Maintaining an engaged audience is critical for an app’s long-term health, as acquiring new users only works for so long before the list of people willing to download your app has been exhausted.
To do this, app need stickiness and a reason for users to open them time and time again. Generally, the easiest way to instil this stickiness is through the app being useful, and providing a benefit or fixing a need for the user.
Even if the app is useful, users can still switch off or forget to open the app. Notifications, set to certain times, are used by some apps to remind users to log-in. Duolingo and MyFitnessPal are good examples of this, reminding users at specific points in the day to complete an activity.
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The aim is with enough time spent on the app, the user develops a habit which keeps them coming back even without the reminder. Active users are more likely to invest in premium services or watch more ads, making them a priority.
We have collected data and statistics on app engagement rates. Read on below to find out more.
Key App Engagement Rate Statistics
- Entertainment apps have the highest average session length, at seven minutes
- Sports apps are opened the most times in a month, with food & drink and shopping apps opened the least amount of times
- News & magazines have the highest percentage of active users using their apps once per day
- Users spend the most time on social networking apps, at 44 minutes per day on average
- Indonesians spend the most time on apps every day, at 5.7 hours per day
Session Length by App Category
Not surprisingly, entertainment apps had the highest average session length at seven minutes. The majority of app categories had session lengths of below two minutes, according to Airship’s Mobile Lifecycle Benchmarks: Engagement report.
Average session length by app category (minutes)
Monthly Sessions by App Category
The average number of sessions in a month across all categories was 20. Sports was the top category with 45 sessions.
Number of monthly app sessions by category (%)
Daily Active Users by App Category
About 16% of active users access apps daily, with the news & magazines category having the highest percentage of DAUs at 32%.
Percentage of DAUs from active users by app category (%)
Hours Spent by App Category
Users spend the most time on social networking apps, clocking in at an average of 44 minutes per day.
Daily time spent on apps by app category
Hours Spent on Apps by Country
Indonesians spend the most time on apps by country, at 5.7 hours per day. In totality, India has the highest amount of hours clocked, at over 1 trillion in 2023.
Hours spent daily on apps by country
Total hours spent on apps by country 2023
Most Popular App Activities
Some activities, such as sending messages, emailing and listening to music are performed by almost everyone, whereas reading blogs, news and viewing deals are niche.
