Analytics show that we are downloading fewer iPhone apps this year than last, but spending significantly more money on them. That's because nearly half of developers' revenue now comes from subscriptions.
App Store downloads have fallen slightly over the past 12 months, but overall spending has risen sharply from $73.7 billion last year to $91.6 billion this year …
App downloads down, spending up
Analysis firm Appfigures reports that overall app downloads fell 2.3% while spending rose 15.7%, but that was entirely due to the Apple ecosystem. TechCrunch reports:
Global consumer spending on mobile apps and games will reach $127 billion in 2024 across the App Store and Google Play, up 15.7% from the previous year. But that growth was driven by Apple's App Store, as spending on Google Play declined.
It's All About Subscriptions
We don't have to look far to find out why we're downloading fewer apps but spending so much more money on them.
Only 5% of apps worldwide offered subscriptions last year, but they accounted for 48% of app revenue across both app stores, Appfigures found.
Temu was the most downloaded app in the US
It's also no surprise that social apps topped the global rankings, but in the U.S., the most downloaded app was actually Chinese shopping app Temu. That's in line with Apple's ranking.
Photo by Vitaly Taranov on Unsplash
