Jaw-Dropping Mobile app usage and growth trends to look over in 2023 and beyond

As we enter 2023, businesses are still recovering from the losses they witnessed during the pandemic. Digital-first technologies gave global businesses hope named enablement to remote work as well as continue their business practices by transitioning to cloud-based cross-platform and digital mobile-first solutions. This swiftly growing adoption rate of digital-first business mobility solutions has become a motivating aspect for tech leaders to modernize mobile technologies. Indeed, this will unlock various opportunities for businesses to shine in this market competition.

Particularly today, when people prefer using mobile devices over traditional arrangements, there is an urgent need for enterprises to make a transition to mobile-first software solutions. With the I7T mobility trends evolving rapidly, let us delve into the innovations they will bring the year ahead and beyond.

Current Trends in Mobile App Development

With the increase in the demand for mobility solutions and receiving everything at our fingertips, the mobile app development market has been and will experience a huge elevation. Below mentioned are some facts stating innovation in the industry of mobile apps.

The user base of smartphone

A study reported approximately 0.3 to 0.6 billion smartphone user base growth every year since the evolution of smartphones. In 2016, the smartphone user count began at 3.6 billion users, and as of 2022, smartphone subscriptions were reported at 6.6 billion.

By 2027, this figure is expected to reach around 7.7 billion subscriptions. As we see smartphone user growth from 2016 to 2022, a 10.4% annual growth is clearly seen.

iOS vs. Android mobile device user base

Global marketplace : When we compare iOS and Android mobile markets, unquestionably, the Android mobile user base dominates the market with precisely 72.2% worldwide market share.

US Marketplace : When we see the US marketplace while comparing iOS and Android mobile users, the iOS mobile market is seen to dominate with 57% of the share.

UK Marketplace : Both Android and iOS markets are seen to compete closely with each other in the scenario of the UK mobile market. Q3 2020 survey shows that with a 53% user base, android mobile users had been leading the market whereas, in the survey of Q3 2021, the user base of iOS mobile counted at 51.6%, while the Android user base showed a 47.6% share.

The forecasting mentioned above makes sense for businesses to build one mobile application to reach their maximum number of potential customers. In the past 6 years, global tablet users have been seen to grow by 36%, with figures around 1.14 billion. This puts a point for the development of cross-platform.

Usage of smartphone

When we observe people around us in any public area, we can clearly see how dedicatedly busy they are with their mobile activity. A recent study in 2021 found that a normal person, on average, spends approximately 4 hours 23 minutes a day checking their smartphones. With the increasing number of mobile applications, the usage time is expectedly to increase by 4 hours 35 minutes by the end of this year. Also, on average, a smartphone addict will check the screen 250-262 times a day.

The purpose behind this increase in intensive smartphone usage is the easy availability of entertainment materials, digitization of management services, shopping, finance, and much more. With the dedication of intensive users to smartphones, businesses now have an opportunity to generate $935 billion worth the business by providing services with leading-edge mobile app solutions.

Mobile App download and development statistics

While we discuss mobile app development & download statistics, it is important to bring the iOS and Android app concepts alongside the App store and Google Play Store.

Google Play Store

Google has been highly used and the most trusted platform by the worldwide audience base on a regular basis, even for a small query. In the first quarter survey of 2022, the commodity counted more than 2.65 million android apps along with 494k publishers solely in Google Play Store.

However, Google Play Store has been removing spamming and low-quality apps from the store- the number of applications is rising each day. With approximately 3,739 new mobile applications on a daily basis, the Google Play Store is updated. These rising numbers of apps have made Google Play Store the highest mobile app store all over the world.

With the increasing number of Google Play Store apps, its download rate was reported at approximately 111.3 billion, which was approximately 50% of the increase from the download rate of 2016. The SensorTower has projected an increase in the spending of Google Play Store on apps in 2022 from $53 billion to $60 billion by 2023.

App Store

The iOS app store is the second biggest and also a close player of the Google App Store having a region-wise varying user base. In the App Store, at the latest, there are around 2.11 million iOS mobile apps available globally with 724K+ publishers. Of the overall App Store iOS applications, there are approximately 221,666 games, with the remaining being non-gaming apps.

A latest study showed that 36k iOS apps were released globally in the App Store. By the end of this year, the app store is expecting revenue growth of approximately $96 billion from $88 billion in the first quarter of the previous year.

Statistics of Mobile App Retention

While developing a mobile app, the key focus must be on the retention rate of the user. It is tough to ensure a higher user retention rate every time, but it is important to try various tactics.

Mobile app retention rate is calculated based on the measures that the users continue using the applications after it has been installed. The more the continued use of the application by maximum number of users, the better the retention rate of the mobile app user. The app retention rate is calculated in the 30 calendar days after the user installs the app on the mobile device. The community of mobile developers shares an average app retention rate calculated within 30 days:

When you see the mobile app development genre and type, the user retention rate differs on the basis of the kind. Based on the industry type, the average mobile application retention rates are mentioned below:

To continuously ensure a better app user retention rate, you must check the factors leading to a better mobile application growth rate.

