People in some countries are spending more than five hours a day with apps, according to a new app usage report from App Annie.
The average time worldwide now exceeds 4.2 hours a day, up 30 percent from two years ago, with the growth largely driven by billions of people staying at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic and shelter-in-place directions from different government agencies and health organizations.
Usage in the U.S climbed 25% in the two-year period. India showed the most dramatic growth, with usage up 80%. Other countries with extremely strong growth were Russia, 50%, Turkey and Indonesia, each at 45%, and Canada, which saw a 40% growth between 2019 and 2021.
As far as usage of individual apps, TikTok, YouTube and Facebook dominated, according to an App Annie blog post.
Secure messaging gained popularity, particularly in Western countries, with Signal placing first in the UK, Germany and France, and fourth in the US. Telegram was fifth in France, seventh in the U.S. and ninth in Germany.
Financial apps also became popular, thanks to the increasing popularity of crypto currency and remote payments.
Coinbase, which just went public through a direct stock listing, was sixth in the U.S. and France, while Binance was France’s seventh most popular app. Crypto currency app Upbit was the top app in South Korea, which the blog post theorized was due to a partnership with digital bank K Bank. Another trading app, Kiwoom Securities Hero S, was sixth in South Korea.
PayPay, a payment app owned by SoftBank, Yahoo Japan Corporation and India’s digital payment company Paytm, was the top new app in Japan.
