People spent a whopping $111 billion on apps in 2020

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A recent report from Sensor Tower, an app analytics company, reveals that spendings in both Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store reached record heights. According to the report, users spent nearly $111 billion on buying premium apps, app subscriptions, and in-app purchases. On a year-to-year basis, that’s a record 30% growth. 

Even first-time installs were at an all-time high in 2020. Combined, Google Play and the App Store accounted for almost 143 billion new installs. Compared to 2019, that’s a 23.7% spike in new installs. 

On Google Play Store, apps that fall in the Social category were the biggest earners. In 2019, users spent $700 million on Social apps. Then came 2020, and users spent $1.2 billion on Social apps. From year to year, that’s a 71.4% increase.  

In the App Store, as expected, users spent most of their hard-earned money on games. Then there is the entertainment category that experienced the yearly biggest growth in the App Store. Entertainment apps managed to accumulate about $5.3 billion from their users in 2020. Compared to 2019, that’s a 29.3% increase.

TikTok was by far the most popular non-game app in the App Store in 2020. Just in 2020, it experienced an astonishing 600% growth. At the same time, Google One generated the most revenue in the Play Store. Sensor Tower’s data showed that Google One generated $444 million in 2020 only. Compared to 2019, that’s a 41.9% growth. 

However, games drew the most profits in both app stores

In Apple’s store, games accounted for almost 65.8% of all the revenue. In Google Play Store, games generated 82.6% of all revenue. Combined in both app stores, games generated around $79.5 billion in 2020. That’s a 26% increase compared to 2019, when games generated $63 billion. 

Another fascinating piece of data from last year is that five mobile games managed to earn over one billion dollars. The games in question are PUBG Mobile, Honor of Kings, Pokemon Go, Coin Master, and Roblox.

What do you think? Surprised by this growth? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

• Google search results on mobile now point people towards videos on TikTok and Instagram
• Apple’s App Store now features information labels so you know what data is being collected
• Google isn’t updating its iOS apps and Apple’s new privacy labels might be to blame
• The Google Play Store now supports dark mode – here’s how to turn it on

Deep Ballu