My Earthquake Alerts & Feed Jumps to Top 3 in App Store After Panama Quake in October 2026

The app's chart performance shows two distinct peaks tied to seismic events. On September 28, it reached #1 in the U.S. App Store's Weather category after climbing 48 spots in two days. This followed a period of minor but noticeable earthquakes in California. Its rank then fell to #65 by October 8.

A second, more dramatic ascent occurred on October 9, the day of the Panama quake. The app jumped 57 spots from #65 to #8 in a single day, eventually peaking at #3 on October 10.^[1] This volatility is characteristic of apps whose utility is tied to unpredictable, real-world emergencies.

The ranking surges were not driven by product changes. The app's last update on September 15 was for minor bug fixes. Instead, public demand for information during two specific periods drove the spikes. The first was a cluster of small quakes in Southern California in late September. The second and more significant driver was the magnitude 7.7 earthquake in Panama on October 9, which caused widespread damage and triggered evacuations. The quake was followed by over 100 aftershocks, sustaining the public's need for information.

The app's publisher, JRustonApps B.V., does not generate revenue from this application.^[3] It operates on a free, ad-free model, making download volume its primary metricGlossaryNorth Star MetricThe single metric a company aligns around — capturing both growth and value delivery in one number that the whole organization works to move. of success. This strategy appears to depend entirely on event-driven user acquisition.

Download data confirms this link. Daily downloads peaked at over 19k on September 27, preceding the app's #1 rank. After the Panama earthquake on October 9, downloads jumped from 748 the prior day to nearly 6.2k, demonstrating an immediate response to the natural disaster.

User feedback for the app is sharply divided. Over the last 90 days, reviews are almost evenly split between 1-star (42.1%) and 5-star (40.4%).^[4] Positive reviews praise it as an "excellent tool" and "very informative."

However, a critical flaw noted in many negative reviews is the notification latency. Users across multiple app versions report that alerts arrive too late to be useful as a warning. One 1-star reviewer from the last 30 days stated, "Alarm sounds too late after3 or 5 minutes this app not work." Another wrote, "Es buena pero suena como de 5 a 20 minutos después" (It's good but it sounds about 5 to 20 minutes later). This functional gap appears to be the main source of user frustration.

The performance of 'My Earthquake Alerts & Feed' shows how event-driven apps function in the App Store ecosystem. Their relevance and rank are not sustained by marketing but are instead dictated by external emergencies. The app's future ranking will likely follow this pattern: a sharp decline in quiet periods, followed by a rapid climb when the next significant earthquake hits.

The persistent complaints about notification delays present a risk. While the app succeeds in acquiring users during a crisis, it may struggle to retain them if its core function as an early warning system is perceived as unreliable. Addressing the alert latency could solidify its market position, but without it, the app may remain a temporary tool for many users.