The Evolution of App Reskins: From Spam to App Store Asset

January last year, some tech news outlets ran an article about a man who spammed the App Store for fun – and made $50 grow to $6,000 after just a few months! He became somewhat a phenomenon, a symbol of everything that is going wrong with the app industry (well, maybe not all). The said man, Gabriel Machuret is an expert in ASO (App Store Optimization). He exploited his knowledge of the App Store’s search algorithm in order to shell in cash from his mass-produced reskins. His principle was simple, if you produce low-quality apps and launch it at the fastest time possible, you’d make easy money just like that.

But amidst Machuret’s notoriety, he certainly isn’t alone or even the first to employ this marketing strategy. What Machuret did was an experiment but for others reskinning is the only way. How do you think a small-time developer even experience a taste of the top charts except to piggyback on a popular niche? Various surveys revealed that only the top 100 apps (in the Apple App Store) even see what profit means and a majority of them are in the big leagues with a lucky indie developer joining in once in a while. You can’t actually blame them for donning a black hat and going flappy all of a sudden, right?

There’s always a silver lining even in reskinning. All these spam apps can be just gems in the making; the only thing needed is for someone to notice this potential. Indeed, someone noticed and started reskinning to their heart’s desire but how did things come to be this way? But how did app reskinning evolve to become a viable business model from its dodgy origin story?

The Spam App

How can you say for sure that an app is a spam? It doesn’t mean that since it’s a clone that it’s also automatically a spam app, right? Google Play Developer Console’s policies state that an app with content that(or if the app itself) is unwanted, deceptive, repetitive, or irrelevant is certainly spam. This may sound vague but this is thoroughly explained in the content policies.

Of course, reskins are not the main target of these policies (it’s more about the keyword, ad, and other spammy content of some apps). Reskins aren’t booted out of app stores for the sole reason them being reskins. But there are practices that somehow made reskins quite notorious:

• The concept of reskinning itself implies that an app is already existing and that you are just making another version of it – replicating it in a way. And by publishing this copy to app stores, you are cheating from legitimate competitors as your reskin is just an instance of another app and not a new product with real competitive value.
• The deluge of almost identical reskins negatively affects the regular apps’ chance of discovery and download.
• Reskins steal the traffic meant for the app it emulates. There are also accusations of  reskinners stealing the original app itself, with the reskin’s mechanics and “feel” being very similar to the original. This somehow makes the reskin look like a mass-produced counterfeit and app reskinning as a scheme to overwhelm the market with downgraded versions of original apps.
• Reskins just piggy back from a successful app, without spending much for development and marketing. App development is an expensive and arduous process. A lot of time and effort is necessary from app conception to publishing. Aside from the development of the app, there’s still market research, marketing and promotion across media platforms and of course the primping of the final product. Reskins skips most of these steps (including the development process) and takes as much time and money as a few pots of coffee (you can just hear those indie developers crying “Unfaiiiiir!”).
• The quality of app reskins had always been low. The only reason why these apps even get downloads is the use of trending keywords. The fact that people continue to patronize this tactic encourage reskinners to continue on this path.

These are just some of the reasons why app reskins are considered spammy. For a time there was an uproar over app reskinning, it had been a bane of developers and smartphone users alike. Until it seems that both Apple and Google made changes to keep reskins from going to the top. With both reskin downloads and ROI plummeting, Machuret predicted that the reskinning boat is facing an iceberg collision. Or is it?

What changed?

Reskinning was a dying craft, gone before another chain-smoker living with his parents can make his first million. But before obituaries can be put up, a couple of reskins suddenly sprouted. And now they’re bigger, badder and surprisingly better. Some are scratching their heads, asking “Huh? What happened here? I thought this one’s dead?”

Reskins adapted to the changing environment. Incentivized traffic and SEO were no longer enough to drive clones to the top so some reskinners needed to adapt. This is where App Blueprinting comes in. Tapdaq calls App Blueprinting as the “natural evolution of reskinning” or the “second wave”. Done was the era of low-quality knockoffs; now reskinning is more subtle, using the source code as a blueprint for creating a new, better app. It’s reskinning down to the bare bones. What remains of the original app is just its source code and the concept, everything else is yours.

You can buy a car parking source code and instead of reskinning it as a truck parking or bus parking app you change the UI and turn it into a goat herding app or a camel caravan obstacle course (you get the idea). It’s just one source code that you can make into many different and totally unrelated apps. You can also create apps that provide real functionality like apps that can be customized according to a company’s needs. This way, you’ll have a market that would likely stay loyal to your app – it has real value that would remain constant even when a trending keyword fades into oblivion. But why complicate it? Why spend more? It’s just a reskin!

It’s just a reskin yes, and it should always be easy and affordable but also remember that reskinning is just a means to an end, not the end product. Reskinning helps kickstart careers but when you get there, would you still want to continue deliver subpar products? Reskinning is evolving not only because reskinners demand it, but because there is a necessity for improvement. People would no longer settle for the old-time-good-time reskins – some would, but that’s not where real big fat profit is coming from. The game is up.

But of course, there’s still room for “traditional reskinning”. There would always be beginners that need to start small. But the reskinning bubble had already burst (not long ago I say) and the reality of real competition is very much at the forefront. Quality will always be king even in reskinning.

Successful reskins: How it happened

It’s not impossible for a reskin to top the chart – it’s actually very probable. What is difficult is for reskins is to stay afloat in the volatile market. Reskins are usually short-lived. Downloads plunge down after a month or two. But surprisingly (or not), some reskins seems to be clinging on, and there are more reasons to explain this other than luck.

1. More and more small companies and teams develop  app reskins instead of one person outsourcing all the work. This trend enriches the business side of app development. Each team member perform specific tasks and coordinate in real time. This results in more focus and effort to market research, ASO, marketing, monetization strategies, and analytics.
2. The water had already been tested. In the early days of reskinning, it is difficult to find any reference materials about the subject but today, there is a choke full of tutorials, tips from experts, tools and marketplaces for a reskinner to explore.
3. A great idea no longer means “a great idea on what silly name to change the app’s title into”. There is now more creative muscles at work since skinning app to fit the latest fad is no longer bringing in big bucks.
4. The reputation of developers producing reskins and reskinning, in general, had improved. Reskinners are no longer “spammers”. They are now innovators, with a unique and fresh ideas on how to improve an established genre.
5. There is no more skimping on quality and user experience. Retention is now the priority over the short-term incentive of downloads. This is because the freemium model is working well for apps. Reskinners are now more focused on gaining the loyalty of downloaders. They achieve this through well-designed apps with excellent user experience.
6. The potential in app reskinning is now greatly optimized. Beginners in the app industry usually use app reskinning as boosters to their portfolio. More established names, on the other hand, use app reskinning to serialize their brands. Sequels and themes are just two of the strategies in order to make the most out of a top selling app.
7. Reskins are now great options especially if someone is looking for variety. Playing the same genre can be boring – predictability sometimes spells doom. Reskins, especially the newer ones give exciting twists to classic games and mundane applications.

The Bottom Line

The pioneers either reap all the gold or all the ill-fated. And their followers? All the hard work. The reskinning bubble had indeed burst but it is wrong to say that app reskinning is no longer viable. The app industry is showing no signs of slowing down so the only way would be up – up where it is much more competitive and rewarding at the same time. The only way to keep up is to adapt, to evolve into something more than an imitation of what’s on top.