Global spend on the iOS and Google Play stores hit a new annual high in 2020, as it grew by 25% to $112 billion. The information was revealed by leading mobile data and analytics platform App Annie, in its end of year review of the international app market.
The iOS Store is still responsible for the majority of spend with 65% going to Apple’s marketplace. However, Google Play has risen by almost 30%, as a wider market for competitive Android devices has led to greater consumer adoption.
Tinder remained the number one non-gaming app by consumer spend, despite strong year-on-year advances from Tik Tok and Disney+. The dating app was also top in the UK, while Bumble dropped four place in the nation’s rankings to eighth.
Bertrand Salord, Vice President of Marketing at App Annie, explained in a statement: “Despite stay-at-home orders and social-distancing guidelines, Tinder was able to keep users engaged through innovations like video dating and the app experience of matching and meeting new people.
“Not only did users keep coming back to Tinder, they continued to pay for premium features offering better placement or additional premium perks when matching.”
Overall downloads reached 130 billion, marking an increase of 10%. Both the iOS and Google Play store grew by the same amount, but the latter was responsible for 94 billion of the downloads.
Unsurprisingly, ZOOM was the breakout app of the year as the majority of business proceedings moved to the virtual world. The video calling software jumped 219 places in the global downloads category.
View the full results here.