Have you gone online today? If you’re reading this, the answer is yes, and chances are you’re reading it through an app. According to a new study from media analytics company comScore, smartphone apps now account for 50 percent of the time Americans spend online, marking the first time app dominance has been observed.
“While the smartphone app has been the most important access vehicle to the internet for some time,” the firm wrote on its website, “growing its share to a point where it now eclipses all other digital media platforms combined speaks to just how central to our lives the smartphone has become.”
While the Android Market and Apple App Store are both relative newcomers (having debuted in 2008), they’ve wasted no time in establishing their dominance in the digital landscape. Much of the popularity of these applications can be traced back to the rise of the smartphone. As comScore notes, smartphone screens have gotten larger and 4G LTE networks have gotten faster, allowing users to spend more time on their mobile devices.
“The convenience factor is simply too powerful. You almost always have your smartphone on you, and apps allow you to immediately access a service in one simple tap of the screen,” the firm wrote.
So which apps are the most popular? The list probably won’t surprise you. In order, we’re spending the most time on the following apps: Facebook, Messenger, YouTube, Google Maps, Google Search, Google Play, Gmail, Pandora, Instagram, Amazon mobile, Apple Music, Apple Maps, Pokémon Go, Snapchat, and Pinterest. While many of these apps are institutions in the digital world, the presence of Pokémon Go in the top 15 shows there is plenty of opportunity for app developers who manage to tap into what audiences want.
