Top 75+ mobile app statistics - Market size & usage

If you have a website or an e-commerce store, then you need to be future-ready by creating a mobile app.

We strongly believe that businesses can tap a huge growth opportunity, if they make quality mobile sales and product apps and market them well to cater to mobile users.

Many business owners are not very convinced about building apps for their businesses; therefore, we decided to talk facts!

In this article, we will explore why you should absolutely not miss building an app for your website or e-store.

We have curated vital information about mobile apps market size, usage, growth and other mobile app stats.

This information was collected through market research on mobile apps by top and reliable companies and organisations.

Once you are convinced that it’s valuable to build an app for your business, you can create one using a WordPress or Woocommerce mobile app builder that is quick and cost-effective.

Let’s start with the app statistics that will establish the importance of building Mobile Apps.

In this blog

Market for apps & mobiles

The market for apps is growing at a fast pace. Here’re the top reasons why businesses should look towards building a mobile app to raise revenue.

1. Growth of mobile industry: By 2020, the number of smartphone users are expected to be about 2.87 billion. (Source: 2016, Statista)

2. Mobile apps market size: By 2020, mobile apps are expected to earn a revenue of $188.9 billion from mobile app downloads, Ads, and in-app purchases. (Source: Statista)

3. Number of mobile app downloads: Here’re some interesting app download statistics. About 178 billion apps were downloaded in the year 2017, and the mobile app download statistics is expected to rise to 258 billion app downloads in 2022. (Source: Statista) In 2018, there were 194 billion mobile app downloads. (Source: 2019, data.ai)

4. Preferance of shopping on apps: 85% of consumers favour shopping on mobile applications over mobile websites. (Source: Econsultancy)

Mobile app usage statistics – Why build an app?

We often wonder— why build an app? Here are a few app usage statistics that throw light on usage of mobile phones, which will justify why one should create an app using an online app creator.

5. Popular digital media mode: In 2018, about 57 percent of all digital media used is through mobile apps. (Source: ComScore) This statistic presses the need to build an app for a business.

6. Daily mobile usage: In 2018, on average, three hours were spent on their smartphone by an average mobile user. (Source: data.ai) Companies creating engaging content and mobile apps can leverage this habit of users to their advantage.

7. Daily engagement: On average, a mobile user tends to check their smartphone about 47 times in a day. (Source: BankMyCell) 49% mobile users expect apps to respond within two seconds. Over 61% expect mobile apps to open within 4 seconds. (Source: TechBeacon)

8. Habit pattern: About 35 percent of mobile users check their phones about 5 minutes before sleeping, and around 80 percent of mobile users check their phones at least an hour before sleep. (Source: BankMyCell)

9. Mobile phones without apps: About 76 percent of millennials find their phones useless without mobile apps. (Source: ComScore)

10. Cure to boredom: About 74 percent millennials say that they open an app when they feel bored. (Source: ComScore) This gives you a chance to add engaging blogs, videos and other content in your app, so that users use your app to cure their boredom.

11. Time allotted to preferred apps: In 2017, about 50 percent of users preferred spending their app time on one mobile app, but 97 percent of their app time on the top 10 apps on their mobile phone. (Source: ComScore) This shows that your app needs to stand out from the rest to be used by users.

12. New app downloads: One important app stats to know is that in the first quarter of 2017, 50 percents of smartphone users in the U.S. downloaded on average zero apps per month. About 2/3rd of people download zero to one app per month on average. (Source: Statista) So, you will have to make an impact in the market to convince people about the value of downloading your app.

13. Browsing behaviour: After shopping online through a mobile app or a web browser, 42 percent of users open a shopping app or communication/social app. (Source: Statista) This shows that after shopping online, users either shop more or tell their friends and family about it.

Mobile app vs website statistics

Why build a mobile app vs a website? Read these mobile app vs website statistics to make up your mind:

14. Mobile vs. Desktop: Over time, users are spending more time on mobile internet and less on desktop internet. In 2016, Americans used mobile internet for 3+ hrs per day and they used desktop and laptop internet for 2.2 hours per day. (Source: 2017, Mary Meeker

15. Mobile app vs. Mobile web: Mobile internet users spend seven hours in apps for every one hour on the web. They spend only 13 percent of their time on the web and about 87 percent on apps. (Source: 2017, ComScore)

Almost one-third of the web is powered by WordPress with a huge market share of 35% and around 455 million websites in the year 2020 (Source: Cminds).

