ASO freeze in the App Store: how to recognize it and what to do

The freeze is a period when the App Store stops behaving like a normal, responsive system. 

Under normal conditions, App Store growth follows a clear cause-and-effect pattern: you refine metadata, support visibility with installs, and rankings gradually respond. During a freeze, that logic breaks. 

You can keep doing the right things and still see little movement for days, followed by short, synchronized jumps when the Store updates.

In practice, this means you may continue updating metadata, driving installs, and working with ratings—while search rankings barely move, indexing is delayed, or positions update only on certain days and then “lock” again.

Historically, the term “freeze” came from the App Store review holiday break in late December, when Apple paused app review in App Store Connect and all releases and updates were on hold. 

Over the last few years, the ASO community began using the same term for another recurring phenomenon—periods when:

• Search rankings in the stores stagnate or move in short bursts instead of daily
• Apps don’t get indexed for new keywords for weeks
• Ratings and category rankings also behave inconsistently

There is no official communication from Apple about these freezes. You won’t find a banner in App Store Connect or a timeline for when things go back to normal.

The most reliable way to notice them is to watch enough projects across different markets and categories and see the same patterns repeat.

Again, we don’t have a public checklist from Apple that explains every freeze. What we do have is recurring correlation with major internal changes on Apple’s side.

Based on our portfolio and industry data, freezes often appear around:

• Algorithm updates—changes to search and ranking logic

• Developer policy shifts—large app removals and purges

• Big Apple events—WWDC, major iOS releases, device launches, and the Christmas review freeze, when review timelines slow down and store updates become less predictable

• New App Store features—for example, search tags and AI-powered review summaries that recently rolled out for some US apps

• Search Ads Popularity (SAP) changes—updates to Apple’s keyword popularity metric that all ASO tools depend on

A recent example: on September 28, Apple disabled external access to SAP. In most tools, keyword popularity graphs suddenly flattened and current values turned into a constant “5” or “0.” Tools had to fall back to the last available pre-freeze snapshot for popularity data.

The same period coincided with a prolonged freeze: rankings were updating in irregular bursts, indexing slowed down, and rating behavior changed for many apps.

We can’t say these events are directly “caused” by each other—but when they cluster together, the App Store almost always becomes less predictable.

Let’s look at how the last major freezes behaved in real campaigns and store data.

In February 2025, the App Store went through one of the largest freezes and app removals in recent years:

• More than 135,000 apps were removed from the App Store

• Search rankings essentially froze on February 14

• Movement gradually returned around February 26, with instability continuing into March

Apps that kept a consistent promotion strategy during this period—both in ASO and user acquisition—often saw a boost in rankings once search normalized.

Projects that paused activity during the freeze were more likely to face drops or slower recovery after everything stabilized.

The autumn freeze that started around October 1, 2025, behaved differently.
Instead of a clean “nothing moves for two weeks” pattern, we saw:

• Ranking updates concentrated on specific dates: October 10, 16, 21, 27, 31, and November 4 and 10

• Almost no visible movement between those dates

• Stronger instability in the US market compared to some other regions

• Noticeable impact on both search rankings and SAP-based popularity data

The two examples below show this pattern on different apps in the US market: rankings stay almost flat on most days and then jump in short bursts on specific dates.

To see whether this was a local anomaly or a broader trend, we reviewed additional campaigns tracked on the Rankforge platform across several markets and keyword popularity levels. 

Among them were campaigns using incent traffic (motivated installs, where users are rewarded for downloading the app) and bot traffic (automated installs that simulate search and downloads).

The pattern stayed the same: campaigns were still working and rankings were still moving, but more slowly and with less stability than before.

Ranking dynamics for App 1: even during the freeze, incent and bot traffic continued to support visibility, with most movement happening on specific update days.

Ranking dynamics for App 2: despite a large install base, positions followed the same freeze pattern—long plateaus with synchronized jumps on update days, and more stable gains on medium- and low-volume keywords.

Aggregated observations from these campaigns showed:

• Rankings continue to grow, but the pace is slower and less predictable

• Incent traffic and bot traffic still support visibility, especially on update days

• High-volume keywords grow more slowly in this period

• Medium- and low-volume keywords more often show consistent gains

Below are two cases from our recent campaigns that illustrate how new apps behaved during the freeze. These match the screenshots that follow.

