Apple App Store: annual gross app revenue 2017-2021

Between 2017 and 2021, global gross revenues of the Apple App Store experienced a 120 percent growth, with users spending an estimated 85.1 billion U.S. dollars on on in-app purchases, subscriptions, and premium apps in 2021. At present, the average price of iOS apps and games is approximately one U.S. dollar.

Paid apps in the Apple App Store

Many apps are available for free or utilize a freemium payment model, which allows the user to download the app without upfront costs but generates revenues through in-app payments or advertising. As of December 2021, only 6.3 percent of the mobile apps on the App Store were paid apps, with the remaining majority being free for download. As of December 2021, approximately 58.6 thousand paid apps in the Apple App Store were priced less than one U.S. dollar.

The Apple App Store: an overview

The App Store was launched in 2008 to coincide with Apple’s iPhone 3G release. Apps can be downloaded directly to iOS devices such as the iPhone smartphone, the iPod Touch handheld computer, and the iPad tablet computer, or onto a personal computer via iTunes. As of the first quarter 2021, there were around 2.22 million apps available in the Apple App Store. In the same period, the number of available mobile apps in the Apple App Store grew by more than six percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2020. The most popular app category in the Apple App Store was mobile gaming, which represented 21 percent of the active apps available in the store.