Run an Audit
An audit analyzes your live store listing across every audit engine and produces a scored report with prioritized recommendations. You run one from inside a project whenever you want a fresh read on where your ASO stands — after a listing change, before planning a revision, or on a schedule.
Before you start
Section titled “Before you start”- The project must have a linked store for the storefront you want to audit. See Google Play Linking or the App Store equivalent.
- Auditing consumes plan entitlements. Which engines run — and how far back the Sentiment Engine looks — depends on your plan. See Plans and entitlements.
- One audit run covers one store and one locale. If your project has more than one configured locale, see Per store and per locale below.
Start a run
Section titled “Start a run”1. Open the project and pick the store
Section titled “1. Open the project and pick the store”Open the project. The store switcher (App Store / Play Store) selects which storefront the audit runs against. Audits always run against the store you have selected.
2. Click Run Full Audit
Section titled “2. Click Run Full Audit”- On a project that has never been audited for the selected store, the empty state reads No Audit Available with the copy “Run a full audit to get a comprehensive ASO performance overview with actionable recommendations.” Click Run Full Audit.
- On a project that already has a report, use the Re-run action (also labeled Run New Audit in the run dialog) from the audit view or Watchtower.
3. Confirm and start
Section titled “3. Confirm and start”The Run New Audit dialog confirms the App ID, Store, and Region it’s about to audit. Click Start Audit.
What you’ll see while it runs
Section titled “What you’ll see while it runs”The run streams live progress. It moves through these states:
- Queued — briefly, if the engine hasn’t picked the run up yet (“Starts shortly…”).
- Running Audit… — a per-engine progress list shows each engine as it works. An audit takes a few minutes; the keyword work is usually the longest leg.
- Audit Complete — a success state with a View your report button.
You don’t have to keep the dialog open. You can close it and keep working — the run continues in the background, and Apptonomy emails you when the audit is ready. On a re-run, your existing report stays on screen unchanged until the new one finishes, so nothing flashes to a loading state mid-read.
Verify it worked
Section titled “Verify it worked”When the run completes you’ll see Audit completed successfully and a View your report button. Opening the report should show the overall ASO Readiness Score and every engine section appropriate to your plan. To learn how to read it, see Understanding your report.
Per store and per locale
Section titled “Per store and per locale”An audit is scoped to one store and one locale:
- App Store audits are scoped by country/region.
- Play Store audits are scoped by country and language.
If your project has multiple configured locales and you start an audit without pinning one, Apptonomy fans out and runs a separate audit for every configured locale. Each locale gets its own report and its own score, so you can see how the listing performs market by market. Running against a store you haven’t linked isn’t possible — link it first.
When a run doesn’t fully succeed
Section titled “When a run doesn’t fully succeed”An audit doesn’t fail all-or-nothing. If most engines finish but one or two don’t, you get a partial report rather than an error.
Partial coverage
Section titled “Partial coverage”If a specific engine couldn’t finish, the completion dialog says Your report is ready (partial coverage) and names which section is missing (for example, “The Keyword engine couldn’t finish, so that section is missing”). Everything else is present and scored. The overall score is computed from the engines that did run — a missing engine’s weight is redistributed across the rest, so the score stays on a 0–100 scale. See How the overall score handles missing engines.
The whole run failed
Section titled “The whole run failed”If the run fails outright, you’ll see Audit Failed with an error message and a Try Again button. On the project view, a banner reads “Audit failed.” with a Retry link. Note the Run ID shown in the dialog if you need to report the problem.
Troubleshooting
Section titled “Troubleshooting”The audit seems stuck on “Running”
Section titled “The audit seems stuck on “Running””The audit seems stuck on Running
Audits run for a few minutes, and the keyword work can take a while against external data sources. If a run genuinely stalls, Apptonomy detects the stalled run server-side and marks it failed so you can retry — you don’t need to leave the dialog open for this to happen. Refreshing the page mid-run reconnects you to the running audit; it does not start a new one.
I clicked Run again and it reconnected instead of starting fresh
Section titled “I clicked Run again and it reconnected instead of starting fresh”It reconnected instead of starting fresh
If a run for the same app, store, and locale is already in flight, Apptonomy reconnects you to it rather than starting a duplicate. Wait for the active run to finish, then run again.
The button is greyed out or shows a gating state
Section titled “The button is greyed out or shows a gating state”The button is greyed out or shows a gating state
Auditing requires an active plan entitlement. If your trial has expired or your plan doesn’t include audit execution, you’ll see an upgrade prompt instead of a spinner. See Plans and entitlements.