Sensor Tower: US iPhone users spent an average of $138 on apps in 2020, up 38% YoY, the greatest annual growth since 2016, with spending on games growing 43%
U.S. consumers spent an average of $138 on iPhone apps last year, an increase of 38% year over year, largely driven by the pandemic impacts …
Context & Ripple Effects
U.S. iPhone spending had already climbed from $58 per user in 2017 to $79 in 2018, with earlier gains extending beyond games into entertainment and lifestyle. The 2020 result accelerates that per-user monetization arc rather than representing a one-category event.
Games were already the largest iOS revenue category, accounting for 68% of App Store revenue in 2019. Their faster growth in 2020 therefore concentrates much of the immediate upside among game publishers.
First-order effects
- U.S.-focused iPhone developers gain a substantially larger spending pool, while game publishers receive the strongest immediate demand signal from the 43% increase in game spending.
- Apple’s App Store handles higher consumer outlays on its iPhone platform, with games contributing disproportionately to the increase.
Second-order effects
- The increase strengthens game publishers’ position in the App Store economy, building on games’ pre-existing 68% share of iOS revenue and raising the competitive bar for non-game developers seeking the same consumer wallet.
- Developers have greater incentive to prioritize retention and in-app monetization as spending per existing iPhone user rises faster than the earlier baseline suggests.
Third-order effects
- The pattern points toward an App Store market defined increasingly by revenue per user rather than only new downloads; later data showing slowing iOS install growth alongside rising global spending supports that shift.
- If spending continues to concentrate in games and paid services, smaller developers may face a platform economy where category leadership and monetization design matter more than app volume.
The trend: Mobile app platforms are shifting from download-led expansion toward extracting more recurring spend from established smartphone users, with games leading the transition.