Since the beginning of the pandemic, a significant change in consumer behavior worldwide has forced organizations across all verticals to re-evaluate their business models. As we all have begun to adapt to our new reality, it has become evident how important digital transformation has become. While global lockdowns brought a lot of uncertainty to many businesses, some marketers recognized it as an opportunity to pivot and provide additional value to their users. The truth of the matter is, having a mobile presence has become imperative to survival. As mobility continues to redefine how industries operate, traditional enterprises need to be conscious of the fact that they are no longer just in competition with each other, but with mobile-first companies that have captured the attention of an increasingly mobile society.  

However, finding success in the mobile app market is not an easy task. Breaking into the mobile market is an iterative process that requires in-depth research, extensive planning, and unbeatable dedication. Understanding the current mobile landscape is imperative to both enterprises that currently have mobile services, and those looking to break into the market as they move forward in developing a mobile strategy that best suits their business objectives.  

Before committing to mobile app development, it’s important to be familiar with the mobile landscape as a whole. The following is a complete list of 50 mobile app statistics that will provide insight into the market you’re about to enter and guide your mobile app growth strategy. 

 

 

Mobile App Usage Statistics

As the number of app downloads, mobile users, and mobile devices worldwide is projected to substantially increase in 2022, it’s clear how integral mobility is to our society.  

1. By 2025, there will be a projected 7.49 billion mobile users worldwide. (Source)
2. In 2021 there were 230 billion global app downloads. (Source)
3. In 2021 app store spend hit $170 billion worldwide, an increase of 30 percent year-over-year. (Source)
4. Globally, the average mobile user spent 4.8 hours on their mobile device in 2021. (Source)
5. Seven of every 10 minutes on mobile was spent on social and photo & video apps in 2021. (Source)
6. Total hours spent watching video streaming apps grew 32% worldwide since pre-pandemic levels.  (Source)
7. Americans spent 27.7 percent more time on mobile than watching live TV each day. (Source)
8. 53.96 of web traffic comes from mobile phones. (Source)
9. 92.5 percent of time spent on a mobile phone is spent using mobile apps while 7.5 percent of mobile time is spent using web browsers (Source)
10. Of total smartphone time spent using apps, 43 percent of time is spent on social and communication apps, 25.4 percent on photo and video apps, 7.7 percent on gaming apps, 3.1 percent on entertainment apps, and 20.8 percent on other categories.. (Source)

 

Mobile users don’t just find their devices convenient, they are dependent on them. Given the continued increase in dependence on mobile, it’s critical to adapt business models to match key audiences’ behavior. If a large majority of your audience is mobile-first or mobile-only, your business needs to communicate with them based on their preference.  

Mobile Performance

When it comes to mobile, users have exceptionally high standards for functionality and performance. It’s mandatory to adapt digital content to translate seamlessly across varying screen sizes and multiple devices. 

Native apps are fast, responsive, and deliver a generally well-received user experience. These applications have access to inbuilt hardware, as well as support for every interface interaction offered by the respective operating system.  

Nevertheless, enterprises can’t neglect mobile web content. Mobile web applications are ideally suited for content consumption and can be designed to imitate native apps. However, web app usability relies heavily on web browser performance. It’s crucial for your mobile web design to adjust content and determine device resolution to properly accommodate the presentation and delivery of digital media.

Any mobile enterprise app needs to be thoroughly tested. Performance factors like load times, product crashes, and complicated registration fields all add up to poor user experience and can ruin your chances of market success. 

1. App crashes cause 71 percent of uninstalls.  (Source)
2. 67 percent of bugs are reported on iOS devices. (Source)
3. 44 percent of in-app defects are found by the user. (Source)
4. 47 percent of apps need more time for testing. (Source)
5. 58 percent of users are frustrated by interface inconsistencies. (Source)
6. 52 percent of users are frustrated by overall app performance. (Source)
7. 29 percent of users will immediately abandon an app if they don’t find it valuable. (Source)
8. 70 percent of users abandon an app because it takes too long to load. (Source)
9. 43 percent of users are unhappy if they have to wait longer than three seconds for your app to load. (Source)
10. 65 percent of users say a poor mobile experience negatively impacts their opinion of the brand. (Source)

 

If you haven’t properly tested your product, it’s simply not market-ready. A documented testing process is a critical element of any mobile strategy. 

Mobile Marketing 

Achieving momentum in the mobile app market is difficult for even the most established enterprises. Drafting a thorough mobile marketing plan is the cornerstone for continuous app growth and success for an already existing or new product. The marketing component of your overall development process is ongoing and requires constant maintenance. 

