Sensor Tower

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App Store spending could more than double by 2025

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App Store spending
How the App Store could rise in the next few years.
Photo: Sensor Tower

After booming during lockdown in 2020, the App Store isn’t likely to slow down over the next five years, according to a new report.

App analytics platform Sensor Tower’s projections indicate App Store spending could hit $185 billion per year in the next half-decade. That’s compared to $72 billion in 2020.

TikTok is top-grossing iOS app for December

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U.S. investigations of TikTok gather steam.
TikTok had a very strong 2020.
Photo: Kon Karampelas/Unsplash CC

TikTok, the ultra-popular short-form video app, finished 2020 on a high note as December’s top-grossing non-gaming app. According to app analytics platform Sensor Tower, TikTok pulled in $142 million that month across iOS and Android.

That’s 3.3 times the revenue TikTok produced in December 2019. The overwhelming majority of this money (86%) came from China, where TikTok is known as Douyin. The United States ranked second for TikTok spending, accounting for 7% of revenue.

Users spent massive $73.4 billion in the App Store last year

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iPhone 12 Pro parts cost shockingly little
The App Store was quite the money-maker for Apple last year.
Photo: Cult of Mac

What pandemic? According to a new report from app analytics firm Sensor Tower, global spending on mobile apps across both iOS and Android hit an astonishing $111 billion in 2020. That’s a massive 30% growth from 2019.

The overwhelming spend — $72.3 billion — was on iOS, despite the larger number of Android devices. Google Play revenue, meanwhile, came in at $38.6 billion. Both app stores showed approximately the same level of growth over the year.

Home improvement apps boom during lockdown

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Home improvement
With people stuck home, this is what they turned to.
Photo: KJ Styles/Unsplash CC

The app economy has done well during the coronavirus pandemic but some categories have done better than others. According to a new report by app analytics platform Sensor Tower, one category of app that has done exceptionally well are home improvement apps.

In the United States, first-time installs of the top home improvement apps doubled year-over-year between the months of March and September. Monthly active users also grew by 35% during that time.

TikTok pulls in more than $130.5 million in user spending in September

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TikTok 1
TikTok has had something of an unpredictable year so far.
Photo: TikTok

TikTok pulled in more than $130.5 million in worldwide user spending in September, making it the top-grossing non-gaming app in the App Store — despite the various existential threats it faces.

In a new report by app analytics firm Sensor Tower, the company notes that user spending on TikTok in September was 7.9 times greater than this time last year. That $130m sum covers both iOS and Google Play revenue.

App Store spending on mobile games hit $11.6 billion last quarter

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birthday
This was one of the top games of the quarter.
Photo: Niantic

Spending on mobile games in the App Store grew significantly over the past quarter, despite the coronavirus pandemic, a new report by Sensor Tower claims. Across the App Store and Google Play, global spending grew 27% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2020 to hit $19.3 billion.

Of the total revenue, the App Store made up $11.6 billion to Google Play’s $7.7 billion. That’s even though the App Store only making up a tiny 2.7 billion of the overall 15.1 billion app downloads in the quarter. As ever, the App Store is where the lion’s share of profits is to be made!

These were the top video steaming apps on iOS in June

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75% of Netflix users have no plans to jump ship to Apple TV+ (right away)
Netflix is continuing its momentum in the age of Disney+ and others.
Photo: Stock Catalog/Flickr CC

There might be more streaming services than ever, but Netflix seems like it’s continuing to maintain momentum in the age of Disney+, HBO+, and others.

According to a new report by Sensor Tower, Netflix was the second-most downloaded iOS app in the App Store. The number one streaming video app? YouTube, of course.

App Store revenue continues to dwarf Google Play’s in 2020

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app-store
The App Store was a cash-printing giant in the first half of 2020.
Photo: Apple

Total App Store spending surged to a massive $32.8 billion in the first half of 2020, combining money spent on premium downloads, subscriptions, and in-app purchases, a recent blog post from app analytics firm Sensor Tower suggests.

Not only is that an enormous amount of cash, but it’s also close to double the estimated gross revenue spent in the Google Play store, despite the bigger market share enjoyed by Android. User spending on Google Play reportedly hit $17.3 billion in the first half of the year.

