App analytics firm Flurry said that rather than app discovery being the key challenge for developers, the focus should be on “traffic acquisition”—driving continued use when an app has been installed.

According to the company, from the peak of “100 percent” retention at the point of download, there is a sharp drop to 38 percent one month after – meaning the majority of downloaders are lost as users in the period directly after acquisition. This trend continues steadily onward, to leave just 4 percent of the total downloaders active after one year.

It also said that the focus on gaining top ranks in app store charts to secure new customers is flawed for a number of reasons.  It said that “the bar required to make the top 25 keeps rising,” as the installed base of consumers grows and more apps compete for top spots. In addition, this is a “pure first-time acquisition tool,” rather than prompting existing users to re-launch the app, and as time goes on the relative number of incremental users that can be added grows smaller.

In its blog post, Flurry argues that “only when compelling ways of connecting with existing app users are established, that allow the easy re-launch of an app, can app makers address retention through marketing, and fully control their own traffic acquisition.”

Conveniently, Flurry has also announced a service intended to enable iOS developers to win-back app users, called AppCircle Re-Engagement.