How app usage is zooming, and how India can gain from it

We all know that app usage is zooming, and more and more of our lives are being run by apps. But what has come as a surprise is that Indians are in the forefront when it comes to downloading and using apps.

AppAnnie in its latest report, Spotlight on Consumer App Usage, says that in the first quarter of 2017 Indians used more than 40 apps every month. This is 25% higher than the monthly world average of 30 apps.

Indians also seem to be smarter when it comes to app usage. They download and install less apps than most nationalities.

What is even more surprising is that app usage is not limited to Facebook and WhatsApp apps. These may be the two most popular apps in India but users are not spending all their time on these apps. In fact, AppAnnie’s study finds that Indians, like several other nationalities, spend only 20 to 30% of their time on the top apps. The remaining time is spent on other apps, and this is huge.

Another interesting finding is that the Indians, on an average, use 11 apps a day. This is once again higher when compared to other countries, barring Brazil. The daily app usage for other countries is 9 apps a day.

Appannie also found that iPhone users use more apps than Android users.

One area where app usage has not grown in India is mobile games. The time spent by Indians on mobile games has stood stationary between 15 to 20 minutes per day. This is much less as compared to South Korea and Japan where game-based app usage is more than one hour. Clearly, there is space for gaming apps in India.

# Key takeaways

These are interesting trends, and should be studied carefully by both app developers and companies. In 2016, over 90 billion apps were downloaded from the iOS App Store and Google Play, and the users spent nearly 900 billion hours on them. This time has now zoomed past one trillion hours.

Some of the key takeaways for Indians are:

1. App usage is growing in India.
2. App usage is not limited to one or two top apps. In fact, there is considerable time being spent on other apps. This should give hope to both app developers and companies to come up with new apps.
3. Mobile games provide the greatest opportunity for app developers in India.