Apple App Store Statistics 2023 – Trends and Figures

The Apple App Store is a term and a platform known and explored by gazillions of users. Its presence on the home screen is permanent and importance in the lives of Apple iPhone users, unparalleled. Since its inception in 2008, the Apple App Store has grown by leaps and bounds and currently is one of the biggest app platforms.  

So, in this blog, we would look at some of the Apple App Store Statistics and trends for 2023.  

About the App Store 

Launched alongside iPhone 3G in 2008 with just 500 apps, the Apple App Store has come a very long way with more than 2.18 million apps and games in the app marketplace in 2022.  

At launch, a large share of apps was paid apps, as Apple allowed in-app purchases in 2009. And with no time wasted, in-app purchases, or microtransactions, outperformed paid apps as the most popular way for applications to earn revenue.  

Initially started as in-app, one-time payments to skip/remove ads or to leverage premium features, soon turned into subscriptions and other multi-layered payment options.  

The Apple App Store apps are known for their security and reliability and hence, the app platform continues to thrive.  

Also Check: Google Play Store Statistics

Key Apple App Store statistics 

Each year, without fail, Apple shares its progress with the iOS community. Statistics such as revenue generated, the profitability of the year, etc., are shared with the loyal users.  

Additionally, some other research and data websites publish Apple App Store statistics that help readers to study the pattern of growth over the years.  

In this section, we would combine data from both sources and help our readers to get a picture of what’s been happening in one of the world’s most successful company’s data and balance sheets, in the last few years.  

Note: All the sources are authentic and reliable.  

Some key statistics are as follows:  

Number Of Apps Available on the Apple App Store 

There were around 2.18 million apps and games on the Apple App Store in 2022, and in 2023, Apple’s App Store has 1.76 million apps and 460,000 games.  

1. Distribution of apps versus games on the Apple App Store 

Out of the 1,776,562 apps available on the Apple App Store, 217,978 are gaming apps and the remaining 1,558,584 are non-gaming apps.  

2. Distribution of free versus paid on the Apple App Store 

There are 1,681,837 free apps on the Apple App Store, while 93,728 come with a price.  

However, many free apps need subscriptions or otherwise offer in-app purchases.  

Apple App Store Consumer Spending 

Apple App Store consumer spending increased by 1.9% from the previous year’s numbers, reaching $86.8 billion in 2022.  

Must Read: iOS App Development Trends

Number of publishers who have released apps on the Apple App Store 

Around 749,445 app publishers have published apps on the Apple App Store, as per the latest Apple App Store data available.  

Average app price in the Apple App store  

Paid apps in the non-gaming segment have a starting price of $1.02, while the gaming apps are kept at the starting price of $0.49. 

As of March 2023, there were roughly around 1.6 million apps that were priced for less than $1 in the Apple App Store. Additionally, almost 2,800 apps in the Apple Store were priced between $9- $10. 

Apple App Store app and game revenue 

The Apple App Store saw the lowest annual percentage growth in 2022 with consumer spending increasing by just 1.9%. 

In the past half decade, consumer spending on the Apple App Store has increased by 125%. 

Non-gaming App Revenue:  

Consumer spending on non-gaming apps increased by 10.6% increase in 2022 to $36.3 billion. 

Gaming App Revenue:  

Apple App Store consumer spending on games saw a decline of 4.3% in 2022. This was the store’s first annual decline. 

Apple App Store app and game downloads 

Apple App Store saw a slight decline in total annual downloads in 2021, however, the number recovered in 2022.  

Non-gaming app downloads in 2022 were 24.3 billion, while gaming apps had a total of 8.4 billion downloads.  

Top Grossing Apps on Apple App Store 

A mobile game in China that goes by the name of Honor of Kings, was the top grossing and performing app on the Apple App Store in 2022.  

TikTok took the second position with $1.3 billion in consumer spending, primarily from China. 

Most Popular Apple App Store Categories 

Gaming is the most popular app category on the Apple App Store as per the recent Apple App Store data, followed by business and education which take the second and third spot, respectively.  

Most Popular Apps on Apple App Store 

The most downloaded app on the Apple App Store in 2022 was TikTok, with 212 million downloads.  

YouTube came in second with 133 million downloads. 

Average rating of Apple App Store apps 

As per the latest available data, around 763,801 Apple App Store apps have been rated by users, while 1,012,761 are still sitting with no ratings.  

The chart below shows the distribution of app ratings on the Apple App Store. 

Some more interesting Apple App Store statistics are: 

• The Apple App Store platform has been expanding continuously with an average of 31,500 apps released per month since February 2023. 

• While gaming apps accounted for 12.68 % of all the mobile iOS apps hosted in the Apple App Store, business apps accounted for 10.35 % of all active apps on the platform during the 3^rd quarter of 2022. 
• Out of all the apps, 1.7 million mobile apps submitted for review to the Apple App Store were rejected in 2022, with 400 thousand of these being rejected due to privacy concerns.