A look back at the most read Google Play posts on Medium in 2017

Earlier this year we launched the Google Play Apps & Games publication on Medium to help developers discover best practices and insights to grow successful apps and games businesses on Google Play. As we draw closer to the end of the year we thought it's a good time to revisit some of our most popular posts according to you – our readers.

It's clear that many of you are excited by the potential of new technology, such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), and how it could enhance user interaction with your apps and games. You're also concerned with everyday issues including how to keep your APK size manageable, how to acquire new users, and how to monetize games without pushing away your players.

So without further adieu, here's the list of the top 10:

1. Applying human-centered design to emerging technologies
   (by By Peter Hyer, Fabian Herrmann, and Kristin Kelly, 7 min read)
   VR, AR, and digital assistant present exciting opportunities for the future, but how can we ensure we're designing for what people really want?
2. Shrinking APKs, growing installs
   (by Sam Tolomei, 6 min read)
   Smaller APK sizes correlate with higher install conversion rate on Google Play - we share tips for keeping your apps lean.
3. Who plays mobile games?
   (by Allen Bevans, UX Researcher at Google, 6 min read)
   Four actionable insights for game developers based on our research into different player segments.
4. Why the first ten minutes are crucial if you want to keep players coming back
   (by Adam Carpenter, 7 min read)
   How to analyze your retention data so you can keep players coming back again and again.
5. Design your app for decision-making
   (by Jeni Fisher, 10 min read)
   Useful tips and strategies for encouraging desired user behavior in your apps. Also check out follow-up posts on boosting motivation through app rewards, and common pitfalls of persuasive app design.
6. Predicting your app's monetization future
   (by Ignacio Monereo, 10 min read)
   Learn about predictive analytics and calculating your apps lifetime value (LTV) to gain practical insight into the future of your app. In the second part Ignacio shares how to calculate LTV based on five popular monetization models.
7. Five tips to improve your games-as-a-service monetization
   (by Moonlit Beshimov, 9 min read)
   5 proven strategies to improve your game revenue without driving players away.
8. An introduction to in-app A/B testing
   (by Gavin Kinghall Were, 13 min read)
   Learn how in-app A/B testing can drive insight into your app's future design and development, and maximise its performance.
9. Taking the guesswork out of paid user acquisition
   (by David Yin, 8 min read)
   A simple tool to help you estimate lifetime value (LTV) of your users and what to spend to grow your audience.
10. Rethinking interface assumptions in AR: selecting objects
    (by Aaron Cammarata, 8 min read)
    In this article for beginner AR developers we explore one of the most fundamental user interface actions: object selection.

Do you have suggestions for topics we should tackle in 2018? Let us know by tweeting with the hashtag #AskPlayDev and we'll reply from @GooglePlayDev, where we regularly share news and tips on how to be successful on Google Play.

How useful did you find this blogpost?

★ ★ ★ ★ ★