App 3 was released at the end of September 2025 in the US market and promoted with a keyword cluster of medium- and low-volume keywords using incent traffic. Even with slower update cycles, the app continued to gain positions during update bursts and held stable rankings between them.

App 4 shows a new release promoted across Canada, the UK, and the US with bot traffic. Here, the freeze pattern was even more visible: long stretches of flat rankings followed by synchronized jumps on specific update dates.

Ranking dynamics for App 3: a newly released app promoted through a keyword cluster that continued to reach and hold strong positions even as ranking updates became irregular during the Oct–Nov freeze.

Ranking dynamics for App 4: a campaign launched immediately after release showed typical freeze behavior—minimal movement between updates and short bursts of ranking changes on specific dates.

One of the recent cases we worked on was a new app released at the end of September 2025 in the US market. The team launched it with a well-structured keyword cluster and started promotion just before the October–November freeze began.

Even with irregular update days and slower dynamics, the app still managed to reach strong positions across this semantic group, while a few individual phrases reacted more weakly than expected.

A new app in the US market promoted through a semantic keyword block that continues to reach and hold strong positions even as ranking updates become irregular during the freeze.

The freeze affected more than just search positions. 

Across multiple projects we saw:

• New ratings stalling: for several days, no new ratings appeared even for apps with a stable organic audience

• Rating removals: part of the recent review history disappeared in waves

• Category rankings updating in bursts: Top Charts moved on the same “burst” dates as search instead of changing daily

Rating dynamics during the freeze—a visible drop in new ratings and reviews, followed by a return to normal volumes once the Store stabilizes.

When rankings, ratings, and category charts all show this kind of stuttering behavior across several apps and markets, it’s a strong indication that you are dealing with a store-level freeze rather than a problem in a single app’s optimization strategy.

For anyone working on an app’s growth, one of the hardest questions during the freeze is simple:

“Is our ASO broken, or is the store broken?”

There is no single perfect test, but a combination of signals helps you understand which side is more likely to be the problem.

When you look at rankings across many keywords, regions, and apps, you may notice that

• Positions don’t update daily as usual

• Movement clusters around a few calendar dates

• Between those dates, rankings stay flat—even when you are running campaigns or changing metadata

• Small day-to-day fluctuations disappear, and keywords that used to shift by one or two positions can remain locked for long stretches

If you notice that your keywords, competitors, and unrelated apps all jump on the same days and then freeze again, that is one of the common patterns we see during freezes.

During the freeze, you may see that:

• New apps don’t get indexed for a full semantic set, even with incoming traffic

• Apps that previously indexed for hundreds of keywords now rank for only 20–30

• Additional locales and expanded keyword clusters don’t unlock new indexing, even for low-volume keywords

If an app fails to index for weeks across several low-volume keywords and you have already ruled out basic ASO mistakes, it’s a strong sign that the problem is on the Store side—including the possibility of the freeze.

After the SAP change at the end of September 2025, many teams saw:

• Keyword popularity graphs turning into a flat line after September 28

• New keywords in tools showing the same default popularity value, regardless of real search interest

If popularity metrics in every ASO tool you use suddenly lose nuance at the same time, that is not your app—it is the underlying data source changing.

Freeze periods can also include:

• A complete absence of new ratings for several days, even with stable install volume

• Sharp drops where a visible portion of recent ratings disappears

• Better rating dynamics only after the freeze ends, without major changes in in-app prompts or audience

If your app and competitors all show a synchronized dip in daily rating counts, it is another sign that the Store is behaving unusually.

Because Apple does not officially acknowledge freezes, the industry has learned to compare notes:

• LinkedIn threads where founders and ASO managers describe the same symptoms

• Community chats where teams from different verticals notice identical update dates and patterns

• Vendor updates, platform news, and Slack posts that highlight suspected freeze periods

When your own dashboards, client projects, and public conversations all tell the same story, it becomes much easier to say: “Okay, this is not just us.”

Every freeze is slightly different. We don’t expect the next one to follow the exact script of the last, so any playbook has to stay flexible. Small day-to-day fluctuations disappear, and rankings that used to move slightly can stay completely flat for long stretches.

Some principles consistently prove useful in practice. 

During the freeze, your main goal is to avoid making things worse. In most cases that means:

• Keep a steady install flow—no sudden spikes, no panic campaigns

• Avoid large, experimental changes to textual metadata while indexing is unstable

• Resist the temptation to “outsmart” an ongoing SAP or search algorithm recalibration

When rankings update in irregular bursts, it becomes very hard to attribute cause and effect. If you change too many variables at once, you will exit the freeze with more confusion than insight.

