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Mobile intelligence · 2026

A world in numbers, moving products forward.

We gathered figures about mobile internet, apps, Android, iOS, 5G, the mobile web, and user behavior in one place. Every number has a source and measurement period.

Research 01

World and mobility

4,7B

Mobile internet users

people

58% of the world's population used mobile internet on their own device.

2.5
2015
3.8
2020
4.3
2022
4.7
2024
End of 2024Source: GSMA · Connectivity 2025

4,4B

People using smartphones for internet access

people

A personal smartphone remains the most important way to access mobile internet.

3.5
2021
3.8
2022
4.1
2023
4.4
2024
End of 2024Source: GSMA · Connectivity 2025

Research 02

Android and iOS

67,6%

Android share of mobile devices

global share

Android has the largest share of mobile operating systems in global web traffic.

August 2026Source: StatCounter Global Stats

106,9B

Downloads from Google Play and the App Store

downloads per year

In 2025, users downloaded 106.9 billion apps and mobile games from the two main stores.

113.6
2023
109.8
2024
106.9
2025
2025Source: Appfigures · App Economy Report

Additional signals

A few more important figures

5,3T

Hours spent in mobile apps

In 2025, users worldwide spent 5.3 trillion hours in mobile apps.

2025Source

21 GB

Data per smartphone per month

Average global mobile traffic per active smartphone reached 21 GB per month in 2025.

2025Source

2,9B

5G subscriptions worldwide

By the end of 2025, the number of 5G subscriptions worldwide was expected to reach 2.9 billion — about one third of all mobile subscriptions.

End of 2025Source

67,4%

Chrome share of the mobile web

Chrome remains the most widely used browser on mobile and tablet devices.

2025Source

$167B

Spending in mobile apps

In 2025, consumer spending in mobile apps reached 167 billion dollars.

2025Source

38%

Of the world’s population still does not use mobile internet

People live in a coverage area but still do not use mobile internet — an important challenge for inclusive design.

End of 2024Source

Journal

Ideas and products

All posts
How to Tell If Your Mobile App Pays Off

How to Tell If Your Mobile App Pays Off

A mobile app can have many installs and still fail to deliver the return a business expects. To understand whether a product pays off, look beyond a single impressive number and follow the whole user journey: from the first open to repeat purchase and long-term use.

What “paying off” really means

Payback does not always mean instant revenue after launch. For some products, it means direct income from purchases or subscriptions. For others, it means more repeat orders, lower service costs, more frequent visits, or higher customer value. Start by defining the business outcome and the period you will use to evaluate it.

Installs: an early signal, not the result

Install volume shows how well reach, advertising, and the app store page are working. An install alone does not create value. Also track acquisition source, first launch rate, registration, and cost per install. If people install the app but never reach a useful first action, the issue may be positioning or onboarding.

Registration and activation

Registration is one step closer to value, but activation should be the key milestone: the moment when a person gets a real result. For a service, it may be the first order; for a finance product, a funded account; for a B2B tool, the first task created. Compare install-to-registration and registration-to-activation conversion.

Retention: do users come back

Retention shows what share of people return after a day, a week, or a month. Cohorts help separate a temporary spike from a lasting habit. Look beyond the average and compare channels, segments, and product versions. If retention drops after the first week, review the value of the repeat scenario, reminders, and overall experience.

Repeat purchases and revenue

For a commercial app, track repeat purchase rate, average order value, paid conversion, and revenue per active user. Separate new customers from returning customers. A repeat purchase often reveals real product value more clearly than a one-time transaction.

Acquisition cost and customer value

CAC is the cost of acquiring one customer. LTV is the expected value of that customer over the full relationship. A practical rule is that LTV should exceed CAC by enough to cover operations, risk, and product development. Calculate these metrics by channel and cohort so an expensive acquisition source cannot hide inside an overall average.

How to build a useful measurement system

Start with one primary metric tied to the business outcome and three or four supporting metrics. For example: activation, day-30 retention, repeat purchase, and revenue per user. Define the events, data sources, and review cadence. Metrics should support decisions: what to change in the product, which channel to scale, and where another experiment is needed.

Conclusion

You can see whether a mobile app pays off when marketing spend, user behavior, and revenue are connected in one clear model. Installs show scale, registration and activation show first value, retention shows habit strength, repeat purchases show the quality of the offer, and LTV-to-CAC shows the economics of growth.

analyticsmobile appsmetricsproduct strategymonetization