The mobile app boom sparked by pandemic lockdowns has passed, but consumer mobile usage is still on the rise. Consumers in over a dozen global markets spend 4-5 hours a day on apps, according to new data released today by app intelligence company data.ai (formerly App Annie).
The amount of time per day spent in apps varies by country, but there are currently 13 markets where users spend more than 4 hours per day in apps. These include Indonesia, Singapore, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Russia, Turkey, USA and UK. And in three of his markets (Indonesia, Singapore, and Brazil), his mobile users spend more than 5 hours a day on the app.
Read Also: Yelp Updates Its Android App With A Redesigned Homepage Feed And Map-Based Feature
While the growth in app usage has slowed a bit from the second quarter in 2020, it’s worth noting that two years ago was the height of COVID lockdowns, which drove app usage to spike across all categories as users worked, shopped, banked and gamed, as well as studied and attended meetings, school and events from home.
Still, the data suggests the pandemic may have led to longer-lasting impacts on app usage. It seems mobile consumers who adopted new apps and behaviors during the pandemic may have kept at it, despite the so-called “return to normal” in 2022.
Illustrating this point, some markets saw significant gains in app usage over the past two years. In the second quarter of 2020, Singapore users were spending 4.1 hours in apps. Now that’s grown to 5.7 hours, the report says. In Australia, users went from 3.6 hours to 4.9 hours from Q2 2020 to Q2 2022. Both represent a 40% rise in time spent.
Other markets saw slower growth, including Indonesia (+10%), India (+5%), Japan (+5%), Canada (+20%), Russia (+10%), the U.S. (+5%), U.K. (+5%), China (+5%) and Germany (+10%). A few markets saw no growth or a bit of a slowdown, such as Mexico (0%), Turkey and Argentina (both at -5%) — but again, comparisons to peak COVID time frames indicate that trends are simply normalizing to pre-COVID levels.
The firm’s report also included the top-ranked apps and games for the second quarter, which saw Instagram in the top spot worldwide by downloads and TikTok at No. 1 by consumer spend, in terms of non-gaming apps. Facebook was still No. 1 by monthly active users, ahead of WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, TikTok, Telegram, Amazon, Twitter, Spotify and Netflix.
Notable movers in the quarter included Indian e-commerce app Meesho, which jumped to No. 8 by downloads; the multiplayer party knockout game Stumble Guys, which rose 23 places; and hyper-casual game Fill The Fridge, which moved up 84 places. Meanwhile, Pokémon GO saw a boost in usage thanks to the new season that launched on June 1 ahead of the Pokémon GO Fest in early June.
