Shelter in place means social on mobile, apparently. Plus plenty of cash flowing into Apple’s App Store and Google Play.
One of the biggest beneficiaries: the Houseparty “face-to-face social network” that allows you to video call your friends. Houseparty saw downloads balloon more than 7X in mid-March, according to a new report from App Annie.
Overall app installs were up 5% on Google Play to 22.5 billion in the quarter, and up 15% on the iOS App Store to 9 billion. At the same time, our overall use of apps — both gaming and non-gaming — went up 20% in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the same quarter last year. China, first hit by Coronavirus or COVID-19, jumped 30%.