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How many hours are wasted each year looking for apps to download?
Hello, and thanks for your question asking how many hours are wasted each year looking for apps to download? The short version is that after searching extensively through industry reports, statistics sites, reports and articles on mobile app stats, articles on mobile app downloads and academic papers on studies in this topic, I’ve determined that the information you requested is not publicly available because hasn't been collected or analysed. However, I was able to learn that many people who download apps are downloading on the recommendation of a friend or family member, or they are responding to an ad, meaning that time spent browsing the app store may be limited. Below you will find a deep dive of my research and methodology.
OVERVIEW
After searching exhaustively, I have not been able to find any statistic that explains how many hours are wasted each year looking for apps to download. The statistics are not available as a precompiled figure, and neither is data available for triangulating an estimation of this figure. I believe that this is because the data hasn't been collected or analysed.
First I searched through industry reports (e.g. here and here) and statistics (e.g. Statista, and TechCrunch, Business of Apps, and Expanded Ramblings) however, even though I found a lot of sources none of them included details on how much time people spent browsing for apps.
I then looked for reports and articles on mobile app stats, as well as articles on mobile app downloads and academic papers (e.g. here, here, and here) on studies in this topic, however the information was simply not available. I did find some information on how people decide to download apps, which hints at whether they are spending a lot or a little time looking for apps to download, as I will detail below.
HELPFUL FINDINGS
While I could not find a direct answer to your question, I was able to gather some information about this topic, which I think will be helpful for your project.
For example, I found lots of information on the money that people spend on apps, how many are downloaded, the kinds of apps that are most popular, and how people choose apps.
A report by Gartner predicts that in 2017 "over 268 billion mobile downloads will generate an income of $77 billion". It also found that people are spending an increasing amount of time in apps year on year, and that games apps are those that people spend most of their time in.
Another source tells us that 85% of the time people are spending on their phones is within apps. In addition to this, on average people are utilising 26 to 27 apps each month. Messaging apps are becoming more and more popular, like Whatsapp, and this is true all around the world. In fact, data shows that young people are favouring messaging apps over email.
The most popular apps of 2015 were games like Clash of Clan s, as well as video streaming apps like Netflix and Hulu.
In addition to this, I found that people are spending more time in apps, however they are downloading a smaller number.
I also found useful insights explaining how people decide to download an app, "52 percent of the app users find apps through connections". This suggests that actually, people are spending minimal time browsing in the app store.
I found more stats that back this up, for example "A third (33%) of all smartphone owners in both markets download mobile apps because others recommended them." In addition to this, "(52%) of smartphone owners in the US and UK say they find out about new mobile apps from their family, friends, and work buddies." This suggests that perhaps browsing time is minimal because most people know what they want to download.
Again, I found another article which states that 50% of people claim to have downloaded an app because they saw an advert for it. Again, suggesting that people generally know what app they want to download when they visit the app store.
POSSIBLE CONTINUED RESEARCH
In understanding what types of information are and are not publicly available about Unilever’s marketing spend, I’ve suggested a few other routes you may be interested in researching.
For example, it may be of interest to you to investigate more on the methods that people are using to choose a new app. As I have shown above, there are lots of statistics about what is influencing app users in terms of downloading a new app.
In addition to this, you may also be interested in finding data that explains how many apps are actually used after they are downloaded, and how many are deleted. This may help answer the question how much time is wasted, because it will illustrate whether people are wasting their time downloading apps that they never make use of.
CONCLUSION
To wrap it up, after searching extensively through industry reports, statistics sites, reports and articles on mobile app stats, articles on mobile app downloads and academic papers on studies in this topic, I can confirm that there are no statistics regarding the time wasted each year looking for apps to download.
However, my findings did hint that the time people spend browsing the app store may be fairly limited, due to the fact that a high percentage of those who download apps are downloading on the recommendation of a friend or family member, or they are responding to an ad.
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