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Home » Blogs » 2024 Mobile App Statistics: Downloads, Usage, and Revenue Insights
By Gaurav Parvadiya | Last Updated On July 1st, 2024
Online traffic and downloads for mobile app shops are rising as mobile phones become more popular for daily tasks and communication. Mobile app market growth is imminent and will be unparalleled in the near future.
Since more than 6.3 billion people use smartphones, the mobile app market has grown rapidly. By 2028, this figure is expected to exceed 7.7 billion. App use and adoption of smartphones are rising steadily, with no sign of slowing.
Even if the mobile app industry has become crowded, it still has the potential to boost your business. Marketers and business owners must understand mobile app market trends and consumption statistics worldwide.
If you are a business owner who wants to explore app stores and launch a mobile app for user engagement and satisfaction to increase brand exposure and scalability but is hesitant to start the transformation of your business.
Here in this blog, we have covered essential statistical aspects of the mobile app industry that will help you understand the potential of this industry. So, let’s dive into the details:
Apps cannot succeed without downloads.
It sounds simple, yet app owners frequently ignore it. You could have the best app on the earth, but if no one downloads it, you won’t make any money.
So, before you can get people to download your app, you should undertake the necessary research. To get you started, I’ve compiled the most essential mobile app download statistics for 2024.
Smartphones and tablets are now widely used by people all around the world.
Mobile app use is likewise increasing in popularity from country to country.
Each year, the number of app downloads increases. This trend will likely continue for some decades.
The preceding year had over 218 billion app downloads. This is around a 7% increase over the previous year.
According to the statistics above, there was around 78% growth between 2016 and 2020. The annual growth rate is not as steep, but it is still increasing.
When developing a no-code mobile app, one of the first things you need to consider is your monetization approach.
That’s why you’re creating an app in the first place, correct? To earn money.
You might have considered charging for app downloads. But will people download your software if you charge them for it?
Let’s look at the number of free and premium app downloads. The great majority of global downloads are completely free.
Free apps account for 98% of total mobile app income worldwide. Just a small percentage of consumers are prepared to pay for downloads.
It doesn’t mean that you should abandon the concept of establishing a premium app. Depending on the sort of app, both tactics can be beneficial.
If you charge for the first downloads, fewer mobile users will install the software. That’s because the majority of consumers are accustomed to receiving free downloads.
Simply glance at your own mobile device. Are there any apps that you paid to install? You are in the minority if you do.
However, those who download paid apps are more likely to be engaged. They are not going to spend money on something they would never use.
However, you don’t have to charge for downloads to make money with your software.
If you own an existing business and have an app as an extension of that business to improve the client experience, you should definitely provide free downloads.
Mobile app consumers do not expect to pay for downloads. This is because the great majority of programs on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store are free.
As of March 2024, around 97% of apps were available for free. Both marketplaces, Apple and Google have relatively more free apps than paid ones.
Even if you’re starting a new business, you can make money by making your software available for free. There are also alternative revenue tactics, such as providing in-app purchases.
To find popular apps, the majority of mobile users typically download them from the iOS and Android app stores. Let’s examine how the most downloaded apps globally and the accessibility of the most well-liked mobile apps differ between the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
Downloads from the Google Play Store are increasing on a global scale. It’s important to remember, though, that both marketplaces saw an increase in download percentages in 2019 and 2020. The Google Play Store had a 31% growth rate in mobile app downloads, whereas the Apple App Store had a measly 2.5% growth rate. As a result, there are more downloads and the Google Play Store is growing more quickly. These trends are expected to continue in 2024.
To comprehend the world of mobile apps, one must go deeper into the numbers and statistics and examine each platform independently:
Starting with the Apple App Store’s download data for apps. As of Q3 2022, the most well-liked categories for the most frequently used apps in the Apple App Store are:
To find out the availability of apps on the Apple App Store. Let’s examine how the Apple App Store has changed over the course of its existence:
When the App Store first launched on July 10, 2008, it had 500 apps available. In 2017, there were approximately 2.2 million apps at its peak.
A staggering $20 billion was earned by Apple app developers in 2016.
With time, the App Store grew & currently boasts millions of mobile applications.
The number of mobile apps accessible in the app store peaked in 2017 at around 2.2 million.
The data indicated a minor decline in the following years once Apple started to remove outdated or 32-bit applications.
The App Store had more than 1.8 million apps accessible in 2021.
There were more than a million game apps available in the App Store by July 2023, but there were only about 3.83 million non-gaming apps available. It’s interesting to note that the number of mobile applications available in Apple’s App Store decreased by over a quarter (25%) between the second and third quarters of 2022.
