If you're building anything that reads app store search results without an approved partner API, the two platforms don't hand you the same depth — and the gap changes what "we track your rank" can honestly mean on each one.
The actual ceiling
Apple's public search surface returns up to 200 results per query before it stops. Google Play's equivalent public surface tops out at 30. That's not a rate limit you can work around with more requests — it's the depth of the result set itself.
Why this isn't a rounding difference
200 versus 30 isn't "iOS is a bit deeper." It changes what a rank number even means. An app sitting at position 150 on iOS is a real, trackable position — you can read it, watch it move, alert on it. An app sitting at position 150 on Android is a position that public search literally cannot see; past 30, there's no honest answer to "where do you rank," only "you don't rank inside what's visible."
The design consequence
A tool that quietly treats both platforms the same — same depth claim, same "we track your rank" copy on both — is either silently capping iOS at 30 to match, throwing away real data, or silently reporting a false "not ranked" on Android past 30 when the honest answer is "outside the window we can read."
We chose to surface the asymmetry instead of hiding it: iOS tracking goes to 200, Android tracking goes to 30, and both numbers are stated, not implied. An app outside the Android window shows as untracked-at-this-depth, not as a fabricated rank or a silent zero.
What this means if you're evaluating any ASO tool
Ask what depth it reads on each platform, specifically. "We track your keyword rank" said about both platforms in the same sentence, without a number attached, usually means one of the two platforms is quietly worse than advertised. The number is the whole claim; without it, it's marketing copy.
We publish both depths on how we measure. We build Storelift — same read-depth honesty applied to every storefront we track.
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