The share of eCommerce stores is on a rise with around five million WooCommerce empowered websites. (Source: Barn2)

16. Visitors vs. time spent: Mobile websites receive more visitors than apps, but visitors spend more time in apps. (Source: ComScore)

M-commerce mobile apps market – App statistics

Why build a mobile app? The following mobile app stats give a clear answer to this question. They show why businesses should evolve to a mobile-first strategy.

17. Spendings in app stores: In 2018, the total worldwide consumer spending in app stores was $101 billion. (Source: 2019, data.ai) This shows the size of revenue opportunity in app sales/subscriptions.

18. In-app subscription spend: In 2018, there was a 120 percent rise (from 2016) in the global consumer expenditure on non-gaming apps, due to in-app subscription models. (Source: 2019, data.ai)

19. Ease of shopping through apps: About 72 percent of consumers perceive shopping through mobile apps to be easier. (Source: ATYM)

20. In-app purchases: In 2017, about 46 percent of millennial bought things through in-app purchases, while only 5 percent of users of 55 years and above did so. (Source: ComScore)

21. Paid apps: In 2016, about 36 percent of millennials paid to buy five or more apps, while only three percent users of age 55 year and above did the same. About 36 percent of millennials and 80 percent of users above the age of 55 years bought zero apps. (Source: ComScore)

22. B2C m-commerce sales: The expected value of m-commerce revenue in the U.S. in 2019 is $693.36 billion. (Source: WebsiteSetup)

23. Influence on sales: In 2016, about $1.4 trillion of retail sales were influenced by web enabled mobile devices. (Source: Deloitte)

24. Influence at retail stores: About 21% more users purchased with a retail store after using a retailer’s native app or site on their visit to the store than the users who didn’t use any apps. (Source: Deloitte)

25. Abandonment of shopping carts: Mobile shopping cart are abandoned (86.65 percent) more than desktop shopping carts (73.07 percent). (Source: Brilliance)

26. Purchase knowledge: About 82% people use their phone to check before making a purchase in a store. (Source: Think Storage)

27. Mode of online purchases: About 24 percent of all online purchases took place on mobile phones, and 6 percent of online purchases took place on tablets. (Source: Criteo)

Mobile app industry trends

Mobile app industry’s growth depends on a lot of factors. From the current data, following mobile app stats are available to understand the market:

28. Top 3 apps: Millennials list Amazon, Gmail and Facebook as essential mobile apps, with Amazon on top of the list. (Source: Business Insider) This shows that Millennials are very comfortable in shopping through their mobile phones.

Networking & communication

29. Top app types: Smartphone usage statistics show that about 39 percent of all smartphones users most frequently use social media apps, 10 percent use communication apps, and 10 percent use gaming apps. (Source: The Manifest)

As per another study by MindSea, about 69 percent millennials says they most commonly use social networking apps, and messaging apps come second with 55 percent. This shows that users prefer apps that enable connecting and communicating with others.

30. Top 10 apps: Among the top 10 apps in 2017, Facebook owns three (with 80 percent of the users having Facebook app installed), Google owns five, and the rest two are Snapchat and Pandora. (Source: ComScore)

a. The global number of Facebook users is expected to reach 1.69 billion this year as five new profiles are being created every second. (Source: Statista)
b. On an average, 1.66 billion people log onto Facebook every day and qualify as active users.
c. 42% of marketers reported that Facebook is significant to their business. (Source: Zephoria)

Banking and FinTech

31. Banking and Fintech app downloads: In 2018, Banking and Fintech apps were downloaded 3.4 billion times, which was a 75 percent increase in two years. (Source: data.ai)

32. Time spent on banking and Fintech apps: On average, users spend 3.1 minutes on banking and Fintech apps. (Source: LeanPlum)

Food and Restaurants

33. Food and drinks orders: The in-app food and drinks orders increased by 130 percent from 2016 to 2018. (Source: data.ai)

34. Food delivery apps: In Canada, usage of food delivery apps grew by 255 percent, and in the U.S., they grew by 175 percent. (Source: data.ai)

Travel & Transportation

35. Car sharing apps: In 2018, the top five car/cab sharing apps grew by 25 percent. (Source: data.aie)

36. Time spend on travel apps: Users spend an average of 2.8 minutes on travel apps. (Source: LeanPlum)

37. Two wheeler apps: Bike and scooter sharing apps rose by 530 percent last year. (Source: data.ai)

38. Online travel booking mode in the U.S.: In 2016, 50 percent of online travel bookings in the U.S. were expected to occur through mobile devices. (Source: Insider Intelligence)

39. Worldwide Travel booking mode: In 2019, 25% of online travel bookings are expected to come through mobile devices. (Source: Skift)

Retail & Shopping

Here are some valuable mobile app industry trends for retail and online shopping.