 

1. 51 percent of users say they discovered a new company or product when conducting a search on their smartphones. (Source) 
2. 78% of location-based mobile searches result in an offline purchase. (Source)
3. Only 54 percent of marketers say they currently use a mobile app platform to market to their prospects and customers. (Source)
4. In 2021 mobile ad spend hit $295 billion, 23 percent growth year-over year. (Source)
5. Mobile ad spend represented 70 percent of enterprise digital spend in 2021. (Source)
6. In 2022, mobile ad spend is poised to hit $350 billion. (Source)
7. Fifty percent of installers make their decision based on their first impression of an app only.  (Source)
8. An app video in the app store can increase install rates by more than 25 percent. (Source)
9. Mobile ad placements grew 95 percent year-over-year in the United States. (Source)
10. Fifty-nine percent of mobile users report being as comfortable with mobile advertising as they are with other outlets such as TV. (Source)

 

The mobile app market continues to evolve at a rapid pace. Connected customer experiences are seen as a requirement from businesses and services alike. As a response, organizations need to expand beyond their established tactics, toolkits and channels to reach and acquire their audiences and meet the expectations of mobile app customers. 

 

 

Mobile App Statistics by Vertical

Looking at a breakdown of each mobile app vertical provides wildly different insights into how users interact with mobile apps adn can greatly influence your mobile app growth strategy. With each vertical and category, retention rates, session duration, and in-app activity vary. 

Banking and FinTech

1. In 2021 Banking and FinTech app downloads hit a record 5.9 billion downloads. (Source)

Food, Restaurants and QSRs

1. In 2021 sessions in Food and Drink apps reached a record 62 billion. Thats 49 percent more sessions year-over-year.  (Source)

Travel

1. The second half of 2021 showed positive trends for travel on mobile. H2 2021 downloads hit 1.95 billion worldwide, nearing pre-pandemic levels of 2.08 billion in H2 2019. (Source)
2. In July 2021, travel apps reached 40 million downloads in the US, the highest since August 2019. (Source)

Health and Fitness

1. Walking and fitness apps are most popular among older groups, while meditation apps are more likely used among Gen Z. (Source)
2. Meditation apps are becoming a fast-growing subcategory within Health and Fitness apps with the top five downloaded apps seeing 25 percent growth year-over-year. (Source)

Retail

1. Time in shopping apps reached over 100 billion hours spent globally. That is an increase of 18 percent year-over-year. (Source)
2. Combined, social commerce (Instagram, Pinterest) and live shopping are poised to be a $2 trillion market by 2024. (Source) 

Entertainment 

1. Globally time spent in sports apps rebounded 30 percent from 2020 back to 2019’s pre-pandemic levels. (Source)
2. In 2021, time spent in the top 25 live streaming apps outpaced the social market overall year over year by a factor of 9 — YoY growth of 40% compared to all social apps at 5%. (Source)

 

Keep in mind, every app vertical has its unique set of benchmarks and best practices to follow. What’s realistic is based on a case-to-case basis depending on the purpose of your app and your overall business goals. 

Mobile App Statistics for 2022 and Beyond

1. Mobile bolstered the ad industry in 2020 — growing to $240 billion in mobile ad spend and set to top $290 billion in 2021. (Source)
2. Nearly 92.3 percent smartphone users will be using voice assistants by 2023. (Source)
3. By 2023 it is expected that 2.72 billion people will watch video on their mobile phones. (Source)
4. Cryptocurrency will continue to break records. In Q3 2021, worldwide downloads of the top five cryptocurrency apps reached a total of 46M downloads on iOS and Google Play an increase of 75% year-over-year (Source)
5. Gaming will continue to drive revenue. In 2021, games generated $116 billion in the year – that’s 68 cents of every $1 spent in the app stores across iOS, Google Play and Third-Party Android Stores combined. (Source)
6. An additional $16 billion in gaming consumer spend was added in 2021, bringing the total to $116 billion. (Source)
7. Total hours spent in video streaming apps was up 16 percent on pre-pandemic levels. (Source)
8. In 2022 approximately 135.6 million US users will be using voice assistants. (Source)
9. By 2023, IDC forecasts that worldwide spending on public cloud services and infrastructure will nearly double, to around $500 billion. (Source)
10. The global mobile workforce is expected to reach 1.87 billion workers (over 42 percent of the global workforce) by 2022. (Source)

Key Takeaways

Heading into 2022, it’s clear that mobile is the key to success. At this point in the game, with the majority of influential enterprises already having a mobile product on the market, a mobile app growth strategy should focus on improving a current product to deliver more value to customers. With many organizations failing to consider key trends and patterns into strategic app growth plans, leveraging the insights from the mobile app statistics listed above can shed light on trends that can manifest into opportunities. Acting on these newfound opportunities has the potential to lead to greater success, reaching business goals, cutting costs, and getting a leg up on the competition. Remember, to deliver value, businesses need to meet customer expectations.