Users flock to mental wellness apps during COVID-19 lockdown

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Mental wellness app downloads surge due to COVID-19. The coronavirus presents no end of challenges for people.
The coronavirus presents no end of challenges for people.
Photo: Fernando @cferdo/Unsplash CC

Alongside the physical health concerns during COVID-19, there’s been a massive uptick in mental health issues like anxiety. Those worries are highlighted by a big surge in mental wellness mobile app downloads, as noted in a new report from app analytics firm Sensor Tower.

The firm notes that the top 10 mental wellness apps experienced a big increase in downloads in April from the pre-lockdown January 2020. In all, apps like Calm, Headspace and Meditopia racked up a total of 10 million downloads last month.

Mobile app downloads surge during coronavirus lockdown

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Mask download
Stuck home? There's an App Store for that.
Photo: Engin Akyurt/Unsplash

Few areas are booming right now like mobile apps, which have experienced massive growth during coronavirus lockdown. According to a new report from app analytics platform Sensor Tower, data used by mobile app downloads has surged during lockdown.

In a post published Wednesday, the firm said data usage for first-time installs of the top 250 mobile apps worldwide was up 34% from the same quarter last year. Based on an average of the last three years, it is up a whopping 52% — hitting an unfathomable 391 petabytes in Q1 2020. (A petabyte equals roughly 1,000 terabytes.)

TikTok raked in a massive $78 million on mobile in April

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2020 is the year everyone wants to be TikTok famous.
TikTok was the number one app in the App Store in April.
Photo: Aaron Yoo/Flickr CC

TikTok had another massively successful month on mobile in April, a Tuesday report by leading app analytics platform Sensor Tower claims.

According to the report, users spent more than $78 million, across both iOS and Android, on TikTok last month. TikTok ranked number one on the App Store’s list of Top Grossing apps for the month, followed by YouTube, and then Tinder. This list does not include games. TikTok’s user spending is up by 10x compared to April last year.

App Store spending could almost double by 2024

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Money on Unsplash
And coronavirus pandemic isn't likely to hurt it, either.
Photo: Pepi Stojanovski/Unsplash

Customer spending on mobile apps could nearly double over the next five years, according to forecasting carried out by leading app analytics platform Sensor Tower Store Intelligence.

In research published Wednesday, the firm suggests spending on the iOS App Store and Google Play store will approach $171 billion by 2024. That’s 2x the amount that was spent in 2019, meaning around 20% year-on-year growth.

Average iPhone user spending in App Store rockets to $100 in 2019

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App Store
Spending was up 23%.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Last year, iPhone users in the U.S. spent an average of $100 on in-app purchases and premium apps for the first time, according to data published Wednesday by app analytics firm Sensor Tower.

This figure was up $21 on the $79 average spent in 2018. It does not cover payments made using retail apps like Amazon, ride-sharing apps such as Uber, or any other payments that aren’t processed via Apple and the App Store.

Apps designed to make TikTok videos better stormed App Store in 2019

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TikTok 1
It's all about TikTok these days. And the apps that help make it what it is.
Photo: TikTok

TikTok is the hottest app going right now, and plenty of other developers are trying to hitch their wagon to TikTok’s proverbial star by building apps that function as “enhancements” to the mega-popular video editing and sharing app.

According to new data from app analytics platform Sensor Tower, of the 480 million installs generated by 2019’s top 20 new apps, almost 38% were video and photo editors and sticker apps designed to enhance the experience of using TikTok or Instagram. That’s quite the ecosystem!

TikTok was the top iOS app worldwide in Q4 2019

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TikTok 1
TikTok had a great fourth quarter.
Photo: TikTok

TikTok was the most popular iOS app worldwide in Q4 2019, as measured by total number of downloads. In both the App Store and Google Play, TikTok downloads hit an all-time high of almost 220 million installs. On iOS alone, it racked up 42 million.

In the United States, TikTok ranked no. 2 after the newly launched Disney+.

Pokémon Go’s best year yet shows novelty doesn’t have to wear off

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Pokémon GO’s best year yet shows novelty doesn't have to wear off
"You mean, people are still playing it?"
Photo: The Pokémon Company

No game dominated the summer of 2016 quite like the augmented reality blockbuster Pokémon Go. Raking in massive bucks and plenty of virtual column inches that summer, the game became a massive smash hit — before fading from view.