40. Retail m-commerce: In 2016, retail m-commerce was expected to reach $123.13 billion in the U.S. (Source: Insider Intelligence)

41. No. of retail apps users have: Users are downloading more retail apps every year on their smartphones, and they have about six to ten retail apps on their phones, as of April 2016. (Source: Insider Intelligence)

42. Time spent on retail apps: Users spend an average of 4.6 to 5 minutes on shopping and retail apps. (Source: LeanPlum)

43. Mobile shopping in the U.S.: Mobile shopping rose by 70 percent in the last two year in the U.S. (Source: data.ai)

44. Favourite retail spending mode: More than 50 percent of time spent on retail sites is through mobile devices. (Source: Deloitte)

Mobile app usage by age

Mobile app usage demographics reveal that users from different age groups behave differently when it comes to mobile app usage. Data on mobile app usage by age reveals interesting usage behaviours of users.

45. Who uses apps more: Twenty percent more time is spent on mobile apps by Generation Z (those born in mid-1990s to mid-2000s). They also spent 30 percent more time on their most-used app than the rest of the population. (Source: data.ai) In this year 2020, Generation Z will account for 40% of all consumers. (Source: Forbes)

46. Demand for more and better apps: More than two out of three millennials say that they wish they could do more with their existing apps and that they also keep looking for new apps; however, users above the age of 55 are satisfied with their current choice of apps and their features. (Source: ComScore)

47. Time spent on mobile apps: Users between the age 18 to 24 years spend more than three hours on mobile apps, as opposed to people of age 55 years or above who spend less than two hours a day. (Source: ComScore)

48. Time spent on digital media: In 2017, users between the age 18 to 24 years spent 66 percent of their total digital media time on smartphone apps. People in the age group of 18-44 years spend more than 50 percent of their digital time on mobile apps. (Source: ComScore)

Mobile app facts – Why app performance and design matter?

Here are some app developer statistics that app designing and development teams must keep in mind while developing mobile apps.

49. Moving apps on home screen: In 2017, about 80 of smartphones users said that they move apps to their home screens as they used those apps a lot (61%), needed ease of access (54%), needed quick access (49%), or they liked how the logo looked (18%). (Source: ComScore)

50. App logo matters: In 2017, about 21percent of millennial said they have deleted apps because their logos didn’t look nice on their desktop screen. (Source: ComScore)

51. Uninstalls: About 71% of uninstalls are caused by app crashes. This highlights the need of creating stable apps. (Source: App Samurai)

52. Effect on Brand’s image: About 65% of users say that if users have a poor mobile experience with a brand, then the brand’s image is negatively impacted. Hence, one should use a quality online app creator to build an app. (Source: Access)

53. Ideal App loading time: About 43% users are unhappy if an app takes more than three seconds to load, highlighting the need to create efficient and light apps (Source: App Samurai)

54. App loading time’s effect: If an app takes too long to load, about 70 percent of the users abandon the app. (Source: Think Storage)

55. Percentage of apps used: In 2017, U.S. smartphones users had an average of 100 apps on their devices, out of which they used about 40 apps per month. (Source: data.ai) This shows why your app design, utility and quality needs to stand out of the crowd.

56. Data usage by an app: About 37 percent of millions consider data usage as an important factor in deciding if they should download and use an app. For example, Pokemon Go AR mobile game app went viral, but due to the large amount of data it used up, many users deleted it. (Source: MindSea)

57. Inconsistencies in app’s interface: About 58 percent of users say that they are frustrated or put off by inconsistencies in an app’s interface. (Source: Perfecto Mobile)

58. Overall app performance: If an app’s overall performance is not good, then 52 percent of users are frustrated by it. (Source: Perfecto Mobile)

59. Value from an app: About 29 percent of users tend to abandon apps right away, if they don’t find any value in the app. (Source: Think Storage)

Mobile app marketing insights | Cost-effective marketing

Explore mobile app facts for marketing businesses and products effectively.