It took a big change for the Android Market to become the Google Play Store that we know today. Let’s find out how many apps are accessible on Google Play:
Google Play Store Availability:
Let’s take a quick look at the Google Play Store’s history from the beginning to the present:
Most Popular App Categories on the Google Play Store:
The most popular app categories for the second quarter of 2022, according to the Google Play Store, are as follows:
After observing the global app download process, it’s time to examine the mobile app usage trends.
The typical smartphone user uses their gadget for three hours and ten minutes per day. Roughly 90% of smartphone usage is devoted to apps, taking up about 2 hours and 51 minutes of this time.
30 apps are used monthly by the average person, while 9 apps are used daily.
Over 62% of the 80 apps that the typical smartphone user has on their device are not used on a monthly basis.
What does this signify?
It’s easy. Apps are being downloaded but not used.
As a matter of fact, 25% of downloaded apps are only ever used once before being deleted.
As you recently discovered, using a mobile app after downloading is not assured. If your app has already been released onto the market, some of you may already be aware of this.
Even though the number of downloads may have spiked initially, you’re having trouble turning a profit because not enough users are using the software. It’s a prevalent issue that I encounter while offering app owners advice.
However, how can you tell whether you’re experiencing this? Retention and churn rates are the most accurate ways to gauge this.
Within the first 90 days of downloading an app, 71% of users abandon it.
What does your app and you stand to gain from this?
In essence, you must monitor these indicators. Provide consumers with a compelling reason to return and utilize your software in the future.
Since retention will never reach 100%, you must constantly be thinking of fresh strategies to attract downloads. Having said that, this does not imply that you should disregard current users.
Users are more likely to quit your app if it is unresponsive, has problems, or has a poor user experience. An app is never flawless. There are occasional flaws in even the best software. However, it is your duty to recognize those mistakes. Develop fresh iterations and upgrades for your app to enhance usability and performance.
We already discussed the popularity of apps in terms of what may be downloaded and their penetration by category.
However, this does not imply that they are being utilized merely because they are available. In actuality, downloading them does not imply that they are being used either. We’ve previously seen the evidence to support that assertion.
This list explains why it makes sense. Each of the most popular applications has a variety of uses and may be used frequently.
However, this list is not a recommendation list. As a business owner, you must analyze the market, the demands of your target audience, and future growth predictions to conclude some outcome.
As we’ve seen, developing apps for iOS and Android manifestly differs in several ways in terms of download and usage.
Why?
Apparently, not every user is the same. You can see that users of Android and Apple devices behave differently from one another.
It is projected that in 2024, consumer spending on apps (including in-app purchases, paid apps, and subscriptions) on the App Store for iPhone users will total $124 billion, while $51 billion will be spent on apps on Google Play for Android users.
In 2024, 68.13% of all consumer spending on mobile applications went to iPhone users, while Android continued to hold a 31.87% global share of app spending.
According to data from Comscore Mobile Metrix, individuals in the 25–34 age range use mobile applications more frequently than those in any other age group, only just outpacing those in the 18–24 age range. With 75 hours of mobile app usage per month, the 25–34 age group outperformed the 35–54 and 55 and above age groups by around 11 and 25 hours, respectively.
Although owning a tablet is more common among 25–34-year-olds (48 percent of mobile users) than it is among 18–24-year-olds (35 percent of tablet users), youth is still one of the most dependable indicators of app consumption. This could be the reason why this age group is more engaged.
Not everyone uses mobile devices in the same way. Apart from the variations in operating systems, people’s usage patterns also depend on the kind of mobile device they use.
You may use so many different gadgets to consume digital information.
Individuals own laptops, desktop computers, tablets, and smartphones. Even smart watches, TVs, smart homes, and smart cars can access information and apps.
However, there are some sectors where smartphone app usage is more prevalent than others. These are the main app categories for which users search on their smartphones.
In the US, smartphones accounted for 96% of digital map-using time. Smartphone apps were the primary means of consuming 86% of digital weather content.
It is logically consistent. A smartphone is undoubtedly the greatest option because people need to access maps and GPS services while they are on the go.
However, if you scroll down this list, you’ll find other less evident types.
For example, smartphone apps account for 47% of retail consumption. Despite the abundance of options for online shopping, a large percentage of people still choose to utilize smartphones.
Information and news is another area that immediately catches my attention. Even though only over 40% of people use smartphones, that’s still a significant percentage given the variety of other platforms and media that are available to us.
There are various variations between tablets and smartphones as well.
There are twice as many smartphones as tablets in the world (2.7 billion versus 1.35 billion). However, tablet usage is beginning to overtake smartphone usage.
Individuals are using and downloading more apps on their smartphones each month. However, as the image shows, tablets aren’t far behind.
