While the global app market isn’t quite reaching the dizzying heights that it got to during the peak of the pandemic last year, it is still going quite strong with all things having been considered and taken into account. The second quarter of 2021 saw a 1.7% year on year growth in terms of app installs which is a far cry from the incredible 25.7% year on year increase that was seen in the same quarter last year, something that could be construed as a slowdown of the market.
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that while first time installs are not growing at the same rate, all of the other relevant metrics seem to be making quite a bit of headway if you think about it. One such metric in which global apps seem to be doing inordinately well is user engagement which has seen a consistent increase and now has reached its highest point yet.
As per Sensor Tower data, the second quarter of 2021 saw the top 500 apps in the world finally breaking the 90 million mark in terms of active users. There are now 91.7 million active users on average (for top 500 apps), which is an 8.4% year on year increase that is quite surprisingly high in a way that would truly end up surprising you. This is a sign that the slowdown that people are referring to is not exactly a slowdown in the truest sense of the word since the rise in other metrics is an indicator that the growth that this industry has seen over the past couple of years is not actually showing signs of slowing down at all.
The growth in active users has definitely not been up to 2020 standards because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up only being precipitated by a global pandemic or some other factor that you really can’t rely on each and every single year. This is why the growth in active users has gone down from over 18% in 2020 to 8% in 2021.
But growth is growth and the fact that it has been seen this year despite the pandemic not being quite as relevant to people’s lives means that it could very quickly end up becoming organic. This would be a game changer for the world of apps in general due to the reason that apps can only survive if they are seeing an increase in active users year on year. First time installs are important because they are what allow apps to get their foot in the door in the first place, but eventually they would need active users to survive.
Growth in active users as well as consumer spending is exactly what the app industry needed this year. Last year brought record first time installs and this year brought record breaking stats in the other areas that mattered even more after the first time installs had been acquired. This shows that the industry will be having a good decade in general, something that you really can’t predict but you can potentially forecast based on all of the relevant data.
Read next: Q3 2021 Forecasted to Be the Most Profitable in History for Apps
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that while first time installs are not growing at the same rate, all of the other relevant metrics seem to be making quite a bit of headway if you think about it. One such metric in which global apps seem to be doing inordinately well is user engagement which has seen a consistent increase and now has reached its highest point yet.
As per Sensor Tower data, the second quarter of 2021 saw the top 500 apps in the world finally breaking the 90 million mark in terms of active users. There are now 91.7 million active users on average (for top 500 apps), which is an 8.4% year on year increase that is quite surprisingly high in a way that would truly end up surprising you. This is a sign that the slowdown that people are referring to is not exactly a slowdown in the truest sense of the word since the rise in other metrics is an indicator that the growth that this industry has seen over the past couple of years is not actually showing signs of slowing down at all.
The growth in active users has definitely not been up to 2020 standards because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up only being precipitated by a global pandemic or some other factor that you really can’t rely on each and every single year. This is why the growth in active users has gone down from over 18% in 2020 to 8% in 2021.
But growth is growth and the fact that it has been seen this year despite the pandemic not being quite as relevant to people’s lives means that it could very quickly end up becoming organic. This would be a game changer for the world of apps in general due to the reason that apps can only survive if they are seeing an increase in active users year on year. First time installs are important because they are what allow apps to get their foot in the door in the first place, but eventually they would need active users to survive.
Growth in active users as well as consumer spending is exactly what the app industry needed this year. Last year brought record first time installs and this year brought record breaking stats in the other areas that mattered even more after the first time installs had been acquired. This shows that the industry will be having a good decade in general, something that you really can’t predict but you can potentially forecast based on all of the relevant data.
Read next: Q3 2021 Forecasted to Be the Most Profitable in History for Apps
