How to find Shopify stores that recently uninstalled a competitor app
To find Shopify stores that recently uninstalled a competitor app, compare each store's app stack at two points in time: an app that was on the storefront before and is gone now is a likely uninstall. Shopify does not publish this. Only the app's own developer sees its uninstalls, so everyone else either takes repeated snapshots or buys a tool that already does.
Step by step
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1.
If it is your own app, start in the Partner Dashboard
Shopify gives app developers their own uninstall data for free: the Uninstalls metric, time-to-uninstall buckets, and Uninstalled events in app history and the Partner API. It never shows uninstalls of someone else's app.
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2.
Build a watch list of target stores
Pick the stores you care about: users of the competitor app today, in your market and size range. Our guide on checking which apps a store uses shows how to confirm the app is there.
See how to check which Shopify apps a store uses. App Store reviews are a free source too: each review shows the store's name, its country and how long it has used the app, and some say which app the store switched from.
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3.
Snapshot each store's app stack on a schedule
Record the detected apps for every store on the list, then repeat weekly. Save the date of each snapshot: a removal is only as recent as the last snapshot that still showed the app.
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4.
Confirm every removal by hand before you act
When an app disappears, reload the product and cart pages and search the source again. Check whether a same-category app appeared: a clean swap (one reviews app out, another in) is a far stronger signal than a removal alone.
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5.
Or use a tool that sells removal dates
Some store databases track detected apps over time and let you filter by removal date. Read the next section for what each one offers, and remember their removals are detections too.
Why most raw removal signals are noise
StoreRadar's crawler records an app removal whenever an app it saw on a store is gone on the next crawl. From September 27 to October 2, 2026, it logged 27,253 raw removals. Only 731 passed our two checks: the earlier crawl was recent enough to date the change, and the removal was not part of a burst from a store coming back online.
The rest were real differences between two crawls that we cannot date or trust. A naive diff of two snapshots has the same problem, so date every snapshot and confirm removals by hand.
Tools that sell removal dates (as of October 2, 2026)
| Tool | What it offers for removals |
|---|---|
| Store Leads | A "Removal Date" filter on detected apps, plus saved lists and notifications when a store uninstalls an app. Paid. |
| BootLeads | A filter for Shopify apps removed in the last 90 days. Free to start, paid for volume. |
| StoreInspect | Matched app snapshots taken at least 30 days apart, with a public study of removals and same-category swaps. Paid. |
| StoreRadar | Records installs and removals between crawls but sells no uninstall search yet. Alerts are on a waitlist. |
Limits of every method
- Detection lag. An outside tool only sees a removal when it crawls the store again. Of the 516,120 stores with a detected app in StoreRadar, 109,629 (about 21%) had a crawl that saw their apps in the 60 days to October 2, 2026.
- Admin-only apps never show. If the app leaves nothing on the storefront, nobody outside the store can see it arrive or leave.
- Consent banners and flaky pages. An app that loads only after cookie consent, or a page that times out, can look like a removal.
- Theme changes. A new theme can drop an app block while the app stays installed.
Do it with StoreRadar
- Join the StoreRadar Signals waitlist: we are building install and uninstall alerts on the apps you name. Free to join, no price yet.
- Check which apps a store uses: start your watch list with the free Shopify store checker.
FAQ
Does Shopify publish which stores uninstalled an app?
No. Shopify shows uninstalls only to the developer of the app, in the Partner Dashboard and Partner API. Every other source infers removals from the public storefront.
How recent is a recent uninstall?
No more recent than the last snapshot that still showed the app. With weekly snapshots, a removal is up to a week old when you see it. A database that recrawls a store every few months can show a removal that happened months ago.
Can I find these stores with StoreRadar?
Not as a search yet. StoreRadar records app installs and removals between crawls, but sells no uninstall filter today. You can join the Signals waitlist, or compare the Shopify Apps column of two StoreRadar downloads yourself, knowing that most stores are not recrawled between them.
Is a store that dropped a competitor app a good lead?
Sometimes. A removal can mean a switch, a cheaper replacement, a theme change, a closed store or a detection gap. Treat it as a reason to look, then check what replaced the app before you write.