The year 2023 was a time when our mobile screens saw a lot of action in the US. According to a comprehensive report from data.ai, we’ve got the scoop on which apps took most of US residents’ time and money last year.
First off, Americans spent less time on their phones last year, with the average daily screen time dipping from 4.42 hours to 4.34 hours. This is not a huge decrease, but every minute counts in the digital world. In comparison, the global average for daily screen time in 2023 was 5 hours, a 6% increase from 2022.
Top app subgenres by downloads in 2023
Globally, VPN Service & Web Accelerator apps saw a 42% growth in downloads. However, in the US, HBO’s Max took the crown in the entertainment subgenre. Temu made an impact in the Shopping and E-Commerce subgenre, while WhatsApp Messenger showed modest growth in the Social Media and Communication category. AI was a hot topic, with the ChatGPT app experiencing a 2792% growth, making it a noteworthy app.
Top app subgenres by money spend in 2023
Max and Tinder topped the charts in money spent, with Tinder netting over $2.3 billion and TikTok reaching $1.5 billion in consumer spending. Snapchat also saw a significant 366% growth in spending due to its newly introduced subscription service. Over-the-Top (OTT) apps were the most popular for consumer spending, indicating that streaming services are more popular than ever.
Top app subgenres by time spend in 2023
Entertainment and Social Media subgenres dominated the list for time spent on mobile apps. YouTube was at the top, with US residents collectively spending over 40 billion hours on the platform. Media Sharing Networks saw a 35% increase in growth, while traditional Social Networks remained flat. X and Netflix saw declines in time spent, but Character.AI experienced significant growth as users spent nearly 2 billion hours creating and chatting with AI characters.
Overall, 2023 was a year where AI, social media, shopping, some romance, and lots of video content took up a significant amount of our time on mobile apps.
