UK app usage has increased by 28% in the last year as Brits turn to their phones for social and professional tasks, according to the latest report from Flurry.
The report looks into mobile app activity in the UK, France and Germany over the last year, as well as global trends, the report draws on Flurry’s expansive global footprint.
More than 940,000 applications, across 2.1 billion devices, in 10 billion sessions a day provide a unique level of detail and breadth for examining app usage patterns.
Key insights from the report include:
• Overall app usage (by sessions) grew 28% in the UK
• British mobile users turn to their phones for social and professional tasks – messaging and social application sessions increased by 46%, whilst utilities and productivity application sessions grew by 45%
• In France, sports apps scored an impressive growth rate, with sessions increasing by 190%
• Business and finance apps captivated French and German users more in 2016 than in 2015, with session growth up 69% and a staggering 106% respectively
For the second time ever, Flurry Analytics released its report on the state of mobile app usage across key markets in Europe. Flurry is a tool used by developers and marketers to measure and analyze consumer activity across their application portfolios.
Flurry currently supports iOS and Android operating systems; as well as Apple TV and the Apple Watch.
Over the last year, the global Flurry footprint grew to track more than 940,000 applications, across 2.1 billion devices, in 10 billion sessions a day. In this context, we define app usage as a user opening an app and recording what we call a “session.”
Top European Trends
• Overall EU
o The usage we’re seeing across the region maps back to the global figures we saw approximately 6 months ago.
o Phablets adoption is growing in markets where Android is the dominant operating system.
o Perhaps seeing an opportunity to ramp-up their business chops following the Brexit vote, German and French mobile users turned to their Business and Finance apps more in 2016 than in 2015, with session growth up 69% and a staggering 106% respectively.
• United Kingdom
o Overall app usage (by sessions) grew 28%
o Much like the global mobile community, British mobile users turned to their phones to perform a combination of social and professional tasks. Messaging and Social application sessions increased by 46% and Utilities and Productivity application sessions were up by 45% in 2016.
• France
o Overall app usage (by sessions) grew 16% (mapping closest back to the global average of 11%)
o After hosting the Euro Cup last year, Sports app sessions increased by 190% throughout 2016.
• Germany
o Overall app usage (by sessions) grew 25%
o German got a lot more social on their phones in 2016, with Messaging and Social application sessions up an impressive 96%.
o Germany has biggest market share for phablets, with Samsung securing 44% of the total active devices in the country.
Across Europe, Flurry Analytics is used by over 35,200 companies, installed on over 189,900 apps, with 460 million monthly active users.
When looking into mobile usage locally, one major trend emerged in our report: European mobile usage looks a lot like global usage did 6 months ago, still ascending on the growth curve, but slowing considerably.
In 2016, app usage across the three key markets of the United Kingdom, France and Germany grew by 23%.
Sports and Messaging and Social apps saw the most year-over-year session growth in Germany and the UK, with 96% and 46% increases respectively. While French mobile users were, perhaps, inspired by the Brexit vote and chose to become more business savvy, as seen with the session uptick of 106% in Business and Finance app sessions.
Mobile users in the UK hop on their phones almost as soon as they wake up, around 7:30AM. Not to be outdone, Germans tend to wake up about 30 minutes before their British brethren with mobile usage ramping up around the 7am hour.
French users wake a little later and are slow to turn to their devices in the morning. The first big jump in activity actually happens around the hours of Noon and 1:00PM, where they look to be spending more time with their phones than in the office, with their co-workers.
Perhaps most interestingly British phone usage continually climbs to its apex starting at around 4:00 PM, continuing through the “peak-pub hours” and dropping dramatically off at around 10:00 PM.