Updated Mobile App Statistics: Market Scope and Usage Trends (2025)

The app market has been on a steady rise, with significant growth in various sectors over the past few years. Here's a breakdown of some key statistics that highlight the current state and future prospects of the app market.

Car Rental Apps on the Rise

In 2018, the usage of the top five car rental apps saw a growth of 25 percent. This trend continued in 2022, with new app installations increasing by 27 percent, and Monthly Active Users (MAUs) growing by 19.4 percent.

Retail Apps Gaining Popularity

Users are increasingly downloading retail apps on their smartphones. On average, a user has between six to ten retail apps on their phone.

Top Apps Dominated by Tech Giants

Among the top 10 Android apps, Google owns five, Meta Platforms owns three, and Amazon and Samsung own one app each.

Travel Apps Seeing Record Growth

The number of travel app users in 2022 was slightly over one billion, indicating a growing interest in digital travel solutions.

App Store Spending to Reach Record Highs

In 2027, the spending on the Apple App Store is projected to reach 125 billion US dollars. Combined user spending in the App Store and Google Play is estimated to reach almost 186 billion US dollars.

Rising Customer Acquisition Costs

Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC) have risen by 60% in the last five years to an average of 29 US dollars per user.

Mobile Advertising Spending at an All-Time High

Mobile advertising spending reached a record 327 billion US dollars worldwide in 2022 and is expected to reach around 400 billion by 2024.

Word-of-Mouth and App Store Browsing Drive Discoveries

51 percent of users learn about an app from their friends or family, while 48 percent of users discover apps by browsing app stores. 34 percent convert by seeing a recommendation.

Importance of App Performance and User Experience

App Store page view to install rate is 33.7 percent, whereas Google Play page view to install rate is 26.4%. About 65 percent of users say that if they have a poor mobile experience with a brand, then the brand's image is negatively impacted. Around 43 percent of users are unhappy if an app takes more than three seconds to load.

Challenges in App Development for Small Businesses

Many small businesses still do not have apps. Lack of technical knowledge or workforce (50 percent), lack of time (23 percent), expensive processes (22 percent), and security concerns (5 percent) are the biggest challenges in app development.

Mobile Phones Leading in Retail Traffic and Orders

Mobile phones account for the highest number of visits and orders on retail sites, with smartphones accounting for approximately 74 percent of retail site traffic worldwide and generating 63 percent of online shopping orders.

Uninstalls Due to App Crashes and Poor Performance

About 71 percent of uninstalls are caused by app crashes. If an app's overall performance is not good, 52 percent of users are frustrated by it and this can lead to uninstallations.

Growth of Non-Gaming App Categories

Keeping the ever-leading gaming apps aside, social apps, entertainment apps, and productivity apps will continue to grow as the top non-gaming app categories across app stores. Social and entertainment will likely tie for a six percent revenue share in 2026.

Users Spend More Time on Shopping and Retail Apps

Users spend an average of 4.6 to 5 minutes on shopping and retail apps, with the cumulative time spent on retail apps reaching 100 billion hours globally.

Data Usage and App Download Decisions Among Millennials

About 37 percent of millennials consider data usage as an important factor in deciding if they should download and use an app.

Frequent App Updates and User Frustration

Over half of the 100 most successful apps push an update every ten days. If an update is not well-received, it can lead to user frustration.

The global ride-sharing market is expected to grow by more than 133 percent between 2022 and 2028, with a value of around 226 billion US dollars in 2028.

Expansion of the Online Travel Booking Service Market

The global online travel booking service market size was valued at 519.1 billion US dollars in 2021 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 9 percent from 2022 to 2030.

Mobile Shopping and Online Payments on the Rise

At least 79% of smartphone users have shopped online, with more than 2 billion mobile payment users around the globe.

Mobile Site and App Abandonments Due to Lack of User-Friendliness

Lack of user-friendliness is one of the biggest reasons behind mobile site and mobile app abandonments.

Record-Breaking Online Travel Bookings in 2022

Online travel bookings surpassed previous records in 2022, with a booking value of 798 billion US dollars.

Importance of App Reviews in Decision-Making

77 percent of people read at least 1 review before downloading a free app. 80 percent do the same for a paid app.

Projected Growth in Mobile App Downloads

In 2026, consumers are projected to download 143 billion mobile apps from the Google Play Store, up by almost 30 percent from 111 billion apps downloaded in 2021. Similarly, the Apple App Store is expected to generate 38 billion downloads, an increase of around 15 percent in five years.

Frustration with App Interface Inconsistencies

About 58 percent of users say that they are frustrated by inconsistencies in an app's interface.

Importance of Multi-Channel Marketing

Multi-channel marketing is essential, with 98 percent of American consumers switching between devices every day and 60 percent of millennials expecting to have consistent brand experiences across every channel.

Mobile Apps Favoured by Top eCommerce Platform Users

About 54 percent of marketers use a mobile app platform to market to customers and prospects. 85 percent of consumers of top eCommerce platforms like Amazon favor shopping on mobile applications over mobile websites.

Time and Cost of App Development

The time needed to create an app is around four and a half months. The average cost of mobile app development has now grown to just over 66 thousand US dollars.

App Store Rankings and Popularity of ChatGPT

As per a study, the most downloaded apps on Google and Apple app stores in 2026 are not explicitly listed in the search results, but ChatGPT was the world's most downloaded app as of March 2025, suggesting it may remain highly popular into 2026.

User Churn Due to Lack of App Value

About 29 percent of users tend to abandon apps right away if they don't find any value in the app.

Growth of the Mobile Payment Market

The global mobile payment market is projected to grow from 2.98 trillion US dollars in 2023 to 18.84 trillion US dollars by 2030.

App Investments by Online Stores

Around 47 percent of all online stores have invested in one or more apps. Around 45 percent have invested in both Android and iOS apps.

Projected Growth in App Market Revenue

Total revenue through apps is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2022-2027) of 8.58 percent, resulting in a projected market volume of US 756 billion by 2027.

Subscription to Push Notifications

Around 60 percent of mobile users subscribe to push notifications.

These statistics offer a comprehensive overview of the current state and future prospects of the app market. From the growing popularity of car rental and retail apps to the dominance of tech giants in the top app rankings, the app market is a dynamic and ever-evolving landscape.

Updated Mobile App Statistics: Market Scope and Usage Trends (2025)