Study says iPhone users in US spend about $35 per year on apps, mostly games

According to data from app marketing service SensorTower, US iPhone users spent an average of $35 on apps in 2015.

The study was based on data culled from 110 million active iPhones last year, which SensorTower calculated based on Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) estimates and panel-based sources. The actual spend data was based on SensorTower’s own intelligence platform.

Of that $35, a hefty $25 was on games. $3.40 went to music, while $1.80 went to social networking apps. A svelte $1 was spent on entertainment, and the remaining $0.40 we dropped on ‘lifestyle’ apps.

Per device, we average of 10.5 games loaded. There are also 3.4 photo and video apps, 3.3 social networking apps, 2.7 entertainment apps and 2.3 lifestyle apps.

To that, SensorTower estimates that the average game install earns approximately $2.43 — easily the most profitable (and congested) category in the App Store.

There are some niche apps that haven’t caught on widely, at least yet. Medical apps are second least likely to be installed, and Catalogs are almost never loaded onto iPhones. Still, SensorTower says those apps have the third highest gross revenue — $0.57 per install — so the stretch may be worth the risk.

Of course, these numbers account for both paid apps and in-app purchases, so don’t go changing your freemium game to a paid one any time soon.

We should also point out another study that surfaced about mobile app development recently, which highlighted that income from games is hit and miss. According to Swrve, 0.19 percent of freemium gamers generate almost half of the total revenue — meaning a ast majority of gamers don’t spend a dime.