60. Mobile apps to market: About 54 percent of marketers use a mobile app platform to market to customers and prospects.(Source: Salesforce)

61. Reaction to notifications: Sixty-three percent of Millennials says that they check their new notifications as soon as they receive them. (Source: ComScore)) Therefore, push notifications are one of the best ways to carry out marketing activities through apps.

62. General user acquiring cost: The cost to acquire a user has decreased to $2.89, i.e. 29.9 percent reduction YoY. (Source: LeanPlum)

63. Form lead acquiring cost: In 2018, it costed $4.58, down by 44.2 percent, to acquire a form lead. (Source: LeanPlum)

64. Multi-channel engagement strategy: A multi-channel engagement strategy helps improve retention rate by 62 percent than using only apps that engage users with only one channel. (Source: LeanPlum) Therefore, create a mobile app if you do not have one to create another channel of engagement for users.

65. Notifications permission: From 2015 to 2016, the percentage of users who allow notifications dropped from 33 to 27 percent, however, the number increased by 16 percent to almost 50 percent of the users in the year 2017. (Source: ComScore) Such mobile app marketing insights are very encouraging for businesses.

66. Ad spend mode: In the U.S., about 65 percent of digital ads spend was through mobile digital media. (Source: data.ai)

67. App downloads through paid strategies: Paid strategies’ contribution to total app downloads for top apps grew by 10 percent YoY. (Source: data.ai)

68. Ad platforms leveraged: Twenty five percent YoY more ad platforms were leveraged by the Apple App Store, while 20 percent YoY more ad platforms were leveraged by Google Play Store. (Source: data.ai)

App Store Optimization

Here are a few ways that are used to optimize apps on app stores.

69. Descriptions for ASO: For 46 percent apps, App store optimisation (ASO) is done through description updates. (Source: data.ai)

70. App icons for ASO: App icon updates are used by 30 percent apps to optimise the app for App stores. This saw a growth of 24 percent YoY. (Source: data.ai)

Mobile app future trends

Mobile app industry growth is inevitable in future, too. Here are some mobile app statistics that reiterate that.

71. Spend on apps: In 2019, app store consumer spend is expected to cross $120 billion. (Source: data.ai) Mobile app future trends like this are very promising for the industry’s growth.

72. Video usage: Users will stream videos for every 10 minutes out of an hour spent on consuming media. (Source: data.ai)

73. Monetisation with in-app Ads: In 2019, in-app advertising is expected to be the source of monetisation of 60 percent more apps. (Source: data.ai)

74. Entertainment and streaming apps: Consumers are expected to spend more on in-app subscription in entertainment and streaming apps, and the spending is expected to grow by 460 percent. (Source: data.ai)

75. Mobile gaming’s market size: Mobile gaming is expected to increase in size to cover 60 percent of the market share. (Source: data.ai)

76. Mobile wallet users: Global mobile wallet users will total 2.1 billion in 2019. (Source: Payments Cards & Mobile)

Miscellaneous

76. Cost of mobile app development – The average cost of mobile app development has now grown to just over $66K. (GoodFirms). This makes custom app development a very expensive process. The cost can go up or down depending on the needs of client

77. Time taken to build an app – The average time needed to create an app is around four and half months. (GoodFirms). The time period can change depending on the needs of a client.

How to create a new app in 3 easy steps

If you’re convinced to build an app for your business, here are the three steps you need to follow with the AppMySite free app maker.

1. Connect your website and app

Connect your website and app in a few simple steps. Doing this well sync your website’s content with the app

2. Personalize your app

Design your app’s crucial elements and screens. Use AppMySite’s extensive design features or upload your own artwork wherever possible.

3. Build and publish your app

Once your apps are ready, generate a build for both Android and iOS in your AppMySite account and publish it to Google Play and Apple App Store.

AppMySite’s premium app builder is cost-effective and enables you to create powerful apps in minutes.

Once you have studied all the app stats and mobile usage statistics given above, and you are convinced that building an app will benefits your business, use a Woocommerce or WordPress app builder to create an premium app.

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Top 75+ mobile app statistics – Market size & usage