by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, February 23, 2017

Marketers still struggle to retain app users on smartphones running Android and iOS operating systems, but the overall retention rate for non-gaming iOS apps continues to skyrocket compared with overall rates.

Overall, only 10% to 12% of users continue to use an app seven days after downloading it, and only up to 5% still use the app after 30 days, per AppsFlyer’s Performance Index, which evaluated the installation of 6 billion apps and 22 billion app sessions between July and December 2016.

Android organic users — those who discover an app on their own or through a friend — fell 6%, but non-organic users — those lured by an advertisement — rose 4%. On devices running iOS, organic users rose 9% and non-organic users rose a whopping 25%.

Facebook ranked No. 1 in North America for non-gaming Android apps, based on the total number of installations generated and retention rate score. Google AdWords followed at No. 2 and Taptica came in at No. 3, while StartApp ranked No. 4, and Appnext rounded out the top five at No. 5.

Taptica is the most improved player in North America, but Twitter has been driving good-quality users globally, although the company has been getting some bad press lately, said Shani Rosenfelder, head of content and mobile insights at AppsFlyer.

Non-gaming apps for iOS ranked a bit differently in North America. While Facebook and Google AdWords remain in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, respectively, Apple Search Ads took the No. 3 spot, followed by Taptica at No. 4 and Twitter at No. 5.

Apple, with the debut of its Search Ads, took the No. 1 spot in iOS retention for North America. It also took the No. 3 spot in the power ranking category.

The index details rankings for North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, North Pacific Asia and the Indian subcontinent.

MediaPost.com: Search Marketing Daily

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