Global Consumer Spending in Mobile Apps 2021

Global consumer spending in mobile applications reached $133 billion in 2021, marking a 19.7 percent year-over-year increase from $111.1 billion in 2020. This growth indicates a normalization of the market following the unprecedented surge in adoption and spending observed during the previous year. The data, derived from Store Intelligence, covers worldwide activity across the Apple App Store and Google Play, excluding local taxes, in-app advertising, and mobile commerce transactions such as food delivery or ride-sharing.

Revenue generation remains unevenly distributed between the two major platforms. The App Store accounted for $85.1 billion in spending, representing 17.7 percent growth, while Google Play generated $47.9 billion, reflecting a stronger 23.5 percent year-over-year increase. Despite this, the App Store continues to generate approximately 1.8 times the revenue of Google’s marketplace. Mobile games remain a primary driver of this economy, contributing $89.6 billion—or 67.4 percent of total in-app spending—though their relative share of the total market has gradually declined as non-game categories, such as entertainment, continue to expand.

Download volume remained relatively flat, totaling 143.6 billion first-time installs across both platforms, a marginal 0.5 percent increase from 2020. While Google Play saw a 2.6 percent rise in installs to 111.3 billion, the App Store experienced a 6.1 percent decline to 32.3 billion. TikTok emerged as the top-earning non-game app globally, while Honor of Kings and Coin Master led revenue generation for mobile games on the App Store and Google Play, respectively. Overall, the 2021 data highlights a maturing mobile ecosystem that is sustaining growth despite the stabilization of pandemic-era demand.