Ouch: Only one in ten people still use a new app after a week

We all have short attention spans, we can admit that much. But did you know that only 4-5 percent of folks continue actively using an app after the first 30 days? That’s some serious goldfish action right there. What’s perhaps worse though is that only around one in ten people are still regularly using a new app one week after they installed it. Are apps really that bad at engaging us? Or do we simply move on so quickly now that even a week is too much time to commit to a new app?

Would you believe that these dismal retention rates actually represent an improvement when compared to last year though? Well, kinda. App Flyer‘s latest app engagement report indicates that Android retention rates actually dropped for organic installs – those apps you find, like and install naturally – whereas non-organic apps you’re incentivized to install actually had increased retention rates.

So we’re spending less time in apps we find on our own and more time in the promoted apps the advertisers and publishers want us to install? Hmm, how nice for them. While that may make you feel a little foolishly pliable, take solace in the fact that iOS users are even more obedient. Where non-organic retention rates increased by just 4 percent on Android, that increase was 25 percent on iOS devices (insert sheeple jokes here).

Android users are more likely to invest in the apps they find organically, while iOS users are much more likely to spend money on incentivized apps. Even though less than two percent of app installs lead to any kind of monetary transaction, you can see why developers continue to target iOS:

The chances of an engaged user turning into a buyer are almost 80% higher on iOS, while the odds of a user who installed an app becoming a buyer are 55% higher.

On the Android platform, North America has the best retention rates globally and is also the market most likely to convert a user into a paid user. With these stats in mind, sound off in the comments with your app usage habits: how long do you engage with a new app before moving on? How often do you pay for an app after installing it? Are you installing more promoted apps these days?