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From making purchases to gaining information, from booking tickets to controlling the gadgets in the house, from socializing with people to managing money accounts, today, there is a mobile app for everything. Despite the high number of mobile apps present in the app stores, tens of new mobile applications appear on Google Play Store, Apple App Store, and all others. With the increase in the number of apps, the competition to survive has also intensified. Today, there are a number of factors that mobile app developers need to keep in mind while building an app and user behavior is one of the top ones.
When it comes to mobile app development, it is the size of their respective play stores and the apps in them that play a major role in the decision. As per a study by Statista, Google Play Store had around 2.6 billion apps in 2018 while the Apple App Store rounded up at 2.2 million apps. While these numbers do certify that the Android App Store has more apps, thus greater user base, deciding the platform cannot be done solely on the basis of this. The user behavior is an important factor that impacts your mobile app development.
Knowing The Market Share Of Android & iOS
While looking for the best platform for your app development, the market share of both Android and iOS is something that should be considered. As per a market research in 2017, almost 99.6% of the mobile user market is covered by the Android and iOS users. But what's surprising is that it is Android that has more than 80% of this total market share. When we look at the user base for both Android and iOS, out of the total smartphone users in the world, Android has over 2 billion active monthly users while iOS announced to be having 1.3 billion active users worldwide in January 2018. Going by these numbers, one thing is clear that the Android mobile market is stronger than the market of iOS.
User Behavior Factors Affecting Mobile App Development
The user behavior is one of the most critical factors to check while choosing the mobile app platform. An analysis of the user behavior you are planning to target with the mobile app is imperative to make the right decision.
User Preferences
The first that any start-up or company seeking mobile app development services should consider is what their target user base likes and wants. The choices and interests of the users are what would help you determine which platform could suit them. One should look at whether the audience they are targeting with the app idea would prefer a free application or would be ready to pay for it. This is an important criterion to determine the platform. Usually, the app users of Apple store are ready to buy an app or convert to premium member of any freemium app but in Android, a majority of the users are looking for free applications. If getting monetary advances and revenue generation is your basic motive, choosing iOS platform would be a wise choice as user behavior suggests they are more willing to pay than the Android users. However, if increasing your customer base and reaching out to more users is your app goal, Android is the right platform for your app.
Demographics
The demographic factors like the age, sex, income level, education, etc., of the user base, are yet other factors to consider. While we all are aware that Android has the largest user base and a global coverage, there are certain countries where iOS is more prevalent. Moreover, Android has seen a drastic increase in the user base in developing countries. This is because these phones are available at a cost-effective price while its specifications and features are that of any premium phone. Moreover, many studies have concluded that men are more likely to use an iPhone as compared to women but Android is the choice of all, irrespective of the gender. Another study revealed that while one can easily find Android users in all age groups (owing to its wide price bracket), iPhone users are generally the young working people.
Audience Engagement & Retention
The time spent by an iOS user on his/her smartphone is 4 hours and 54 minutes while the time spent by an Android user on the phone is 3 hours 42 minutes per day. This makes it clear that iPhone users are more engaged with their phone as compared to the Android users. They tend to engage more with the content delivered to their on their phone. In fact, iPhone users respond to a notification message within 7 minutes of receiving it while an Android user might take as long as 48 minutes to click open a notification received on their phone. The engagement and retention of users also impact the decision of choosing the platform for your mobile application development.
Device Capabilities
There is a stark difference between the expectations that Android and iOS users have from their mobile apps. Apple Store puts on a set of strict regulations regarding data access, push notifications, etc., for submitting apps, hence the iOS users expect a consistent experience without many notifications, etc. But when it comes to Android, one can find a number of smartphones offered by different brands like Samsung, Sony, HTC, Google, etc. And each of these phones has various capabilities that offer a more customized approach. If your app is more about interacting with the users through notification, etc., Android is the platform to build it on.
The battle between Android and iOS platforms for building mobile applications will always be prevalent in the world of web, it is the user base created by identifying the goal and purpose of the application that should decide what platform it is to be built on. You can also read the eye-opening mobile app stats to guide you in your development. This information along with the statistics would help in ensuring success for the application among the users and fulfilling the purpose for which it was built.