The global app economy has shown signs of recovery in 2024, particularly in consumer spending. According to app intelligence firm Appfigures, spending on mobile apps and games across Apple’s App Store and Google Play reached $127 billion, marking a 15.7% increase compared to the previous year. This growth was largely driven by Apple’s App Store, as spending on Google Play declined, TechCrunch reported.
Despite the rise in consumer spending, global app downloads fell by 2.3%, totaling approximately 110 billion downloads in 2024. Both app stores experienced declines in downloads. iOS app downloads dropped by 1.1% to 28.3 billion, while Android downloads decreased by 2.6% to 81.4 billion.
The decline in Google Play downloads is attributed to its crackdown on spam and low-quality apps, which led to a 60% reduction in new app releases on the platform.
In the United States, iOS downloads decreased by 5.3% to 6.1 billion, while Google Play downloads dropped by 0.7% to 4.4 billion. Overall, total app downloads in the U.S. fell by 3.4%, reaching 10.6 billion.
Globally, Instagram was the most downloaded app in 2024, with approximately 640 million installs. In the U.S., however, Temu took the lead with 48 million installs.
Consumer spending on apps reached $127 billion in 2024, with the App Store contributing $91.6 billion, reflecting a 24% increase. In contrast, Google Play’s spending declined by 1.5% to $35.7 billion.
TikTok topped the global consumer spending charts, generating $2.5 billion in revenue. Brazil emerged as the fastest-growing market for consumer spending, witnessing a 73% increase compared to the previous year.
