Organic vs. paid installs

Organic installs are users who found your app via search, browsing, or referral without an ad. Paid installs come from ad campaigns (Apple Search Ads, Meta, TikTok, etc.). The healthy ratio varies by category — gaming is typically paid-heavy (60-80% paid); productivity is organic-heavy (60-80% organic). ASO is the lever that improves the organic share. A common growth pattern is paid spend as a kickstart for category-rank, which then drives organic discovery, which sustains rank when paid spend tapers.