Mobile apps see a surge in consumer use and spending

The mobile app market continues its rapid growth as consumers spend more time and money on apps than ever before, according to data.ai’s latest quarterly research. Consumers spent $100 billion on mobile apps faster than ever in 2023.

AI is here. In the third quarter, two of the top three breakout apps by download growth were AI-powered: ChatGPT and Remini, a photo editing app that uses AI to enhance photos. This trend is likely to continue as AI technology becomes more sophisticated and affordable.

Other standout areas of growth and top apps in the last quarter include:

• Fitness apps: Strava, AllTrails, onX Hunt, and Runna.
• Social apps: Instagram.
• Video streaming apps: ReelShort.
• Games: Monopoly GO.

Why we care. It might seem self-evident, but more and more consumers are using their smartphones to access the internet and interact with brands. If your brand doesn’t have a focus on mobile-first marketing, perhaps it should.

Downloads: Does the public want a better-managed version of X/Twitter? Threads, the microblogging social app launched by Meta at the start of the quarter, skyrocketed up the charts, reaching 150 million downloads faster than any other app in history. This was enough to propel it to the top spot by overall downloads in the quarter with 236 million, just ahead of TikTok’s 229 million downloads in the quarter.

Dig deeper: Which types of in-game advertising do users love (or hate)?

However, it’s important to note that 80% of these downloads came in July, the first month of its launch. This suggests that Threads’ initial popularity was largely due to its reliance on Instagram’s large base of users to port over easily. In August and September, downloads declined to 25 million and 19.5 million, respectively.

Two other apps to pay attention to:

• Temu: The shopping app continued its ascent in Q3. It climbed to the #3 spot after ranking as the #5 breakout app in the first half of this year. It was the top breakout app across European Union markets like France, Germany, Italy and Spain (as Threads is not yet available in the EU).
• TikTok Music: Another app to keep an eye on is TikTok Music, which soft-launched in Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Australia and Singapore during Q3. It was the #10 breakout app in Brazil during the quarter.

Another notable trend is the increasing popularity of apps from and in emerging markets. In the third quarter, three of the six markets where consumers spend more than five hours per day in apps were in APAC: Indonesia (six hours!), Thailand and India.