per paying user — monetization depth against peers, the loneliest number in indie dev finally given context.

Gaps are normal for small or unusual apps: the peer group must be large enough to stay anonymous, so tiny niches sometimes show nothing. That's the privacy design working, not your account breaking.

Percentiles + funnel = the full diagnosis

Benchmarks tell you where you stand; the funnel tells you what moved. Together they're the whole diagnosis kit: percentile below 25th on conversion → page problem; healthy percentiles but falling impressions → visibility problem. FunnelHound draws your category benchmark straight onto the funnel gauges from App Store Connect, so "is this good?" and "what changed?" are the same 30-second glance on your iPhone — no four-click expedition to the buried screen.

Your numbers, with the "is this good?" built in

FunnelHound shows your funnel with Apple's category benchmarks drawn on the dials — context included, expedition not required.

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Data notes: peer group construction, metrics and percentile presentation per Apple's App Store Connect benchmarks documentation as of 2026; metric availability varies with peer group size and opt-in data volume. Retention and crash metrics cover opted-in devices only.