Downloads of mobile apps and games worldwide across Google Play and the App Store dipped by 0.8% year-over-year in Q3 following a 2.5% year-over-year decrease in Q2 and modest growth of 1.1% in Q1, according to the latest report from Sensor Tower.
Sensor Tower estimates 35.3 billion first-time installs in Q3 across the App Store and Google Play, down from 35.6 billion during the third quarter of 2021. The average masks divergent trends, though. While Google Play downloads fell by 2.2% globally from 27.7 billion to 27.1 billion, global downloads on the App Store grew by 3.8% from 7.9 to 8.2 billion.
Mobile game downloads were flat year-over-year on both Google Play and the App Store, totaling 11.6 and 2.1 billion, respectively. Previous research has indicated that while the number of mobile gamers in the US and Canada dipped in 2021 relative to the previous year, the amount of time mobile gamers spent playing grew.
Among non-game apps, TikTok remained the leader by downloads globally for the 9th time in the past 11 quarters. It was followed by Meta-owned Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Messenger, such that 4 of the top 5 apps were Meta properties.
On the App Store TikTok also led in first-time installs, but was followed by YouTube, Instagram, CapCut and WhatsApp. Google Play downloads were led by Facebook and followed by Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp and Snapchat.
Mobile App Revenues Also Decline
Global consumer spending in mobile apps declined in Q3, according to the report. Indeed, spending fell by 5% year-over-year in Q3 to $31.6 billion, with Google Play revenues seeing a particularly steep descent.
Spending on in-app purchases, subscriptions and premium apps in the App Store totaled $21.2 billion for the quarter, down 2.3% from the $21.7 billion spent in Q3 2021. The decline was more pronounced on Google Play, where the percentage drop in revenues was almost in the double-digits (-9.6%), down to $10.4 billion.
TikTok was the top-grossing app overall for Q3, ahead of YouTube and Google One.
TikTok and YouTube were also the top-grossing apps on the App Store, while Google One topped TikTok for the #1 spot on Google Play.
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