If you need a practical decision window, some teams use 7–10 days to evaluate whether rankings move on update days before making major changes to sources, volumes, or metadata.

Pausing all marketing activity during the freeze might feel safe, but it often backfires.

Looking at previous freezes:

• Apps that maintained consistent promotion—even at reduced scale—tended to recover better once search normalized

• Apps that stopped all activity were more likely to face drops or slower recovery after the freeze because they lost momentum in installs and engagement

The freeze is not a full stop. You may adjust your spend and traffic mix, but you don’t turn promotion off completely.

One of the clearest patterns during the Oct–Nov 2025 freeze is the impact of an even, stable install flow.

Across several projects, we saw that:

• Keywords backed by a consistent daily install flow were more likely to gain or hold positions during update bursts

• Keywords without stable volume often lost positions between updates

• Once the Store’s dynamics normalized, phrases supported by stable flow resumed growth faster

Keywords supported by a stable daily install flow gained or held positions after an update burst, while most keywords without an even flow lost rankings.

Freeze periods are not the best time for active rating pushes. We’ve repeatedly seen that large, sudden waves of ratings during the freeze often lead to cleanses later, when a noticeable portion of recent reviews disappears. 

Even organic ratings can behave strangely: for several days, they may not appear at all, despite stable install volume.

A safer approach during the freeze is to keep rating activity natural and consistent. Avoid sharp spikes—sudden rating surges can look suspicious even in normal periods, and during a freeze it is safer to stick to a gradual, steady strategy. Once the freeze ends and rating dynamics normalize, you can safely return to a more active strategy.

The freeze limits how much impact you can have on short-term rankings, but it does not stop you from preparing for the next normal stretch.

Typical uses of this downtime include:

• Auditing keyword sets and cleaning out low-relevance or clearly weak phrases

• Reviewing metadata structure and planning the next iteration without necessarily rolling it out mid-freeze

• Analyzing competitor positions—who held, who dropped, who grew despite the freeze

• Reviewing technical quality on iOS, since crash rates, stability issues, and outdated SDKs can still affect overall visibility regardless of freeze conditions

When search dynamics return, teams that used the freeze for structured analysis usually move faster than those who spent it chasing phantom causes in day-to-day fluctuations.

If you’re releasing during a freeze, expect slower feedback from search and indexing, and plan to evaluate impact once regular update cycles resume.

There are a few things worth keeping in mind during any freeze:

• Freeze duration varies. Some last only a few days, while others extend over several weeks.

• Behavior differs by market and category. One country may be almost unaffected while another sees major disruption.

• Past freezes are a guide, not a template. The next one may affect different metrics or follow a different update schedule.

• There are no official confirmations. We infer freezes from data, community evidence, and experience, not from Apple announcements.

Because freezes behave differently each time, we avoid rigid “playbooks.” 

The most reliable way to stay aligned with the Store’s real dynamics is to follow ongoing updates—both in your own data and in industry channels such as platform news, Reddit communities, and LinkedIn discussions.

The freezes are confusing because they break the usual cause-and-effect logic. You update metadata, run campaigns, maintain rating flow—and the Store simply doesn’t react the way it normally does.

The important thing to remember is that the freeze is a store-level event, not a failure of your ASO strategy.

Here’s what this means for your app:

• Rankings may stay flat or move only on specific update days—this is normal during the freeze

• Indexing for new or updated keywords can take much longer than usual

• Rating behavior may look inconsistent—both the lack of new ratings and sudden removals happen across many apps

• Sharp bursts of traffic rarely help in this period, while stable flows keep your app in a better position for recovery

• Work done during the freeze (installs, semantic blocks, steady visibility) accumulates and shows its effect once the Store returns to normal behavior

Freezes don’t last forever. Some resolve in a few days, others take a week—but every time the Store stabilizes, visibility begins to reflect the actions taken during the freeze. Keeping a steady strategy during these periods makes recovery smoother and long-term results more predictable.

At LoveMobile, we track freeze patterns across multiple markets, categories, and large keyword sets.

Because freezes repeat yet rarely behave the same way twice, we monitor shifts in real time and adjust strategies based on data, not assumptions.

This helps our partners stay confident during unstable periods and regain momentum as soon as the Store returns to normal dynamics.