Why merchants uninstall your Shopify app
When a merchant removes your app, Shopify asks for a reason. The answer is recorded with the uninstall and returned by the Partner API. Read together with when the uninstall happened, it is the cheapest user research you will ever get.
By Arthur Renard, updated
Where the reason is
In the Partner API, an uninstall is an app event of type RelationshipUninstalled. It carries two fields: reason, the option the merchant picked, and description, the free text they may have added. The Partner dashboard shows individual uninstalls; the API lets you count them.
Since April 23, 2026 (announced on April 29), merchants must pick a reason before they can uninstall. The options are: testing multiple apps, store closing or pausing, not using the app now, not satisfied with features, not satisfied with support, too expensive, not working properly, and other. Uninstalls recorded before that date can have no reason at all.
The reason is not sent with the app/uninstalled webhook, according to Shopify staff. Read it from the Partner API or the Partner dashboard.
Read the reason with the timing
| When they leave | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| Within a day of installing | They were testing, or setup lost them. Look at the first screen and the first required step. |
| Before the trial ends | They understood the app and decided it was not worth the price, or it did not do the one thing they came for. |
| After the first charges | Something changed: the price, a competitor, a bug, or their store. The free text matters most here. |
A store closing says nothing about your app. Shopify records it as a separate event, and since 2026, when a merchant schedules the closure of their store, Shopify also uninstalls its apps at the end of the billing cycle with the reason scheduled_cancellation (a Shopify staff reply, April 2026). Keep these apart from real departures or your churn will look worse than it is.
Watch for a break in the pattern
A steady trickle of uninstalls is normal. A jump is a signal: a release that broke something, a change on Shopify's side, a price change. A simple rule works well: compare the last nine days with the nine before, and look closer when uninstalls rise by more than 15% and there are at least five of them.
What to do with each reason
- Not working properly: read the free text and the timing first. Many of these leave within a day, which points at setup rather than a bug.
- Testing multiple apps: nothing to fix, but check which search or category brings these stores. Some sources send testers, others send buyers.
- Too expensive: compare with the plan they were on and how much they used the app before deciding it is the price.
- Not satisfied with features: read the free text. This is your roadmap, written by people who almost stayed.
- Not using the app now, or store closing or pausing: count them, but do not treat them as a verdict on your app.
Luseri groups these reasons for you, shows retention by cohort, and lists the stores that left.
Questions
- Do all merchants give a reason?
- Since April 23, 2026 (announced on April 29), picking a reason is required to uninstall. Uninstalls before that date can have none, and not every merchant adds a comment: treat the free text as a sample, not a census.
- Is an uninstall the same as a cancellation?
- Not exactly. A merchant can cancel a paid plan and keep the app, or uninstall during a trial without ever paying. Follow both.
- Can I contact a merchant who uninstalled?
- Shopify's rules on merchant data and contact still apply after an uninstall. Check the Partner Program Agreement before you write to them.