Global mobile in-app spending to grow annually to $67.5 billion in the first half of 2023

The market recovery in the first half of 2023 is encouraging. The decline in mobile user spending in 2022 is only a temporary phenomenon and has not affected the long-term growth of the mobile application market. According to the latest research by data.ai , the global mobile application market rebounded after the macroeconomic downturn in 2022. iOS and Google Play user spending reached a record high of US$ 67.5 billion in the first half of 2023 , and app downloads reached 76.8 billion times at the same time, indicating that the mobile application market is recovering strongly.

While flat mobile gaming spending may not seem like a positive sign on the surface, recent trends suggest that growth is still possible for the largest category. After bottoming out at -13% in May 2022 , the market returned to positive year-over-year growth in both March and May 2023. After a brief period of volatility, the overall trend is expected to show more stable signs of growth.

How will the mobile economy perform for iOS and Android in the first half of 2023 ?

Both Apple and Google platform stores returned to growth. iOS consumer spending increased 5.8% year-over-year to $ 43.5 billion, while Google Play grew 4.3% to $ 24 billion.

Comparing the platforms, iOS users’ spending is still much higher than that of Google Play users, contributing nearly 65% . In non-game applications, this figure is even higher, reaching 71% .

Which categories will see the fastest growth in app store consumer spend in the first half of 2023 ?

The Games, Entertainment, and Social categories were the largest categories by consumer spend (including iOS and Google Play ). Among the categories that will exceed $ 500 million in consumer spend in the first half of 2023 , Productivity ( 32% ), Business ( 27% ), and News & Magazines ( 25% ) saw the strongest year-over-year growth.

From a regional perspective, the United States, China, and Japan led the way in consumer spend on iOS, while the United States, Japan, and South Korea led the way on Google Play.

Although Google Play app downloads are still more than three times that of iOS , iOS has grown faster year-on-year at 10% , exceeding 18 billion times, while Google Play has grown 1.4% year -on-year to 58.7 billion times.

India, Brazil, and Indonesia lead the way in Google Play downloads in the first half of 2023 , while Turkey, Russia, and Indonesia see the largest growth in downloads compared to the second half of 2022. On iOS , China, the United States, and Japan lead the way in downloads. Brazil, China, and the United States see the fastest growth in downloads compared to the second half of 2022 .

By category, Games, Tools, and Social categories led the pack in terms of downloads. Meanwhile, Games, Efficiency, and Tools categories saw the fastest growth in half-year ( HoH ) downloads. In terms of growth rate, the best performing categories were Efficiency, Books & Reference, and Health & Fitness, with half-year growth rates of 16% , 7% , and 5% , respectively .

Growth rates for each category since the first half of 2019 show that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to fade, but has not completely disappeared. Travel and navigation app downloads grew 13% from the first half of 2019 , but did not exceed the overall non-game app growth level ( 21% ).

App Rankings

TikTok user spending breaks record again

TikTok became the first app to exceed $ 1 billion in consumer spending in the first quarter of 2023 , and continued to break records in the first half of the year with $ 2.1 billion. Compared with its $ 1.7 billion in consumer spending in the second half of 2022 , TikTok's half-year growth rate was 24% . TikTok was not the only app to achieve significant growth in the second half of 2022: Piccoma , Disney + , and YouTube achieved half-year growth rates of 34% , 10% , and 6% , respectively, compared to the second half of 2022 .

Max (formerly HBO Max ), another outstanding app in the revenue list , was officially launched in the United States on May 23. The combined user spending of this new app and its predecessor HBO Max increased by 3% compared to the second half of 2022. Data shows that the cumulative user spending of the app has exceeded US$ 3 billion during its life cycle .

In the first half of 2023 , social media giants still topped the download and monthly active users ( MAU ) rankings without any suspense. Although the download rankings have not changed much, we can still see the emergence of applications with significant absolute growth, such as CapCut , Temu and WhatsApp . It is worth mentioning that the e-commerce application Temu has climbed to 31st place since its launch in September 2022 .

Who will be the popular game in the first half of 2023 ?

The top five games by downloads in the first half of 2023 are the same as in the second half of 2022 , with Subway Surfers and Free Fire leading the way. New rising stars include Block Blast Adventure Master and Attack Hole .

Another game that has risen rapidly during the same period is Gardenscapes , launched by Playrix . After experiencing a decline in user spending in 2021 and 2022 , the game rebounded sharply in the first half of this year. In May 2023 , the game's global user spending exceeded US$ 94 million, setting a new high in the past three years. In the first half of 2023 , Gardenscapes jumped 11 places to 8th in the global user spending ranking . In the download ranking, it climbed 57 places to enter the top ten of the list.

Two other match-3 games joined Gardenscapes in the top 10 by consumer spending ( Candy Crush Saga and Royal Match ). In the global consumer spending rankings for the first half of 2023 , match-3 games ranked second only to role-playing and strategy games. The role-playing category had three games in the top 10 ( Genshin Impact, Pokémon GO , and Monster Strike ).

The average monthly active ranking of mobile games is not much different from the second half of 2022 , with ROBLOX , Free Fire and Candy Crush Saga occupying the top three. Only FIFA Soccer is a new face in the top ten list. This game continues the user popularity established during the World Cup at the end of 2022 .