Popular app stores report an increase in user interest every year. This usually happens gradually, but recently there has been an explosive growth, which surprised many, and at the same time told something about the users in the world. Perhaps you have already guessed why this happened, but do not rush to draw conclusions. Moreover, this article will answer not only the question “Why?”, But also tell how this happened in general, in which countries the biggest changes and what all this says about users and their habits. The intrigue is suspended, now you can continue the story.
There should be many good applications.
How the coronavirus affected technology
There is a company like App Annie that often shares interesting statistics on the use of apps around the world. Her reports aren't limited to just one operating system, which makes her even more interesting.
This time, analysts reported that in the second quarter of 2020, the use of mobile applications increased by as much as 40%. As you noticed, this exactly coincides with the period of the pandemic that raged in the world and continues to do so. So users whiled away the time in self-isolation. This is all clear and logical, but the distribution of the use of applications in different countries and among different users is a little strange. There really is something to think about and from which to draw conclusions.
An increase of 40% is solid.
The impact of COVID-19 has been felt in many areas of our lives, including in the technological field. I'm not talking about the positives right now, when Fitbit and Oura looked for ways to predict diseases, and Samsung came up with antibacterial cases. I am talking about negative consequences, which were many and which led to unnecessary difficulties for everyone – from manufacturers and distributors to us – ordinary consumers.
Phone app download statistics
In April, mobile app usage hit a record 200 billion hours. This is because the user was bored just sitting at home. They had a lot of free time, and they actively mastered their gadgets. Interestingly, before that, on the contrary, they predicted a decrease in application consumption. This was argued by the fact that mostly people use them on the road from the phone, and while sitting at home you can use the same services on a large computer monitor. This is especially true for watching videos. But it turned out the opposite.
If you look at the increase in application use in different countries, it is easy to see where there were more serious measures to block people, since this is what influenced the growth of consumption.
For example, India saw an increase of 30% compared to the fourth quarter in 2019. Spain and Italy had the same meaning. In turn, the UK, USA, Japan and Russia began to consume only 15% more applications.
Application consumption growth varies from country to country.
What applications are downloaded most often
Applications began not only to be used more, but also to download them more often. Thus, downloads of applications from Google Play increased by 10%, and from the AppStore by 20%. The data is given in comparison with the same period last year.
At the same time, the increase in downloads was achieved largely due to gaming applications, as people are looking for ways to pass the time. Almost 45% of Google Play downloads were for gaming applications, while for iOS this figure was slightly lower – 30%.
App statistics by stores.
India and Brazil saw the largest increases in the number of gaming applications, which is logical given their significantly tighter blocking. They also started downloading more apps for health, fitness and education. It looks like people were trying to make a good use of their time.
There has been tremendous growth in the consumption of communications apps such as Zoom and Google Meet. People wanted to somehow communicate with friends and keep in touch with colleagues if they were at a remote work.
How much people spend on apps
Not only did the time of using applications and the number of downloads increase, but also the amount that users spent on these applications. In the second quarter, the amount from which the owners of smartphones parted increased by $ 27 billion. This is largely due to subscriptions in applications, since there are many more such “api”. The increase in spending was most noticeable in the United States and Japan. Most of the increase was achieved through gaming applications.
Application spending statistics.
How long do people use a smartphone
Obviously, the pandemic has become a real catalyst for the growth in the popularity of applications and has led to the fact that the average user in the world now spends 4 hours 20 minutes on a smartphone every day. This is a lot, if you remember that he is awake for about 16 hours.
Statistics of increasing demand for applications.
A return to business as usual at this stage still seems unlikely. While many are still sitting at home. In addition, people are even more “addicted” to the smartphone and will now continue to use it. As you can see, the pandemic has shown another disadvantage – even greater dependence on gadgets.
As a result, analysts agree that a rollback to old values is almost impossible. Some decline may and will happen, but it will not overshadow the growth that has occurred in recent months. I agree with that. And you? Tell us about it in our Telegram chat or in the comments.