Study: iPhone Owners Quickly Bored By Apps

Ed Sutherland ()

Study: iPhone Owners Quickly Bored By Apps

iPhone users quickly tire of applications, according to a new study. The number of iPhone owners that use an app at least once a week fell from 40 percent after the first month to 5 percent by the sixth month, researchers said.

The study by Flurry Analytics also found the rate of user retention nearly identical for both Apple’s iPhone and phones running Google’s Android software. “We believe underlying reasons include the fact that Android handsets are capturing a more mainstream audience similar to the iPhone and that Android handsets have improved relative to the iPhone handset,” the analytics firm said.

Social networking is among the most popular categories of apps. Owners of Apple’s iPhone used social networking apps slightly under 20 times a month while “lifestyle” apps were used less than 5 times a month, according to Flurry.

The researchers conclude there is now little difference between the iPhone and Android in terms of the platform. “Just like the brand of flat screen T.V. doesn’t affect how much one enjoys a movie she is watching, the new class of touch screen smartphones doesn’t impact how well the user enjoys a game, social networking or other kind of application.”

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[Via Business Insider and Flurry]

11 comments »

About the author

Ed Sutherland

Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.

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  • http://www.snubcommunications.com Craig Grannell

    Sounds like utter bollocks to me. Everyone I know with an iPhone uses a bunch of apps all the time.

  • GQB

    More than likely its just people searching for the right app… there are multiple choices for most categories after all.

  • http://www.toxicspark.com Andrew Macdonald

    I would actually agree with the findings here.

    I download a few few Apps, but do tire of them quickly. there is only probably 5/6 apps that i use daily on my iPhone. The other 50 odd are ones ive downloaded/bought but no longer interest me.

  • Charli

    i would hazard that most of the dropped apps were games. i listen to my co-workers during breaks and it seems like the game of choice changes every week, two at the most. first they were all over words with friends, then it was doodle jump, then they left the games to mess with Brushes, then Bejeweled appeared for a couple of days. then it was 4 days of TPain, and so on.

  • Joseph

    “More than likely its just people searching for the right app”

    Exactly. If they looked at desktop apps I’m sure they’d find exactly the same behavior – you try many but only end up liking and using a few.

  • http://www.superhyper.org Mason Stewart

    Enjoyed the article. The part of the experience I did not enjoy is the ad for the “Sex App Shop” on your site. C’mon guys, this is in pretty bad taste. The internet is already inundated with crap like this. Let’s keep this otherwise great site in good taste and safe for work. Seriously.

  • Alex

    I have noticed that many of my iPhone using friends will sit there and surf through their apps open one for few seconds close it, open the next , and move on to the next …. What’s even stranger I have notice people that buy apps and then only thing they seem to with them is show them other people …

  • Allan

    Most of the stuff in the App Store is fluff and nonsense. I’ve got several useful utilities, a few necessary references, a few good news sources and that’s it. It’s very rare that I see an app I really can’t live without. I rarely even go to the App Store except to make sure my apps are up to date.

  • NewJohnny

    QUOTE: “We believe underlying reasons include the fact that Android handsets are capturing a more mainstream audience similar to the iPhone and that Android handsets have improved relative to the iPhone handset,” the analytics firm said.

    Right. I believe statisticians need to get out more and realize it’s just human nature.

  • yet another steve

    Life is short. There are 250,000 iOS apps.
    Thank you, Captain Obvious.

    Actually if you’re an app maker this is good news. Users move on. They might try yours some day.

    And if you’re an iOS app maker, you can charge money for it. :)

  • Luke

    There is a site that claims to help combat this kind of thing. It has just started and there aren’t many apps, but I think its onto something. Check it out and see what you think.

    http://www.theappforapps.com