Coronavirus Impact: Houseparty Installs Up 735X, App Use Up 20%, App Store Spend Highest In History

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%.

Get the full story in my post at Forbes …