Mar 24, 2017

The fastest-growing apps in America

Bitmoji is the fastest-growing app in America, per comScore, with a more than 5000% increase in monthly unique visitors over the past two years. E-commerce apps OfferUp and letgo are the 2nd and 3rd fastest-growing apps.

Data: comScore; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon / Axios
Data: comScore; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon / Axios

The findings from comScore's latest study highlight three of the fastest-growing mobile market trends:

  • E-commerce: Letgo (3), OfferUp (2), Flipp (4), Venmo (5) and Wish (7), are facilitating real-world marketplace transactions
  • Travel: Uber (6), Waze (8) and Lyft (9) all help users travel from one point to another via auto
  • Social connectivity: Tinder (10), Bitmoji (1) and GroupMe (11) all facilitate gatherings and social interaction

Why it matters: As comScore identified last year, we are now at or nearing "peak app" usage, meaning that most smartphone users download zero or only one new app per month. Thus, selectivity around app downloads illuminates trends that represent a major shift in the internet economy. Before smartphone app usage came to dominate mobile time spent, consumers mostly used the internet to bring real-world interactions online, like dating, mail and shopping. The rise of these three mobile app trends show how much the app economy is moving towards improving real-world engagements, like car travel, group get-togethers, and local commerce selling/trading.

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