Global consumer spending on mobile apps surges to $65 billion

People spent $65 billion on App Store and Google Play Store, a 25% jump from $52 billion spent during the same period last year. iOS users spent nearly twice as much as Android users.

Global consumer spending on mobile apps surged in the first half of 2021 amid continuing business closures

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Worldwide consumer spending on mobile apps surged in the first half of 2021 amid continuing business closures, according to app intelligence firm Sensor Tower.

People spent $65 billion on App Store and Google Play Store, a 25% jump from $52 billion spent during the same period last year. iOS users spent nearly twice as much as Android users.

Spending on mobile games touched $44.7 billion, while the entertainment category had the highest spending among non-game apps at $4.4 billion. Book category generated $1.1 billion.

TikTok was the highest grossing non-gaming app on both App Store and Google Play with consumers spending more than $920 million in TikTok, up 74% compared to the same period last year.

YouTube was the second highest grossing non-game app, followed by dating app Tinder, Japanese comic reader Piccoma and Disney’s streaming platform Disney+.

First-time installs on Google Play climbed 6% to 56.2 billion helped by the prevalence of Android devices in markets that are still heavily affected by the pandemic, like India, according to Sensor Tower.

Apple’s App Store however saw a decline in installs , dropping around 11% to 16.3 billion from 18.3 billion in the previous year. Sensor Tower notes that this could be due the U.S reopening businesses and in-person spaces. U.S. has a high concentration of iOS users.