The latest 'State of Mobile 2022 report' by App Annie confirms what we knew all along: Indians are among the top nations when it comes to spending time on mobile. According to the report, Indians spent more than 699 billion hours on mobile in 2021. India is at the second spot behind China, but ahead of the US. On an average, Indians spent 4.7 hours per day on mobile in 2021. Indians spending time on mobile is increasing every year. It was 655 billion hours in 2020 and 510 billion hours in 2019.
In all, the global populace spent a total of 3.8 trillion hours on the mobile, according to the report.
- The best Android apps of 2022
- The best iPhone apps of 2022
- More people than ever are installing Android and iPhone apps
India's app downloads increasing every year
India is the second-largest market for smartphones, and the country has some of the cheapest mobile data charges in the world. Mobile, in the Indian scheme of things, is a pivotal device for entertainment, communication, games, finance and more. So, in a sense, Indians spending so much time on the mobile is not surprising.
The app report said that India was second in terms of app downloads too. In 2021, there were 26.7 billion downloads on Google Play Store and the App Store. Indians accounted for 11.6% of all app downloads around the world. China tops here, too as it had 98.4 billion downloads in 2021. As with mobile hours, India's app download numbers are increasing every year. In 2020, it was 24.3 billion downloads, and 18.9 billion downloads the year previous to it.
Instagram most downloaded in India
Overall in 2021, Instagram was the most downloaded app in India. The highest consumer spending app was Hotstar, and WhatsApp had the highest number of monthly active users.
Finance apps were the most popular as they saw over 1 billion downloads in India --- an increase from 8.9 million in 2020. Globally, finance app downloads saw a 28% YoY increase, and it was at 5.9 billion at the end of 2021. Job searching apps saw 17.7 million downloads in India.
Globally, a total of two million new apps and games were released in 2021 for iOS and Android devices. Google Play Store accounted for 77% of the total apps and games. In terms of revenue, over 230 apps and games surpassed $100 million in annual consumer spend, and 13 of them even crossed $1 billion. Consumers spent $170 billion on apps, which is up 19% from last year.
Led by TikTok (increase of 90% globally outside of China), 7 of every 10 minutes was spent on either social, photo and/or video apps. Worldwide consumer spend on dating apps surged past $4.2 billion.
