How COVID-19 has affected the mobile app market - Appy Pie

How COVID-19 has Affected the Mobile App Market?

Abhinav Girdhar
By Abhinav Girdhar | Last Updated on September 6th, 2022 12:23 pm | 4-min read

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It is astonishing how the things we cannot see affect our lives. The new strain of the coronavirus is the current example of this epiphany. Almost every aspect of what we consider normal has been shaken to the core by the virus. Business and globalization has taken a major hit too. However, some businesses continue to flourish. Some businesses have either got lucky due to the products they offer and some have put out excellent strategies to adapt to the changing landscapes of the business world. However, despite what a business may have done to survive the current landscape, certain industries have got lucky with the pandemic. In the app market, for example, certain types of apps have done well when compared to the others. Some app categories have seen growth, whereas some have declined. In this blog, we’re going to take a look at the various app industries and understand how COVID-19 has affected app downloads.Effect of COVID-19 on app market - Appy Pie

App Industries That Have Observed Growth During the Pandemic

  • Delivery Apps

    • Delivery apps have become literal cash cows since the start of the pandemic. From Amazon to UberEats, delivery apps have seen explosive growth in app downloads. Not only have existing apps gotten new customers, new delivery apps are being created every minute. Even Appy Pie’s Appmakr has seen a growth in the number of delivery apps created with our software. We’ve ourselves had a 98% growth in the number of delivery apps created with our AppMakr. Coming to app downloads for delivery apps, comparing figures to January 2020, there has been an observed combined growth of nearly 200%. Delivery includes everything from groceries to food delivery. This growth was a given since quarantine compelled people to switch to delivery models giving impetus to delivery apps around the world.

  • Education Apps

    • Education apps have seen the second highest growth. This growth has been especially prominent in Appy Pie. The number of educational apps created has skyrocketed by 98% worldwide. In fact, our sources indicate that this rise will continue for the rest of the year. This spells positive news for Appy Pie AppMakr since we provide excellent features that are perfect for educational apps and can be added to your no code app with a simple click. Its success is shown by the fact that we have had a 128% growth in the number of education apps created with Appy Pie AppMakr. Appy Pie has also designed a student app developer program allowing users to become a certified mobile app developer without learning any programming language or coding. The Student App Development Program from Appy Pie leverages hands on approach to teaching app development to students, encouraging innovation and stimulating the entrepreneurial aspirations. Educational apps are a necessary part of the app ecosystem. Even apps that can support online education have seen a growth. For example, out of Microsoft Teams’ 1000% growth, a significant percentage is being used by schools and educators around the US.

  • Social Media Apps

    • Another normally observable growth in the app industry is of social media apps. While new social media apps have not broken out during the pandemic, existing social media apps have seen a good growth during the pandemic. Tik Tok, for example, saw a growth of nearly 32% between January and June 2020. Instagram, meanwhile, saw a consistent growth of 48% making it the number one social media app of the year so far.

  • Entertainment Apps

    • Free entertainment apps like Spotify and GrooveBoard have seen a significant boost in their downloads since the beginning of the pandemic. Even streaming entertainment apps like Netflix, Prime and Disney Plus have seen consistent growth through the year.

  • Gaming Apps

    • Mobile gaming is slowly becoming more popular and the pandemic has given it a slight boost. Gaming app downloads have risen in the past few months. FPS games like Call of Duty, Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds, Clash of Clans, etc have seen a consistent rise through the pandemic.

  • Work From Home Apps

    • Work-from-home apps have been extremely popular since the start of the pandemic. They have almost become a necessity. Zoom’s success is easily measurable.Its stock prices have skyrocketed. Other apps that help people work from home such as Slack, Skype and GSuite have all seen more usage. The exact numbers are hard to find but our sources indicate a growth average 50-60% for all apps.

App Industries That Have Stagnated or Declined During the Pandemic

  • Event Apps

    • Apps that help their users create, organize and attend events such as Creative Compass have seen a fair amount of stagnation. Not just event apps, but theatre apps that can be used to book tickets to movies, events and concerts have declined in the past six months. Some event apps have offset this decline with the help of ‘online live streamed events’ within the app. This has helped them retain existing customers but overall, event apps are still observing a potential decline. The pandemic has nearly passed so event apps might just be the next in line and have a growth boost in the coming months.

  • Travel Apps

    • The travel industry has indirectly collapsed during this pandemic. Even if you don't look at the app market, travel has been the worst hit this year and is losing 10 billion $ in value each month. Coming to travel apps, the closing of international borders have made travel apps irrelevant for the current scenario. However, it is expected that when borders reopen, the travel industry will boom for the rest of the fiscal year.

Conclusion

We are still analyzing information on various app industries and will update this blog once more data is found by our internal sources. For now, however, this is how it all stands. To sum up, we can surely say that the most growth this year has been achieved by the education and delivery app industry. And guess what? Appy Pie AppMakr provides you the necessary tools to create excellent delivery and education apps. They are our most popular categories for a reason. Create your own brand’s apps today!

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Abhinav Girdhar

Founder and CEO of Appy Pie

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