Increased competition, misguiding advertising, and a fear of cyberattacks has led to half of all apps not lasting 30 days before being uninstalled.
This is according to AppsFlyer’s new App Uninstall Report, which found that 49 per cent of Android apps downloaded in 2022 were uninstalled within 30 days of downloads, with half of those taking place during the first 24 hours.
Gaming apps had the highest uninstall rate with 65.87 per cent not lasting the month.
Social apps followed, with 59.71 per cent, while 53.4 per cent of education apps were removed within the 30 days. This was followed by apps for utilities (52.63 per cent) and finance (44.98 per cent), with travel apps having the best retention rates, with only 31.11 per cent of these uninstalled within a month.
“Removing an app from a device can be seen as an aggressive move, clearly indicating that something is wrong,” explains AppsFlyer’s report.
“Understanding why, when and which users uninstall apps is extremely important in the fight against churn. In a freemium-dominated space, securing ongoing usage is absolutely vital to success. Without it, monetisation becomes all but impossible.”
The report signals out five reasons for the quick deletion of apps.
1) The increasing number of apps available to users.
2) Very high expectations and often a misalignment between what was promised in the campaign and the actual app experience.
3) Discovery state of mind, especially in gaming, where apps are installed without putting much thought into it, and therefore are just as quickly uninstalled.
4) Limited user device storage with the increasing use of high-resolution photos and videos.
5) Data privacy concerns causing users to be more suspicious of apps that ask them to share sensitive data.
Despite this high bounce rate, it seems Android users were even less loyal in 2021, with the uninstall rate dropping by 8 per cent in 2022.
Australians are far more loyal than the global average, only uninstall 31.8 per cent of apps within 30 days.
