We’ve got another installment of our Pulse on Current App Trends. This time we’re reviewing key February app trends, including top apps and the growing use of health apps in the U.S. in the wake of vaccine rollouts. We’re also spotlighting the growth of social media audio app, Clubhouse.

Health Apps Grow In the Wake of Vaccine Rollouts

In the U.S., the accelerating distribution of COVID19 vaccine doses has coincided with a surge of first-time installs of pharmacy apps. In particular, Walgreens, Rite Aid and CVS all saw boosts in downloads in February. These companies have partnered with the U.S. government to coordinate vaccine distribution.

Within the first two weeks of February, Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid saw their highest weekly installs in the last five years.

Source: Sensor Tower

Downloads: Walgreens (1.08M installs overall in US in Feb 2021)

Source: Apptopia

 

Walgreens did not experience the greatest month-over-month growth but did drive the greatest amount of installs overall. In the first half of February, Walgreens drove 491,000 downloads, a 42% increase from the previous month.

 

Downloads: CVS (598,850 installs overall in US in Feb 2021)

Source: Apptopia

Of the 3 apps, CVS experienced the greatest growth, driving 179,000 installs in the first 2 weeks of February. This was a 68% increase from its growth the previous month.

 

Downloads: Rite Aid (110,610 installs overall in US in Feb 2021)

Source: Apptopia

Finally, Rite Aid drove 65,000 first time installs in February. This was an 8% uptick from January.

According to YouAppi CEO, Moshe Vaknin, the growth in pharmacy apps is an early indicator of an increasing number of health apps adopting a mobile-first approach:

“With the global medical apps market projected to grow to $17.6 billion by 2027, the rising level of awareness of the benefits of mobile health apps: including the value of personalized medicine and the rise in need of point-of-care diagnosis and treatment as the average age of the population skews older, will propel demand for medical apps to fully embrace digital.”

Top Apps

Source: Sensor Tower

 

In February 2021, TikTok remained the highest grossing non-gaming app. It generated $110 million in user spending. This was slightly lower than it’s January 2021 gross revenue of $128 million. That said, in February, TikTok generated 1.9 times the revenue it drove in February 2020. Approximately 79% of TikTok’s revenue came from China, followed by 8% from the United States and 3% from Turkey.

YouTube was the second highest earning non-gaming app worldwide in February 2021 with more than $82 million in gross revenue. This represented 23% year-over-year growth from February 2020. Around 51% of YouTube’s revenue is from the U.S., followed by 12% from Japan.

Source: Sensor Tower

 

In terms of downloads, TikTok was the most downloaded non-gaming app worldwide in February with more than 56 million installs. The countries with the largest number of TikTok installs aligned with the countries with the highest revenue. That is, the majority (18%) of downloads came from China. The next largest amount of downloads came from the U.S. at 11%.

Facebook was the second most installed non-gaming app worldwide last month with more than 45 million installs. The countries with the largest number of Facebook installs were India (27%)  followed by the U.S. (8%).

Honorable Mention: Clubhouse

It’s no question that 2020 was the year of social media apps, as locked down users looked for ways to stay connected during quarantine. A key example is social media video app, TikTok, which exploded in downloads and revenue in 2020.

Other social media apps have also gained steam in the age of social distance. One such app is Clubhouse, an invitation-only audio-chat social networking service.

In February 2021, Clubhouse experienced tremendous growth, driving 6.96 million installs. This dwarfed the 1.92 million installs it drove in January and 916,570 installs in December 2020. On February 18, 2021, Clubhouse clocked its highest growth day at 320,360 downloads worldwide in one day.

Source: Apptopia

 

Source: App Annie

The popularity of Clubhouse has led to the rise of other social audio apps. Capitalizing on the social audio app trend, Facebook has plans to build out an audio chat product, aimed at rivaling Clubhouse. Quilt, an audio social app focused on wellness and community, also just announced a $3.5 million seed round.

Takeaways

February 2021 saw the rise of pharmacy apps correlated to vaccine distribution and social audio apps like Clubhouse.

  • In February 2021, TikTok remained the highest grossing and most downloaded non-gaming app. YouTube came in second for revenue and Facebook for installs.
  • In the U.S., the accelerating rollout of the vaccine has coincided with a surge of first-time installs of Walgreens, Rite Aid and CVS apps. These companies have also partnered with the U.S. government to coordinate vaccine distribution.
  • Clubhouse experienced tremendous growth, driving 6.96 million installs in February. The popularity of Clubhouse has led to the rise of other social audio apps.