25+ Insightful App Usage Statistics to Know in 2024

Have you ever wondered how much time you spend delving into your favorite apps?

Since the rise of the mobile internet and smartphones, numbers are going in one direction only – up and up! The development and variety of apps are increasing, distribution channels are increasing, downloads and revenue are increasing, but the root cause is our demand for it.

The app usage statistics are clearly showing app popularity is skyrocketing.

How about we go through some of the latest apps statistics together?

Fascinating App Usage Statistics

We’ve been most fascinated by the following facts:

• Nearly 50% of all internet traffic in 2018 and after came via a mobile app and the numbers continue to grow.
• The annual app download statistics speak about 218 billion downloads in 2020. This number is projected to reach over 258 billion app downloads in 2022 with over 2.7 billion smartphone users around the world.
• Mobile apps are expected to generate over $935 billion in revenue by 2023.
• As of July 2019, Android holds 76% of the worldwide mobile market share, while iOS holds 22%.
• With 2.7 billion smartphone users, 90% of the total mobile time is spent on apps.
• The app market for gaming is second to social media apps.

With the growing number of people connected to the web (57% of the total population) and the affordability of smartphones, mobiles are now the preferred shortcut to the world wide web. Hence, the supreme mobile app popularity.

Stay with us to get a glimpse at some more staggering app usage stats we’ve prepared.

Mobile App Usage

1. Nearly 50% of all internet traffic in 2018 and after came via mobile apps and the numbers continue to grow, app usage stats suggest.

(Source: SocialMediaToday)

• There are over 5 billion unique mobile users and close to 4 billion active mobile internet users on the planet as of Jan 2019.
• The average time spent online on a mobile phone in 2019 is 3.14 hours, compared to 2.30 hours in 2017.
• Over 3.2 billion active social media users access said websites via mobile devices.
• WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app in the world with 1.5 billion users in 180 countries.

It’s crystal clear – we like our mobile phones and our apps too. A lot! And we are quite keen on using them too:

• to connect with people
• to browse the internet
• to play games
• to listen to music
• to watch videos
• for work
• for navigation

… and for so much more! So there’s this ‘over choice’ we are facing. Not like we weren’t aware of it before, though. Now let’s look at some insightful app stats.

Are you curious what the apps we download the most are? Our app usage statistics below reveal it!

2. The annual apps download statistics accounted for 218 billion in 2020 and are projected to reach over 258 billion app downloads in 2022.

(Source: BuildFire)

• Over 108 billion apps have been downloaded from Google Play in 2020, generating the largest amount across all app platforms.
• The average number of app downloads per month in 2018 is close to 18.000 million.
• 25% of the mobile apps downloaded worldwide in 2019 were used only once.
• As of 2021, the most downloaded banking app in the USA is Chime (read full review) with close to 6.4 million installs.
• The most downloaded app in the US, on the whole, is, you guessed it, Tik Tok with 850 million downloads in 2020.

With over 90% of all apps from the two most popular app stores available for free, we are tempted to keep on downloading. Although we abandon 25% of the mobile apps after using them once, the mobile app download statistics are quite remarkable.

Let’s look at some more data about the mobile app industry.

Mobile App Revenue and Market Share

3. Mobile apps are expected to generate over $935 billion in revenue by 2023 – good news for the mobile app industry.

(Source: BuildFire)

• People spent 22.6 billion USD on mobile apps across all platforms for the second quarter of 2019.
• The App Store statistics show there are 500 million active users per week.
• As of July 2019, mobile platforms are preferred by the majority with 51%, compared to desktop with 45% and tablet with 3.7%.
• As of the second quarter of 2019, the average price for an app in the App Store is 0.91 USD which shows a slight decrease from 2019 when it was 1.02 USD.

Let’s see – with 52% of the total population being mobile internet users and millions of apps available – that’s a recipe for mass adoption.

Add to that the fact most of them are free or with a price tag close to a dollar, and you can see why the industry is booming. Monetization through in-app advertising is becoming a preferred business model for most app developers.

As the market of mobile devices is constantly evolving at a rapid pace, apps keep attracting new users, even if their market share seemingly remains the same. Bottom line – app developers won’t stay out of work for sure.

Are you curious to find out what was the most downloaded app in 2018 and how many mobile apps are there? The answers are coming!

4. As of July 2019, Android holds 76% of the worldwide mobile market share while iOS holds 22%.

(Source: Statcounter)

• As of 2021, there are  3,432,133 on Google Play, 1,785,924 apps on the iOS App Store, 800,000 on the Windows Store, and 460,619 on the Amazon Appstore.
• The iPhone apps usage stats show that Youtube has been the most downloaded app for 2018, followed by Instagram and Snapchat.
• Facebook Messanger Lite has achieved over 500 million installs in Aug 2019, putting it at the top according to the Android app statistics.

Samsung, Apple, and Huawei are the giants among the vendors of smartphones. Samsung’s market share as of the second quarter of 2019 is close to 23%. Hundreds of millions of devices get shipped to every corner of the planet.

Furthermore, the 4G/LTE (Long-Term Evolution) technology is expected to reach 4 billion users by 2020, and 5G is forecast to reach 159 million by 2021.

As mobile/wireless technology evolves and the mobile devices industry expands, we shall rest assured of the continuous growth of the mobile apps market share too.

What’s the situation with mobile app usage by age? We’ve got that covered too.

App Popularity

5. According to smartphone apps statistics, with 2.7 billion smartphone users, 90% of the total mobile time is spent on apps.

(Source: BuildFire)

• Americans check their phones every 12 minutes.
• 21% of millennials are likely to access any app more than 50 times a day, compared to only 2% of baby boomers.
• The average person spends 2.3 hours a day using mobile apps.

It appears that we use mobile apps equally when it comes to games – both males and females spend 62 minutes playing a game on a mobile device every day.

Mobile app user statistics show we use entertainment apps the most – 69 minutes per day – with the audience being 55% male and 45% female users.

Are you ready for some more facts about the most loved mobile app categories and favorite mobile games? Here they come!

6. One of the stunning facts about apps – the app market for gaming is second to social media apps.

(Source: The Manifest)

• Apple users prefer gaming apps – 25% of all active apps, with Clash of Clans as the most popular gaming apps, generate 1.54 million USD in revenue per day.
• The most popular app categories for 2019 in the Android world are tools, communications, video players, and edit, closely followed by the travel and local categories.
• 98.5% of the Facebook audience uses the app on a smartphone or a tablet.
• Smartphone stats claim that the top 3 mobile apps millennials can’t live without are Amazon, Gmail, and Facebook.
• In 2019, the mobile-accessed accounts on social media are 222 million.
• 77% of mobile Facebook users connect via Android devices, 14% via Apple iOS, and a little over 9% use another mobile OS.
• Candy Crush Saga is the most popular iPhone gaming apps in Aug 2019 with revenue of about 1.62 million USD.
• 25% of mobile app users give up on them because of a lack of storage space.

Wrap Up

It’s true that we are now used to our mobile phone apps – it’s easier and it’s quick, devices are powerful, connection speed improves, and most of the apps are free to download.

The app usage statistics are clear – whether you are an end-user, a business owner, a programmer, you need to consider the growing power and usage of mobile apps and adapt!

It’s time for you to check that favorite app now!

See you soon!