Statistics and facts about mobile app usage

Mobile apps are software applications designed to run on smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. They are typically available through app stores which are operated by the owners of the mobile operating system. By 2020, mobile apps are forecast to generate around 189 billion U.S. dollars in revenues via app stores and in-app advertising. Some of the most popular operating system-native stores are Apple's App Store, Google Play, as well as Windows Phone Store and BlackBerry App World. As of June 2016, there were 2.2 million available apps at Google Play store and two billion apps available in the Apple’s App Store, the two leading app stores in the world.

Whereas mobile apps were originally offered as productivity and information retrieval tools such as calendars, e-mail and weather information, the market has rapidly expanded due to users’ demand and availability of developer tools. The most popular app category among Apple iOS users is utilities, followed by social networking, photo and video and games. Tools, communication, video players and edit, travel and local are the leading Android app categories in the world. In the U.S., mobile users spent the majority of their digital time – which varies greatly according to their age group – with mobile music apps. Instant messaging apps are the second most popular mobile app category in the U.S. Indeed, mobile messenger and social apps have experienced a surge in popularity not only in the U.S., but also worldwide. WhatsApp, the leading mobile messaging app in the world, has one billion monthly active users as of 2016.

Many of the most popular mobile properties are mainly accessed via mobile apps instead of mobile browsers. Popular examples are mobile social networking apps, led by Facebook with over a billion monthly active mobile-only users. Facebook is the smartphone app with the highest audience reach in the U.S., as the social networking app was accessed by nearly 80 percent of the mobile audience in the country. Facebook Messenger has the second highest reach in the country, while YouTube ranked third. Some of the everyday activities Americans use Facebook for include discovering new interests, expressing their creativity and relaxing.

Another growing market is mobile retail via shopping apps, as well as mobile gaming and other possibilities of app monetization. E-commerce and retail apps were at the top of the frequency engagement list with an average of 17.5 sessions per month. By 2018, over 35 percent of smartphone and 43 percent of tablet users in the U.S. will have purchased at least one app for their mobile device. According to industry figures, the number of mobile app buyers in the U.S. is projected to reach 85 million by 2018.

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