23% Of Users Abandon An App After One Use

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I wonder if this statistic takes into account all the people who never even bother to download an app in the first place. ;) Seriously, I thought this number would have been higher. More often than not, the app looks good and has 90% fake positive reviews. You download it. It turns out to b a steaming pile. Uninstalled. Yeah, this number seems low.

The data proves it. The percentage of users who abandon an app after one use is now 23%, a slight improvement from the 25% we saw in 2015. But clearly, with about one in four users still only using an app once, not enough has been done to match what consumers want and restore apps to the success of just a few years ago.
 
I would have thought this number to be higher also. There are a number of apps that if you look at my app history in the Google Play Store are listed there that I no longer use. but I am too lazy to remove them from my history. Some are abandoned because they are no longer being developed, or do not work on my current platform, or I found something better, or as you mention are a steaming pile. The methodology does not include long term and they consider abandoned after one use as their only criteria. I do not think I am an atypical user and my abandonment rate is probably closer to 60-70%. Also unless an app has some compelling features that I must have, if there is no try it before you buy it then I won't even bother no matter how hyped it is.
 
I abandon an app if it needs too many personal details. No you don't need my facebook account to check the damn weather (just random example). Or if an app has obstructive advertisements.
 
I have free Amazon Android games that have have been on my devices for over a year, that I haven't gotten around to actually ever opening before.
 
I'm in the mobile app development space. I think the 23% number is kind of low - first challenge is getting someone to even notice your app, let alone install it. After that, your app better be top-notch or it gets the boot quickly.
People are also extremely harsh with user reviews. It's totally fair for people to rate your app - but there are some really stupid people rating products (applies to Yelp, Amazon, etc). No matter, it's part of the app ecosystem.
Steve is also right - a lot of reviews are fake. I've had clients ask how they can get a bunch of fake reviews - they wanted a blend of ok->excellent. I just reply we are in development and not marketing, so dodge that bullet. Everyone thinks they have great ideas and will make millions. Hell, most people are lucky if they even recoup their initial development costs. It's tough to make money in the app stores - the gold rush is over.
I find myself being extremely reluctant to install any new app. I also try to go through and purge ones I haven't used in a week or two - they just waste space on your device. I think the novelty has worn off and you realize that most apps are useless.
My short list of useful apps: Dark Sky (weather), mobile bank app, built-in email, built-in stock app, Amazon, camera/photo apps, calendar (Fantastical is my favorite), Kardia (EKG app - requires hardware), WIthings blood pressure app, Waze, USA today.
 
And most of the app providers don't care. Most of these installed but unused apps are still auto-starting and still sending tracking data back to app central for sales to the real customer.
 
I run into this when im looking for specific functionality and the app description lies or oversells.

Ive downloaded maybe 200 whitboard/photo editing apps. Lies every one of them.

Crop, resize, flip, convert, color tweak, draw geometric shapes, draw squiggles fill color, add text. Irfanview and Mspaint level of stuff. 99% do it wrong.
 
Go to website on phone -> "You need to get our app for your phone or else!" -> Force desktop mode -> Website works perfectly fine with more functionality than the app itself
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Open app -> Some annoying behavior -> "hmm hopefully there is something in the settings menu" -> There is nothing in the settings menu i can actually set
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Plus what Ocean said.

I expect this from no-name devs, sometimes even non-tech companies, but AAA tech-focused sites? Fuck you. (The first example was periscope, the second is basically every other app in existence)
 
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WheresWaldo said:
I would have thought this number to be higher also.
Click to expand...

I think the whole "Abandon An App After One Use" thing is very misleading and produces a deceptively low number. There are many times when someone might open an app up to a half dozen times or so before they "abandon" it. Just trying to figure out an app might involve opening it several times, and that certainly doesn't mean they have embraced it...
 
Yeah there has never been an app I would pay for as simply an app. The only non android native apps I really use are a grocery list app, my thermostat app, and facebook. I'm not sure why every fucking etailer and site needs an app when my phone has a browser and that interface has way more functionality 99.9% of the time.
 
bos said:
I'm not sure why every fucking etailer and site needs an app when my phone has a browser and that interface has way more functionality 99.9% of the time.
Click to expand...

Because offline capability, less bandwidth, snappier.
 
The primary thing i've found useful is that you should pay more attention to the permissions they require. Alot of the more popular apps require tons of permissions and its kind of fucked up because they really slow down some devices, not to mention all the info they data mine from you. ALSO once you install an app you should immediately disable the auto update feature for it so that it can't auto update. Apps can autoupdate and add more permissions, which is another sneaky thing they do. I mean as long as the app works and theres no significant changes to the back end, it should still work for a long time as long as it has the features you need.
 
While we tend to see mobile use as an all day thing because of all the kids (and brainless adults) doing it, lots of adults only pull out a phone to get something done. We have lives. We're busy. I honestly believe that all these numbskulls who walk around with their face buried in their phones all the time are the last people I'd ever want to meet. I see people at work discussing crap they put on their phones, as if they just got a new puppy: 'Did you play this? Did you play that?'. Most adults know what we need on our phones, install it when we get it, and basically we're done. nce in a while, we might spot an app that looks interesting, download it, and try it. Then think, gee, this might be nice to use 'someday'. But we simply never get around to using it. Looking at my phone, I can see a dozen such apps. Why don't I use them? I don't want a lot of crap on my home screen. And I don't go looking for stuff on all the other pages. When I have free time, I'm an information junkie, I tend to read. And you don't need tons of apps for that. Out of sight, out of mind.
 
I nearly always abandon an app once it requires a payment to access a feature that I believe should be free.
 
Reading the article, it's by an analytics company that only monitors 37,000 apps. That suggests to me that these are the legit apps that actually work, not the millions of knockoff, clone, junkware, adware and malware apps that we think of when we think of apps that we would only use once. In that context, the low percentage makes a lot more sense.
 
DPI said:
Because offline capability, less bandwidth, snappier.
Click to expand...

Yeah no, all etailors apps require a connection to do anything, possible less data usage, but probably insignificant and they're usually not snappy at all.
 
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