Ever since COVID-19 (also known as the coronavirus) started dominating the world news, life has changed dramatically for every country and every individual.
People are confined inside their houses and consequently, are working from home. People on lockdown continue to explore new ways to leverage mobile to do their shopping, stay connected, manage their finances, stay fit, be productive, and stay entertained during this trying time, due to which there has been a HUGE surge in mobile interactions.
The Rise in Weekly App Time Spent
According to App Annie, daily time spent in apps on Android devices increased by 20% year-over-year in Q1 2020. Moreover, consumer spending in both iOS and Android apps also grew by 15% and 5% respectively, setting a new record for in-app spending for a single quarter at $23.4 billion worldwide.
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Source: App Annie[/caption]
Below are some statistics revealing insightful information regarding mobile app downloads and interaction from mid-February to April:
- Media streaming apps generated more than 20% revenue due to the global outbreak of the coronavirus
- Fitness apps experienced a 15% increase in engagement in March, which got doubled to 35% in April
- The average revenue for food and grocery delivery apps rose to more than 25% in March
- Global mobile game downloads shot up to 39% in February, with China accounting for a major portion of the boost
- Online shopping, travel, flight, and hotel apps experienced a significant drop in app usage and downloads
Before proceeding further, let’s take a look at the top 10 Android and iOS mobile apps by worldwide downloads in March 2020.
Top Android apps after Coronavirus lockdown
Top iOS apps after Coronavirus lockdown
Impact of COVID19 on Different Mobile App Categories
- Video streaming apps
Due to the coronavirus outbreak, people are spending two-thirds of their time on video streaming apps each day. Midweeks of March indicated a significant rise in terms of the engagement rate and the number of app downloads.
The number of app installs of Youtube, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney+, and Roku rocketed to 33% from January to April 2020.
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Weekly Percentage of Installs, Sessions, and Revenue for Video Streaming Apps (Source: Appsflyer)[/caption]
- Social media apps
People are turning to social media apps to connect with their family and friends and stay entertained during such trying times. Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook are top social media apps ruling the charts as their combined installs increased 23% from January 2020.
According to the latest Sensor Tower reports, Tik Tok had 315 million downloads in Q1 of 2020, which is the best quarter by any app, ever.
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Weekly Percentage of Installs, Sessions, and Revenue for Social Media Apps (Source: Appsflyer)[/caption]
- Mobile gaming
People are downloading games more than ever now to beat the boredom during this lockdown. Global mobile game downloads shot up by 75% in the first quarter of 2020.
LudoKing, PubG, Slap Kings are top chart games trending during this pandemic.
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Weekly Percentage of Installs, Sessions, and Revenue for Gaming Apps (Source: Appsflyer)[/caption]
- Remote working
Many workplaces are having their employees work from home making it a new reality. Mobile app installs have massively increased for Zoom, Skype for business, GoToMeeting, and Join.me.
Zoom saw a whopping 266% increase in the number of app installs in the first three weeks of March whereas Skype experienced a 66% rise during the same time.
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Weekly Percentage of Installs, Sessions, and Revenue for Business Apps (Source: Appsflyer)[/caption]
- Fitness & health
Staying fit and healthy has become the need of the hour, especially in the present times. Going to gyms or nearby parks is no longer a safe option, people are opting for fitness and health apps.
My Fitness Pal, Pelotone, Nike Training Club saw a larger increase in new app installs during the mid-March and April. Other fitness applications like CureFit, Home Workout experienced a 104.53% increase in daily active users according to a report by Bobble AI.
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Weekly Percentage of Installs, Sessions, and Revenue for Fitness Apps (Source: Appsflyer)[/caption]
- Education & Elearning
Amid coronavirus lockdown, virtual classroom learning apps are the ultimate saviors for universities and students. Many online learning platforms are offering free access to their services, including BYJU’S which has seen a 200% increase in the number of new students using it.
More than 730,000 students in China are using Tencent classroom to study. Other Elearning apps being benefited are Ding Talk and Lark.
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Weekly Percentage of Installs, Sessions, and Revenue for Education Apps (Source: Appsflyer)[/caption]
Final thoughts
There’s no doubt that the mobile app development industry continues to grow as daily app usage, engagement, and installs are also increasing day by day.
We hope you find these statistics insightful and let’s hope that the pandemic ends soon. Till then, stay indoors and practice social distancing.
