App Annie: Total app store downloads are expected to reach 130 billion in 2020

According to the year-end forecast of mobile data and analysis company App Annie, consumers will download 130 billion apps on iOS and Google Play in 2020, a year-on-year increase of 10%. The company also predicts that consumer spending on these two app stores will also increase by 25% year-on-year, reaching $112 billion by the end of the year. Typically, most of the download growth is led by emerging markets, but this year is different.

Mobile adoption has been accelerated by 2 to 3 years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, consumers are increasingly turning to apps as digital solutions for work, education, entertainment, shopping, and more. This has led to an increase in downloads, time spent on mobile, and consumer spending. According to App Annie, Google Play had 160% more downloads than iOS in 2020, but both stores saw a 10% increase in revenue. At the same time, games increased their share of downloads to 40%. On Google Play, they accounted for 45% of all downloads, up 5% year-over-year, but maintained a 30% share on iOS. In addition, $0.71 of every dollar spent was spent on games across both app stores.

Also due to the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers spent more time on their devices, a metric that jumped 25% from 2019 to over 3.3 trillion hours on Android. App Annie is unable to compile data on iOS devices. This increase in time spent helped boost consumer spending, setting a new annual record of $112 billion in 2020. In 2020, 65 cents of every dollar spent was spent on iOS, but spending on Google Play continued to grow. The company predicts that it will reach close to 30% this year.

The markets where consumers spend the most on iOS include the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom, which is a change from the 2018 and 2019 lists, which included the United States, China, and Japan. The top markets for Google Play are the United States, South Korea, and Germany, with South Korea and Germany leading Japan and the United Kingdom in terms of growth compared to the past 2 years.

The report also looked at the top apps of the year, with TikTok ranking first in terms of downloads and second in terms of consumer spending, but still beaten by Facebook in terms of monthly active users. Despite the global lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, dating app Tinder still ranked second in terms of consumer spending.

Other Facebook apps, including Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp, maintained their top positions in the download and active user rankings. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, Zoom entered the 2020 download list at No. 4. On iOS, it has always been the number one download, followed by TikTok, and Google Meet ranked No. 7.