It makes sense that smartphone use will increase given that they are seemingly always within arm’s reach.
But when it comes to paid apps or subscriptions that may be purchased through an app, tablets just barely beat smartphones. Tablets may continue to rule this area for some time to come.
Tablets serve a distinct role even though they aren’t as common as smartphones.
These are some of the most often utilized app categories on tablets.
It is possible to conclude that users are more likely to pay for gaming apps installed on tablets if you compare this graph to the one from before.
The gaming experience and user interface will be improved by the larger screens on tablets. Tablet users are presumably willing to pay extra for downloads and subscriptions because of this.
Like almost everything else, behavior varies with place. A similar approach may be extended to app use.
We’ll investigate and analyze how individuals in various parts of the world utilize mobile apps. You can use this information to learn more about the audience you’re targeting or to identify prospective opportunities in new markets.
Here’s a breakdown of the top app store downloads by major countries worldwide.
Between 2016 and 2022, the number of downloads continued to rise. But in 2023, the total number of app downloads worldwide reached 257 billion, only increasing by 1% from the previous year.
According to Statista, through the end of 2023, China emerged as the clear leader in app downloads. China recorded almost 113 billion downloads of mobile apps from its citizens in 2023. In the same year, users in the United States generated around 12.6 billion downloads of mobile apps, while users in India reached 26 billion downloads. In most of the countries under investigation, there has been a favorable trend in the increase of mobile app downloads in recent years.
As technology evolves and becomes more accessible in emerging regions around the world, the opportunity to target overseas consumers with an app may appeal to certain firms.
Now, let’s look at how much time people spend using mobile apps in various areas throughout the world.
In many ways, this graph mimics what we observed before. As downloads increase in India, it makes sense that users will spend more time using apps.
There is one thing that is common throughout all of these countries. Every year, people spend more time using smartphone apps. For instance, according to Techcrunch in India, time spent on apps increased by 35% between Q4 2019 and Q2 2020. Growth rates in Italy and Indonesia were 25% and 30%, respectively. Time spent on apps increased by 15% in the US.
Android has the highest Mobile app statistics global market share. So it comes as no surprise that the Google Play Store accounts for the great majority of app downloads worldwide.
In the first quarter of 2023, people downloaded almost 27 billion apps from Google Play. In contrast, mobile apps received approximately 8.1 billion downloads in the Apple App Store. The Google Play marketplace has always received the most app downloads, while the Apple App Store generates more income.
In the app sector, Mobile apps stats revenue numbers are quite important. They offer insightful information about the financial performance of apps and how they affect the world economy. App developers and companies can make well-informed judgments regarding their plans, such as identifying the most lucrative app categories, with the aid of these numbers and insights.
Also, businesses can learn important information about the app industry’s financial performance. When developing mobile apps, market research is extremely valuable. Now, let’s dive into the world of Mobile apps stats revenue by Statista:
It is anticipated that the App Market would generate US$420.80 billion in sales by 2022.
By 2027, the market is estimated to have grown to a projected volume of US$673.80 billion, with an annual growth rate (CAGR 2022–2027) of 8.83% for total revenue.
The app market’s in-app purchase (IAP) income is anticipated to reach US$149.90 billion by 2022.
In the app market, paid app revenue is expected to reach US$5.02 billion by 2022.
In 2022, the App market is expected to generate US$265.80 billion in revenue from advertising.
As of right now, an average revenue per download is anticipated to reach $1.79 USD.
It is time to leverage the benefits of Mobile App Development for your Business because if you don’t, your competitors may extract you from the market.
The 2024 mobile app landscape shows astounding figures that demonstrate the industry’s rapid growth and changing patterns. From rising downloads and user engagement to rising revenue sources, mobile apps have become essential tools in our daily lives.
Mobile app growth is expected to continue. AI and augmented reality will change app features and user experiences.
Twinr, a top no-code app builder, lets you use current trends without technical experience. Twinr streamlines mobile app development for small business owners and entrepreneurs, letting them focus on creativity and strategy.
Now is the time to implement your ideas. Twinr’s website-to-app converter lets you convert your website into an app and deliver high-quality mobile apps quickly. Take advantage of the growing app market to expand your audience and revenue.
Ready to start? Request a free trial or consultation from Twinr today. Our expertise will help you maximize mobile app technologies.
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Gaurav is the founder and CEO of Twinr, a tech entrepreneur with a decade of experience and a passion for SaaS. With a Master's degree in Computer Science, he specializes in no-code development, driving innovation in the mobile app industry. When he's not busy growing the company, you'll find him writing about tech, growth, software development, e-commerce, and occasionally sneaking in a game of badminton.
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