Factors affecting the growth of mobile apps in 2023 and beyond

Around 90% of the time of smartphone users is spent on mobile applications. Below mentioned are the factors that motivate smartphone users to stick to their most preferred mobile applications.

Features and functionalities of mobile apps

Attractive UI/UX designs

The UI/UX design trends are very fluctuating. In the last few years, mobile UI/UX designs have advanced a lot and have been becoming a vital factor in the success of any mobile application. The competition for the best mobile UI/UX to ensure maximum user retention rate has also been growing rapidly.

A leading mobile application UI/UX statistics have found that :

• A great UI design helps in increasing the application conversion rate by around 200% and the UX design by 400%
• From UX, the ROI design is 9,900%

The recent UI/UX design trends that can be tried are

• Using in-app gestures such as swiping from the top, swiping for switching screens, bottom swiping, touch &hold, swiping, flickering, dragging, double tapping, etc, borrowed from the mobile OS type.
• Using mobile elements- A study of Wyzowl states that 96% of the users pay heed to motion elements such as animation and video.
• Using AR in UI: The implementation of AR in UI has been rising since 2019. The AR users counted at 0.44 billion and are anticipated to grow to approximately 1.73 billion by 2024
• Using Bitmozies as well as other cartoon fonts for the rewarding app user experience
• Using illustrations in UI

Best Performance

The key to the success of a mobile application is the best performance in terms of crash-free and faster operations. In the fast-growing world of today, the consumers of mobile app demand to have apps that release innovative updates frequently, thus delivering a rewarding application user experience and meeting all their needs that come in line. Performance is the sole key in such a competitive mobile app market.

30% of mobile app users wish to have their favorite app load only in a fraction of a second. Also, 49% of mobile app users may wait for the application to load for a maximum of 5 seconds. When such app loading speed is not met, there might be a loss in the potential loyal mobile application users. A mobile user, on average, uses 25 apps in a month as per a study by Forester Research and 80% of users use 5 mobile apps only a month

Platform-dedicated audience

As the iOS and Android platform audience count at up-to-date by region with the successful retention ratio of the user base. So, it is important to select the type of app development wisely. The mobile app development cost for iOS is a bit higher. You get an option for hybrid mobile or cross-platform app development to receive incredible revenue generation. This option will be much more cost-efficient than native app development and assist in generating revenue from every app hosting platform.

Success trends of the mobile app development solutions

Now, you must wish to develop a mobile application of your own. You need to know about the type of app development, i.e., the type of app you wish to build. Below mentioned are the most famous categories of Apple App Store and Google Play Store:

If you follow these industry types, you can build the maximum revenue-generating app. To get a better understanding, study the mentioned mobile app development ideas and statistics.

Social media apps:

Starting with Facebook, social media apps were always popular from inception. Lately, social media platforms have been an integral part of everybody’s life for marketing, networking, and entertainment purposes. 9 among 10 people spend around 4-5 hours every day while scrolling social media.

Undoubtedly, short social media reels, shorts, videos, etc., have doubled the time spent by global digital userbase on social media platforms. In our surroundings, we see people using various social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, etc. Below we have mentioned social media statistics that are shared by e-marketers.

You can view and analyze that social media platforms have been earning new users in bulk amount every day, and the graph is rising every consecutive year.

Viewing this success rate, you might think of developing a social media platform that benefits the user base worldwide.

Video calling apps, chatting, messaging

Video calling apps, messaging apps, or online chats have connected the world. These apps have narrowed the locations for people who reside in a distant location. They can easily connect to their family and friends over the internet via these online calling and chat apps and can make real-time conversations. As every online chat app provides facilities for HD video calling, their usage has extended a lot more globally.

If we talk about any online real-time chat application, the first thought that comes to our mind is WhatsApp. Have a look at the below-mentioned statistics to learn more about famous real-time online chat applications and their global user base.

Video Streaming Apps

Everybody likes to have and needs entertainment. When we have access to global entertainment programs, documentaries, movies, and series in a single platform, we would definitely wish to use that. When we talk about online video streaming apps like YouTube, Apple TV+, Disney + Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video, or OTT (Over The Top) Services, we most regularly use global platforms.

The OTT marketplace revenue, as per Statista, was valued in 2019 at $121.61 billion and by 2022 reached $275.30 billion. By 2027, it is expected to reach $476.60 billion at 11.60 (2022-2027) CAGR. In 2022, the user penetration ratio stood at around 35.7%, and by 2027 has been projected to reach 44.1%.

There are uncountable online video streaming platforms that are available in today’s market. However, we have targeted some of the top-rated platforms of OTT at the global level.

