Phone App Use in US Up Nearly 20% During Pandemic to More Than 4 Hours Daily

Phone App Use in US Up Nearly 20% During Pandemic to More Than 4 Hours Daily

The Wrap

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People love their apps more than ever. That much is clear, with new data from research firm App Annie on Thursday showing the global average time spent on apps is now up to 4.2 hours per day — up 30% compared to just two years ago.

Of course, similar to the increase in time spent streaming content over the last year, much of this can be attributed to the coronavirus pandemic; as entertainment options dried up, screen time increased.

That was certainly the case in the U.S., where time spent on apps is up 25% since 2019. And in the last year, the average time Americans spend on apps has increased from about 3.5 hours per day to 4.1 hours per day, equal to a 17% jump year-over-year.

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And perhaps surprisingly, Americans trail several other countries when it comes to how much time they spend each day moving from app-to-app. Indonesia, for example, has the highest average time spent on apps per day at about 5.5 hours per person, according to App Annie; that’s a 45% increase in two years. Brazil and South Korea are also hovering near the 5 hours per day average as of Q1 2021, and Mexico is past 4.5 hours per day on average. India, meanwhile, reported the biggest two-year increase, moving up 80% since 2019 to an average of about 4.7 hours per day.

Here’s a quick look at the data, via App Annie:


The new data coincides with last week’s report from App Annie that App spending skyrocketed in the last year. Consumers spent a record $32 billion on apps in Q1 on both the Apple App Store and Google Play store, which marked a 40% increase from just a year ago. Gaming accounted for the lion’s share of app revenue during the first quarter, with $22 billion going towards mobile games between January and March.

You can check out App Annie’s full report on app usage by clicking here.

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