iOS developers are using app updates as a strategic tool to reignite interest in apps that have fallen off the radar, driving additional downloads and bringing in fresh users, according to a study by Italian researchers.

The research paper examined the top 1,000 apps across the iTunes and Google Plays stores in five different European countries over the course of six months, and found that updates were more likely to be released when developers had observed a “worsening” of the apps performance.

The paper, Update Management in Mobile Applications. iTunes vs Google Play, broke down the differences between updates on the two operating systems, with the researchers concluding that updates were better at driving downloads on iOS.

Developers on both platforms release updates with what was described as “an extremely high frequency”, although Android updates were delivered almost twice as frequently, with the average update coming every 28 days, compared to 59 days on iOS.

The researchers theorised that the higher frequency was due to a lack of any quality review process, with updates of varying quality being applied to Android apps. This same frequency dilutes the overall impact of the updates, meaning the iOS updates are seen as more significant.

In iOS apps, the researchers found that minor updates, such as small tweaks to app performance and bug fixes, were used as a strategic tool to boost performance in the app store, and were more likely to occur when apps were performing poorly. Major updates, however, were not affected by this trend, as their longer development time means the schedule for their rollout tends to be more fixed.