App Retention Rates (2024)

David Curry

Updated: July 8, 2024

App retention is one of the most important metrics app marketers use to quantify an app's success rate, and whether campaigns and other attempts to keep a user active have worked.

With the vast majority of apps being free to download, retaining a user can be quite difficult, as they have invested very little into the app. App developers have many tricks to keep users returning, from in-app notifications to incentives for being active.

However, app retention rates across the board are low, with more than 90 percent of users usually giving up on an app before the 30 day mark. There are outliers, the most popular apps and games tend to be more sticky than the average, but even very popular mobile games see inactivity of more than 80 percent.

There are tons of guides out there with tips to improve retention rate, including our own, but negotiating with a user can be tricky, especially at the early stages. Some mobile marketers err on the side of taking a step back and letting the user take their own path, while others think every detail of onboarding should be measured and calculated for a better retention rate.

The journey is not over once a user has been retained, with an entire other section of app marketing dedicated to conversion rates. This involves moving a user from passive to active, or in some cases from free to paid. Even at stages where the user has paid for a subscription, there is still a high percentage that end up inactive after a few weeks.

We have collected data and statistics on app retention rates. Read on below to find out more.

Key App Retention Statistics

  • Average app retention on Android was 21.1% at day one, dropping to 2.1% by day 30
  • On iOS, average app retention was 23.9% at day one, dropping to 3.7% by day 30
  • News had the highest app retention rate by category, Photo & Video apps had the lowest
  • Japan had the highest 30 day retention rate, China had the lowest at 1.5%