The annual global revenue of YouTube in 2021 was reported at $28.8 billion, having globally 50 million subscribers of YouTube premium. The statistics show an increase of 46% from the figures of 2020, which was around $19.7 billion.

Netflix, in 2021 has made around $5.1 billion of net profit with a rise of 8.7% compared to the data of 2022, which stands at $2.7 billion. Netflix streaming subscribers, by 2023, with a growth rate of 82%, will rise up to 201 million and $28.8 billion of revenue anticipations.

• A survey of 2022’s Q2 showed the Disney+ Hotstar platform had approximately a subscriber count of 137.7 million, and globally it generated approximately $1796 million. The data reported a 32% rise from the data of 2021, which stood at $1459 million revenue and 118 million subscribers. Disney + Hotstar, by 2024, is heading towards 230-260 million subscribers.
• From the beginning, Amazon Prime Video has seen to experience steady growth. However, with the new collaborations with the global entertainment industries, by 2026-27, it may hit $100 million worth of the OTT platform generation. It might reach to $1 trillion worth of the marketplace in the upcoming few years of the decade. Undoubtedly, Amazon Prime has been the strongest competitor to the platform of Netflix. The graph will make it clear.

The growing expectations for entertainment services have shown that indeed there is a probability of creating much better business opportunities by creating solutions for OTT mobile apps.

Financial Apps (Stock market, net-banking, E-wallets)

As the stats of online video streaming services offering applications, financial apps are greatly used by global mobile users. A study found that 6 out of 10 people prefer using online finance apps for managing their finances. With the e-transaction made convenient and easily accessible, their usage has been expected to increase in the upcoming years.

• Approximately 90% of smartphone users prefer to view online banking apps for making online payments and checking their bank account balances.
• 89% of smartphone users and 97% of millennials majorly depend upon the mobile banking apps
• Banks that have online banking services apps retain their account holders, usually with a success rate of 89%
• If the banking app personalization is being performed, the mobile banking businesses might raise their revenue on the current revenue stats by 15%

With these success rates, this online personal financial application marketplace by 2027 has been expected to hit the worth of $1576.86 million at a CAGR of 5.7% during 2020-2027. The worldwide e-trading mobile application market is projected to rise by 5.1% every year, with a projection of $12.16 billion value of the marketplace by the year 2028. The cryptocurrency mobile applications in this marketplace also have entered the market with an app adoption growth of 400% in 2021 and, in the upcoming years, will skyrocket more.

On-Demand Apps (E/M-commerce, Delivery, Booking)

The user base of the on-demand services offering apps after the Covid-19 pandemic has increased a lot, particularly in online booking, such as service booking, hotel accommodations, grocery/food delivery apps, online shopping apps, etc. With the increasing popularity of on-demand services and extensive applications, the revenue of the on-demand apps will rise to $335 million by 2025.

US smartphone users, according to the CBInsights report, spend approximately $57.6 billion finances every year on the market today on on-demand service apps. The spending break-throughs are mentioned below:

Also, by 2025, the European on-demand app marketplace expenditure is expected to hit the mark of $1.8 trillion worth. Moreover, the on-demand app market builds various new opportunities for growing entrepreneurs. It assists them in making some better businesses in the upcoming few years at the worldwide level.

Gaming Apps

We all love playing mobile games in our free time to freshen up our minds, whether be it popularly played Wargames (Fortnight, PUBG), card games, Candy Crush or any other. Taking about which the market gaming has a great dedicated user base over the globe.

The mobile gaming industry in 2021 made approximately $180.3 billion revenue, which stood at approximately 1.4% increase compared to the previous years. Every year, the gaming industry earns new users.

The user base of the mobile gaming app, in 2021 increased by 5.3% + of the increased rate with 3 billion new players compared to the previous years. Also, among the mobile app players, it is seen that 55% of them were from the Asia-Pacific region.

• Among the mobile games, PUBG became the MVP over the global app market
• Around 58% of the game users prefer playing puzzle games
• 78% of the game players are Android users
• 43% of the mobile app users use their mobile devices mainly for gaming purposes
• At the global level, among the downloaded apps, 25% of the iOS apps and 25% of the Android apps were gaming only

Age and Gender wise statistics

• Maximum women gamers spend more in the in-game purchases
• 8% of mobile games are teenagers
• 37% of mobile gamers are men
• 53% of the gamers fall under the category of 45-55 years
• The AdColony survey speaks that 50% of the gamers are middle-agers-youth and teenagers.

The changing gaming industry has been a major revenue-generation business. The involvement of web 3.0 technology in this gaming industry has been changing the paradigm with the addition of various new exciting gaming experiences and features.

Wrapping Up

With an increasing motivation toward mobile app development and mobility, the adoption rates will definitely skyrocket in the upcoming years. The amalgamation of normal mobile apps as well as web 3.0 technologies will be changing the paradigm of the mobile app industry everything in terms of security, performance, and user experience extensively.