People spend 4.8 hours a day on mobile apps, study finds

People spent 4.8 hours a day, or almost a third of their waking hours, on their mobile last year, according to new research.

App Annie’s recently released “State of Mobile” report revealed that consumers worldwide spent a record 3.8 trillion hours on mobiles in 2021.

In the UK, the average time spent on the phone per day in 2021 was four hours, less than the global average of 4.8 hours for the year.

But mobile usage in the UK has fallen from three hours a day in 2019 to 3.7 hours a day in 2020.

Overall, 2021 has been “record-breaking” as consumers continue to embrace mobile lifestyles and move away from big screens, the company said.

In particular, usage of Chinese video-sharing app TikTok has seen a 90% increase in the world outside of China, compared to 2020.

In the UK, the average time spent on mobile per day in 2021 was four hours, less than the global average of 4.8 hours for the year

“Mobile is the best ever and the must-have device of the future,” said Theodore Krantz, CEO of App Annie.

“The silver screen is slowly dying as mobile continues to break records in virtually every category: time spent, downloads and revenue.”

Company and app rankings shown in App Annie’s “State of Mobile 2022” report are based on various download, consumer spending and usage estimates obtained from its market intelligence.

More time than ever is spent on mobile apps - 4.8 hours a day, or about a third of average standby hours, according to App Annie

More time than ever is spent on mobile apps – 4.8 hours a day, or about a third of average standby hours, according to App Annie

Globally, the company found that consumers spent $170bn (£124bn) on apps, a 19% increase on the previous year, while app downloads grew. continued to grow by 5% year-on-year to reach a total of 230 billion. for the year.

Meanwhile, global consumer spending on dating apps topped $4.2bn (£3bn), a 55% increase on 2019.

Restaurant apps hit a new milestone with 194 billion ordering sessions in 2021, up 50% year-over-year.

“2021 WAS A RECORD”: APP ANNIE KEY RESULTS

– Publishers released 2 million new apps and games, bringing the cumulative total to 21 million.

– Advertising spend topped $295bn (£215bn), up 23% year-on-year, and is expected to hit $350bn (£255bn) within a year.

– Mobile games reached $116bn (£84bn), an increase of 15%, fueled by the preference for ‘hyper-casual games’ – mobile games that tend to be easy to play and free to play .

– Apps generating more than $100m (£73bn) in consumer spending increased by 20%.

Overall, consumers spent $170bn (£124bn) on apps, the findings show

Overall, consumers spent $170bn (£124bn) on apps, the findings show

– Led by TikTok (90% increase worldwide outside of China), seven out of 10 minutes were spent on social, photo and/or video apps.

– Global consumer spending on dating apps topped $4.2bn (£3bn), a 55% increase on 2019.

– Time spent in shopping apps reached 100 billion hours, up 18% year-over-year, driven by fast fashion, social shopping and big box stores like Walmart and Target .

– Foodservice apps hit a new milestone with 194 billion sessions in 2021 (up 50% year-over-year)

– Metaverse catapults leading avatar apps with 160% year-over-year growth.

App Annie also found that the total number of hours spent watching video streaming apps increased by 16% globally from pre-pandemic levels.

In the UK, the total number of hours spent streaming increased by 17% comparing 2019 to 2021, just above the global average of 16%.

“Despite access to larger screens, consumers are still watching content on mobile,” the company says in the report.

“Competition is intensifying in the space and exclusive content is a way to attract new viewers.”

Interestingly, China’s time spent using streaming apps fell 46% over this period, largely due to consumers increasingly turning to short-form video apps like TikTok and Kwai.

In the UK, the total number of hours spent on video streaming apps such as Netflix increased by 17% comparing 2019 to 2021, just above the global average of 16%.  China and India have seen the use of streaming apps plummet as citizens in both countries turn more to short-form video apps such as TikTok.  (TikTok usage in the UK is also growing, but not enough to significantly affect time spent on video streaming apps)

In the UK, the total number of hours spent on video streaming apps such as Netflix increased by 17% comparing 2019 to 2021, just above the global average of 16%. China and India have seen the use of streaming apps plummet as citizens in both countries turn more to short-form video apps such as TikTok. (TikTok usage in the UK is also growing, but not enough to significantly affect time spent on video streaming apps)

Globally, the average number of monthly hours spent per user on TikTok increased from 13.3 in 2020 to 19.6 in 2021

Globally, the average number of monthly hours spent per user on TikTok increased from 13.3 in 2020 to 19.6 in 2021

Worldwide, TikTok was the “big winner” in terms of user engagement among the top five social apps – ahead of Facebook, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram (all owned by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta company).

TikTok and Facebook both saw 19.6 average monthly hours per user in 2021, but TikTok has seen tremendous growth – as that figure was up from the 13.3 average monthly hours in 2020.

Elsewhere in the report, App Annie calls avatar apps, which allow people to create a 3D animation of themselves, “a growing trend.”

Among the three popular avatar social apps – Litmatch, Wright Flyer’s REALITY and ZEPETO – downloads were up 160% year over year.

Demand for social avatar apps has surged amid interest in the “metaverse” – a collective shared virtual space featuring avatars of real people – in 2021.

Interest in metaverses was particularly strong in the second half of the year, when Mark Zuckerberg announced the renaming of his company from Facebook to Meta as part of a new focus on the concept.

FACEBOOK – NOW KNOWN AS ‘META’ – ANNOUNCES 10,000 JOBS ACROSS THE EU TO BUILD ITS ‘METAVERSE’

Facebook has come under fire from users after announcing plans to hire 10,000 people in the European Union to develop a so-called metaverse – a virtual reality version of the internet where people can play, work and communicate.

The tech giant’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has been a key spokesperson for the concept, which would blur the lines between the physical and digital worlds.

It could allow someone to put on a virtual reality headset to make them feel like they’re face-to-face with a friend, despite being thousands of miles apart and connected. via Internet.

“The metaverse has the potential to help open up access to new creative, social and economic opportunities. And Europeans will shape it from the start,” Facebook said in a blog post.

“Today we are announcing a plan to create 10,000 new highly skilled jobs in the European Union (EU) over the next five years.”

The tech giant said the new roles would include “highly specialized engineers,” but didn’t reveal more details about its plans for the new Metaverse team.

Not everyone is impressed with the announcement, however, with many users suggesting that Facebook should focus on hiring more moderators and tackling the spread of misinformation on its platforms, rather than paying more. money on the metaverse.

Ben Sizer, a software engineer from Nottingham, tweeted: “Facebook is a company with around 15,000 moderators who are mostly underpaid contractors.

“Yet they’re announcing today that they’re going to hire 10,000 ‘highly specialized’ engineers to create ‘the metaverse.’ It all depends on their priorities, not their abilities.

Another Twitter user wrote: “Facebook seems to find the money and the time for their ‘metaverse’ project, but when it comes to tackling hate speech and misinformation on their platform, they don’t. really couldn’t be bothered.”

Investing in the EU offers many benefits, Facebook said, including “a large consumer market, top-notch universities, and most importantly, high-quality talent.”

The announcement comes as the company grapples with the fallout of a damaging scandal, major service outages and calls for regulation to limit its influence.

Casey J. Nelson