Over five billion people in the world use mobile apps everyday, for all sorts of tasks from the most trivial of games and social interactions to banking, learning a new language, and receiving medical advice.
The proliferation of the app industry over the past decade has led to millions of apps available on the two most popular stores, the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
While apps draw in all types of users, certain categories tend to entice users of certain age, gender, and income demographics. Alongside this, we see divergence by country and platform, with the average daily usage in some countries rising above five hours a day, while in others it is closer to three hours.
In developing nations which have different patterns of internet deployment, with some skipping the personal computer generation and stepping straight into mobile, there are noticeable differences in the time spent on mobile and the interactions.
In other countries, we see the opposite effect, where people are trying to reduce the amount of time spent on apps. In the United States and Europe, app developers and store operators have created wellbeing services, aimed at alerting users of excessive use.
All of this data is important for people involved in the app industry, as it provides a clearer understanding of the potential audience for app developers planning to launch an app or app marketers creating an ad campaign. It also lets us see how each generation makes it mark with new demands and interests.
We have collected data on app demographics. Read on below to find out more.
App Age Demographics by Category
The 18-24 age bracket use apps at a far higher rate than older brackets, and for several app categories on iOS and Google Play, the 18-24 age bracket surpassed all other age brackets combined in terms of usage.
Apple App Store Age Demographics by Category 2022 (%)
Google Play Store Age Demographics by Category 2022 (%)
App Gender Demographics by Category
Sports apps, which include score trackers and betting apps, are much more popular with male users. On the flipside, health and fitness apps have the highest percentage of female users.
App Gender Demographics by Category 2022 (%)
| App category | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|
| Sport | 94 | 6 |
| Tools | 60 | 40 |
| News & Magazines | 59 | 41 |
| Music | 59 | 41 |
| Finance | 57 | 43 |
| Entertainment | 56 | 44 |
| Business | 55 | 45 |
| Weather | 53 | 47 |
| Productivity | 52 | 48 |
| Travel & Navigation | 51 | 49 |
| Social | 50 | 50 |
| Lifestyle | 48 | 52 |
| Books & Reference | 47 | 53 |
| Medical | 46 | 54 |
| Photo & Video | 45 | 55 |
| Food & Drink | 44 | 56 |
| Shopping | 41 | 59 |
| Education | 39 | 61 |
| Health & Fitness | 37 | 63 |
Source: Data.ai
Average Time Spent by Country
Indonesian mobile users spend the most time on apps, at 5.7 hours per day, followed by Brazil and Saudi Arabia. Surprisingly, Chinese users spend the least amount of time, at 3.6 hours per day.
Average Daily Time Spent on Apps by Country (hr)
Downloads by Country
China eclipses all others when it comes to total downloads, at 98.3 billion last year, more than the rest of the countries listed combined.
Downloads by Country 2022 (bn)
Consumer Spend by Country
China and the United States are two behemoths when it comes to consumer spending, but Japan and South Korea are as prominent when looked at on a per capita basis.
Consumer spend by Country 2022 (bn)
Hours Spent by Country
Hours spent is often a reflection of how many smartphone users are in a country. On a per capita basis, Pakistan, the Philippines and Thailand were the highest in 2022.
Hours Spent by Country 2022 (bn)
Device Preference by App Category UK
A majority of people in the UK prefer using mobile for social media, video calls, and banking, however, for job applications and watching TV or films, mobile is rarely the preferred device.
Mobile Preference by App Category UK 2022 (%)
Time Spent Per Day on App Category
Social media apps are used on average more than two hours per day, by far the most popular app type. Music streaming, which is often used in the background while studying or working, comes second with an average of 1.28 hours per day.
Time spent per day on app category 2022 (hr)
| App type | Time spent (hr) |
|---|---|
| Social media | 2.24 |
| Music streaming | 1.28 |
| Video streaming | 0.77 |
| Podcasts | 0.52 |
| Gaming | 0.2 |
Sources: Adjoe, Datareportal, WeAreSocial
Global Time Spent on Mobile Apps
Social & Communication apps had the most usage in 2022, followed by Photo & Video. These two app categories include almost all of the most popular apps, such as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Snapchat.
