The Impact of COVID-19 on Daily App Usage

Since the Covid-19 pandemic started to dominate our lives, people’s habits changed dramatically for every country and individual. Mobile channels became the only option for social connection between people because Covid-19 made in-person interactions nearly impossible. During the lockdown period, people tried to explore new ways to do shopping, stay connected, stay fit, be productive, stay entertained, etc. Therefore, there has been an enormous surge in mobile interactions.

Trends Across App Store Categories and Industries

Some apps try to survive. On the other side, some apps thrive during this global Pandemic, with the largest consumer spend ever occurring. Pandemic-thriving applications have seen a substantial boost in app usage during the Pandemic, while pandemic-proof apps have continued more or less, as usual, pandemic-rebounder apps have slowed down compared to daily usage before the Pandemic. Storyly analyzed different app categories to understand the impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic to app usage.

• Travel

Since most countries apply some travel restrictions, travel apps usage decreased dramatically. Besides the decrease of daily usage of the airline industry, the lodging industry’s app usage has been decreased.

• Food & Drink

Food and drink apps have seen an industry-specific impact. The impact increased more if they do not offer drive-through or take-away options.

• Online Delivery & Grocery

Because in-store grocery shopping has been affected, the mobile grocery order has dramatically increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Online delivery apps such as Uber Eats, DoorDash, GrubHub saw a 60% bump in early March, and DoorDash says that the application has boosted the highest number of new U.S. users with 150,000 added in April.

• Shopping

With lockdown imposed by the governments, everything but essential services closed. Retailers had to concentrate on their mobile apps to survive. According to JMango360, retailers’ mobile apps saw a 36% increase in mobile app download and a 54% increase in-app purchases in September 2020 compared to September 2019.

• Health & Fitness

Since gyms and fitness centers are closed or restricted within the time limits, many consumers now rely on fitness apps to exercise at home. According to Pew Research, the Pandemic has encouraged 18% of Americans to participate in online classes.

• Education

Statista says that education is the second most demanded app category during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Not only the compulsory education has been affected, but also the demand for apps that offers creative, musical, communication skill education.

• Content & Media

Social media is essential for people to stay connected during COVID-19. Since the beginning of the Coronavirus Pandemic, social media engagement has increased by around 61%. Moreover, the number of daily sessions increased by 73%.

• Gaming

In April, 40% of app users reported playing mobile app games more frequently, and Verizon stated a 75% increase week-over-week in gaming app usage. Apart from the puzzle and word games, new installs of Candy Crush, Peakgames, Subway Surfers were up to 95%.

• Entertainment

Many people have begun to use media services and television apps to occupy their free time during the COVID-19 Pandemic. In April, entertainment apps had an overall increase of 25%, and music apps were used 21% more frequently.

• Lifestyle

According to Statista, the lifestyle category was one of the most popular categories in the Apple App Store in August 2020. However, the usage of lifestyle apps may vary between different apps because the lifestyle category is so broad, and some of them were affected positively. In contrast, the others were affected negatively during the Pandemic.

• Finance

Investment apps peaked in 2020 since January with seeing an 88% growth. Especially in the lockdown period, users have begun to use banking and payment apps more often than before. Therefore, the cost of acquiring new users also fell by 77% between February and May.

To conclude, apps’ usage of the most apps among different categories have been affected positively during the Coronavirus Pandemic, especially during the lockdown periods. As an app owner, you need to take benefit of this opportunity. To boost your app’s retention, you can also read “7 Mobile Marketing Campaign Types to Boost App Retention”.

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