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Android users spent nearly 325 billion hours in apps in Q3 2017

Do you love apps? If so, you're not alone. A new report is shedding light on how much time we spend using apps and how much money spend on in-app purchases.

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Published onOctober 26, 2017

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A new report is confirming what we already knew: we love our apps. In fact, we love our apps so much that we’re setting records for app usage and downloads in Q3 2017. This is largely on the back of an explosion of popularity in India and Southeast Asia, but Android apps are seeing increases across the board.

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One of the most surprising facts out of the new report is that Android users spent close to 325 billion hours using apps in just the three months that make up the third quarter. That’s over 37 million years and represents a 40 percent increase from Q3 last year. Downloads for the combination of iOS and Android hit nearly 26 billion, which is a growth of more than 8 percent year over year. That number does not take reinstalls or app updates into account, only new installs.

The statistics on how much money we’re spending in-app are just as staggering. In-app purchases are outpacing the increase in downloads by three-fold. In Q3 2017 alone, in-app purchases accounted for nearly $17 billion, with a year on year growth of 28 percent. Apple was the clear winner in this category with iOS users spending nearly double that of Android users, even as the Play Store saw more downloads than the App Store.

These numbers are showing that app downloads and in-app purchases are a runaway freight train right now. They show little signs of slowing down as emerging markets continue to get access to mobile devices and mature markets show an increasing willingness to spend money within apps. The report forecasts that in the year 2021 worldwide downloads will hit almost 240 billion for Android and iOS combined, with consumers spending over $100 billion.