At least, that’s the perspective of people who wonder if anyone still plays Pokémon GOIn fact, not only do people still play it; the game just had its best year to date. What’s the secret to its longevity? And why is that a good thing for gamers?

Exclusive: Mario Kart Tour‘s in-app purchases a massive money-maker for Nintendo

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Mario Kart Tour is a massive money spinner for Nintendo
Success shows why Nintendo changes its strategy on mobile games.
Photo: Nintendo

Nintendo’s new subscription model seems to be paying off in droves for the company — as shown by the company’s most popular mobile game, Mario Kart Tour.

Mario Kart Tour debuted to massive download numbers in late September 2019. According to Apple it was the most downloaded App Store game of 2019. But as figures exclusively obtained by Cult of Mac show, it’s proving quite the money generator as well.

App Store rakes in 80% more than Google Play in 2019 so far

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Apple removes 17 malware apps which secretly clicked on ads
The App Store is ridiculously successful.
Photo: Apple

Customers spent a massive $25.5 billion globally in the iOS App Store during the first half of 2019. That represents an increase of 13.2% compared to the same period one year ago.

While Android devices considerably outnumber iOS handsets, Apple still raked in the majority of profit. Total app spending through Google Play hit just $14.2 billion. That means that the amount generated by Apple’s App Store was around 80% greater than Google Play’s estimated gross revenue.

Top iPhone apps still pull in vastly more money than Android‘s best sellers

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iPhone App Store
The Apple App Store brings in much more revenue than its Android rival.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

The 100 biggest software developers on the Apple App Store took in a whopping 64 percent more than the highest-earning Android app makers during the first the first three months of this year.

And the iPhone devs saw a 12 percent average year-over-year increase in revenue during Q1, according to a market research firm.

Battle royale games rake in $2 billion on mobile alone

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Fortnite on Android
Fortnite isn't top of the list, but there's a catch.
Photo: Epic Games

Battle royale games have now raked in more than $2 billion on Android and iOS, according to the latest data.

Fortnite and competing titles like PUBG Mobile earned an estimated $476 million during the first quarter of 2019 alone. A surprising title leads in player spending — but there is a catch.

App Store revenue could more than double by 2023

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Apple pays $467k for doing business with blacklisted app developer
The App Store continues to go from strength to strength.
Photo: App Store

Apple may be launching a plethora of new Services, but its established App Store business also continues to boom.

According to new figures released by analytics platform Sensor Tower, the App Store will more than double its revenue by 2023. That would mean bringing in a global revenue of $96 billion, a 104 percent increase over last year’s $47 billion.

Fornite made almost half a billion on iOS alone in 2018

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Fortnite iOS 14
Everyone should welcome skill-based matchmaking.
Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Mac

Fortnite is like an unstoppable freight train that continues to plow through players’ wallets month after month. Despite controversial changes and additions to its insanely popular Battle Royale mode, it shows no signs of slowing down.

Even on mobile the game has been incredibly successful, with almost half a billion dollars made on iOS alone in 2018. A whopping $69 million of that was raked in during December, Fortnite’s best month so far on iOS, according to new data.

Millions of Americans watching World Cup on their iPhone or iPad

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World Cup iPhone watching is a thing.
Extremely heavy downloads of apps like Fox Sports Go show that World Cup iPhone watching is a thing.
Photo: Fox

Living in America, it’s sometimes easy to forget the FIFA World Cup is going on now in Russia. Soccer isn’t one of the Big Four U.S. sports. Heck, most Americans don’t even call it by the right name.

But the fact that new downloads of the Fox Sports Go app grew 950 percent during the first week of the World Cup shows there are vast numbers of people living in this country watching the matches on their phones or tablets.

App Store and Google Play raked in $60 billion last year

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iOS 11
iOS 11 made big changes to the App Store.
Photo: Apple

2017 was a great year to be an app developer, based on new data that show smartphone users spent more money than ever on apps last year.

According to a new report from Sensor Tower, customers spent $58.6 billion on apps and games in 2017 on the App Store and Google Play. And iOS developers took away the most cash.