Trends on Tuesday: Apps Dominate Mobile Web Usage

“There’s an app for that.” New data from app analytics provider Flurry on mobile app usage reveals that smartphone users are taking this trademarked slogan to heart. Of the 2 hours and 42 minutes per day that a typical user is on a mobile device, mobile app usage accounts for 2 hours and 19 minutes of that time. In other words, app usage accounts for nearly 86 percent of time spent on a mobile device.

App Stat Highlights:

• Gaming remains the most popular app category of mobile usage with 32% of time spent (same as last year), while Facebook comes in second with 17% of time spent on mobile.
• Social Messaging apps, including Facebook and Twitter, grew to 28% of time spent on mobile, an increase of 4 percentage points from the previous year.
• Productivity apps doubled their share from 2% to 4%.
• Browsers lose share, most notable decline is Safari, which dropped from 12% to 5%. Non-Google, non-Apple browser dropped from 4% to 2%.
• Google and Facebook apps accounted for 34.7% of time spent yet brought in 63.8% of ad revenues.

The data above show that the App vs. mobile web debate will continue but mobile first is a must for federal agencies. No matter where an agency is in their mobile application plan, they must take a proactive approach if they want to engage mobile web users. For example, having a robust social media presence or advertising on popular gaming apps are ways agencies that are still developing a mobile app plan can leverage this trend. If your agency already has an app(s), you can increase visibility with mobile users by becoming part of the Federal Mobile Apps Registry. For more ideas, check out the resources available on DigitalGov.