50+ Essential Mobile App Statistics [2024 Updated]

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With over half the worldwide population using smartphones, developers have seen a huge market to exploit to make profits. Today’s majority depends on smart device apps to perform different tasks, so most cannot do without them.

We aren’t just talking about utility apps that could be productive. The game industry has shifted from developing games normally played on game consoles to versions that work on mobile devices. Of course, there is a huge demand for such versions, and game developers are struggling to meet the demands. Mobile apps accounted for 3.8 trillion hours of consumer time in 2022.

Suppose you seek advice on creating content and what platforms to use to reach your target audience more effectively. This article is precisely what you need because it presents objective facts and statistics about mobile apps that will influence your decision.

General Mobile App Statistics 2024

1. A smartphone user accesses an average of 30 mobile apps in a month, at the rate of 10 every day, give or take.
2. At the current going rate, mobile apps are expected to generate more than $935 billion in funds by the end of 2024.
3. Check this out. When looking at the time spent on media in the digital world in America, about 70% of those came from mobile apps.
4. Apple fans will be pleased that their app store is filled with a whopping 1.96 million apps for downloads.
5. It’s not that we mean to turn this into an Android/Apple war, but Google Playstore boasts 2.87 million apps available for Android users.
6. An app is opened more than 11 times a day by 49% of folks.
7. 21% of folks between the ages of 23 and 38 years usually open an app more than 50 times in a single day.
8. The number of mobile apps available for download has increased by 82% since 2016.
9. This will capture your interest as a brand owner. In 2021, an average of $320,000 was spent on app stores every minute.
10. A US user goes through their mobile apps 262 times daily to show how dependent people have become on their smartphones.

Mobile App Usage Statistics

11. The year 2023 ended with mobile apps bringing in up to $932 billion in revenue.

12. About 4.3% of IOS users are likely to keep using an app 30 days after downloading it, whereas 2.6% of Android users do so.

13. In 2022, a mind-boggling 3.8 trillion hours were spent using mobile apps worldwide.

14. The number of new apps introduced into the market in 2021 alone reached 2 million.

15. Kenya had the highest number of downloads in 2021.

16. WhatsApp remains the most downloaded and used messaging app globally.

17. Android users are known to spend up to 90% of their time on mobile apps.

18. It’s intriguing to know that 72% of time spent on mobile apps is dedicated to video/photo and social media apps.

19. Amazon leads the way for online shopping platforms, with almost half a million apps available for downloads.

20. Google Play Store has over a million publishers thanks to its open-source operating system. In August 2021, the platform had over 1,061,994 publishers in its ecosystem, more than Apple’s. Remember, this is not a fan war between the two OSs.

21. Curious about publishers on IOS? Well, Apple has about 700,000 publishers, give or take.

22. 42% of sales from the top 500 online traders came from mobile apps.

23. Daily, an average of 1,262 apps are launched on the Apple store, with the platform recording about 7,964 new mobile apps. By the time it gets to a month, we are looking at an average of 35,871 apps.

24. The average user in China uses 7 apps a day, which demands about 7.56 hours of their time, and frequently opens an app 67 times per day.

Mobile Apps Yearly Download Statistics

More and more people have continued to depend on mobile apps for their day-to-day activities, with the download rate increasing yearly. The table below will give us the stats at a glance on the trend of downloads since 2016:

Statistics on the Most Downloaded Android Apps in the World

The Android mobile operating system is arguably the most popular platform for smartphone users. Let’s see how their apps get ranked in this category, starting from the top:

25. On the first download day, an Android user uses the app at 22.6%, slowly dropping to 6.6% in the next 7 days.

26. it is 25.6% for Apple users on the first download day.

27. Of course, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. Social media and communication apps are the most used genres in America, followed by mail apps and browsers.

28. In search of more convenience, 61% of people between 18 and 34 years old have expressed the need to be able to use an app with just one hand.

29. Speaking of complaints, about 49% of people in the age group of 23 to 38 years admit the worst user experience is using apps that drain lots of their smart device battery power.

30. Among people who permanently stop using an app, 70% say they are discouraged by very slow apps.

31. Smartphone users between the ages of 11 and 26 are known to spend 20% more sessions on apps not game-related than the older age categories, which is about 4.1 hours a month.

32. Another point that is hated by people from 23 years of age to 34 is apps that use up a lot of their mobile data and could be a deciding factor if they are to download an app or not.

33. From the same age group, 73% of them engage in mobile shopping at least 4 times a week.

The 10 Most Downloaded Apps on the Apple Store in America

It would be unfair to list the mobile app stats without covering IOS. So let’s see what it looks like over there, thanks to a report. This time around, we prefer to use a table for easier understanding:

Mobile App Category Stats on the Apple Store

Still, on Apple, let’s shed light on the distribution of apps according to the groups they fall into:

34. It has been reported that 54% of individuals from this age group have mobile devices, with over three screens filled with mobile apps.

35. It might shock you that 70% of these people play games on their mobile phones daily.

36. Instagram is the most downloaded social media app globally, with 68.92 million downloads.

37. Your guess is as good as ours. Facebook boasts a record 38.52 million downloads, placing the social media platform second on the list.

38. Another platform from Facebook’s parent company, Meta, known as WhatsApp, follows up with an impressive 29.57 million downloads.

39. You must be familiar with Mast, a video maker of music status. Well, they recorded 26.02 million downloads worldwide.

40. Facebook Lite made the top five list with 24.76 million downloads. Honestly, we expected this app to be number 4.

41. With 23.77 million downloads, Viamaker is solidly rooted at number 6, beating TikTok, which has 23.73 million downloads.

42. If you thought Facebook Lite was a bit disappointing where it appeared on the list, Instagram Lite is massively disappointing, with just 22.91 million downloads, a far cry from its main app.

43. The number 8 worldwide is Snapchat, at 21,55 million.

44. At 17.55 million downloads, TikTok Lite follows up on the list.

45. Whatsapp business makes the top ten most downloaded mobile apps at 16.22 million downloads.

46. Apps in the game category make up the most on this platform. To put things into perspective, we are talking about 14,669 paid and 206,669 free apps, bringing it to 221,338 in this group. 

Mobile Apps Demographic Statistics by Age

Once again, we use a table to help make it more convenient for you:

47. Next in line are business apps, with 195,464 apps (2,202 paid apps and 193,262 free apps). 

48. Utility apps are third on the list, with 8,916 paid and 176,190 free versions. That’s a total of 185,106 apps. 

49. With 180.876 apps, the education genre comfortably fits fourth on the list. Amongst these, 17,732 will have to be paid for, while 163,144 are for free. 

50. Up to 146,715 mobile apps tagged as lifestyle exist (143,685 are free, while 3,030 are paid). 

51. The food and drink category has up to 117,704 free apps, with 874 in the paid group, which is 118,578. 

52. The last and certainly the least is the mobile apps’ health and fitness group, which has 3,098 paid and 99,642 free.

Final Thoughts 

Considering the unbiased statistics on mobile apps, it will be safe to say that modern man cannot do without them. The percentage of people using mobile devices and the number of times they use such apps says it all. This growth trend for mobile app use is not ending soon because technology keeps advancing, and more immersive devices and apps will emerge. If you want to start up your brand or any business idea, making it available to your target audience through mobile apps might be your ticket to fly high, as these have become a lifestyle for most people.

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