Definition
Application Not Responding (ANR) Rate is the percentage of user sessions where an app freezes or becomes unresponsive for 5+ seconds, preventing user interaction.
Why It Matters for ASO
ANR Rate directly impacts app store rankings and user satisfaction. Apps with high ANR rates accumulate negative reviews and low ratings, which are primary ranking factors in both Google Play and the App Store algorithms. Performance stability signals app quality—users experiencing ANRs are likely to uninstall and leave poor reviews. Google Play explicitly surfaces stability metrics in app listings and considers them in search ranking, making ANR rate a critical ASO performance indicator.
Key Points
- ANR triggers when the main UI thread blocks for 5+ seconds on Android; iOS has similar performance metrics but different terminology
- High ANR rates directly correlate with increased uninstall rates, negative reviews, and lower ratings
- ANR events are logged in Google Play Console's Vitals section and impact overall app health score visibility
- Common causes: heavy computation on main thread, blocking network I/O, unoptimized database queries without async handling
- Monitoring ANR rate through Google Play Console helps identify stability issues before they damage ASO metrics and user retention