Average U.S. iPhone User Spent $79 on Apps Last Year

[ftaok]

I'm curious if this report includes Netflix and Hulu subscriptions billed through iTunes.

I know I purchased Things 3 and Fantastical 2 late last year. But other than my Netflix and Hulu subscriptions via iTunes, I don't spend a ton on apps - especially when I have nor play any games on any of my iDevices.

The report is not out yet, but the wording of the TechCrunch article would lead me to believe that Netflix and Hulu would be included (provided the billing come through iTunes). Apps such as Pandora and Spotify would be included too, at least based on how the article is written.

As such, the $79 number is interesting because Netflix/Hulu/Spotify would be a small percentage of that number anyway. Only 16.5% of the total is for Entertainment and Music.

Surprising that so much of the total is from Games.
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I'm definitely responsible for a few hundred myself. Between 1 game I do purchase in-apps for, Apple Books, Apple Music family sub, iCloud storage and the occasional game on sale I snag. I tend to wait for Black Friday or other sales to snag App Store cards to save a few bucks on purchases I'll make anyhow.

I wouldn't think that Apple Books, Apple Music or iCloud would be included in this $79. The wording indicates $79 per year on apps. I wouldn't call these Apple Services as apps (perhaps Apple Music).

 

[darkslide29]

I guess it is pretty easy to do:

200gb iCloud storage: $2.99/month
robokiller: $2.99/month (spam calls are the devil now)
1password: $3.99/month
family Apple Music: $14.99/month

$300 per year just like that.

I have been getting at least one, sometimes 2-3 spam calls per day. From 800 numbers, to numbers that are close to mine, it is driving me to the point of madness. Thanks for pointing out robokiller. Just wondering, I see it supports family sharing - do you happen to know if the $2.99/month would cover the total of two people in my family sharing group, or if it would be $2.99 per person? Thanks

Edit - found the answer to my question, family sharing itself specifies that in-app purchases can't be shared. I understand, but that's too bad. $6/mo is a little harder to swallow. How much is our sanity worth?

 

[mrex]

Average U.S. Android User Spent 79 hours complaining about the outrageous price of 99 cent Apps Last Year

Thanks for the news flash.. but, any chance that you also might know how much an average US Apple user spent own money to fix issues from Apple devices bought on last year?

$44 dollars in-app purchases just in games? Well.. hope they have atleast the brightest sword in a village...

 

[john123]

If Apple would include the standard deviation or any other statistical dispersion it would be interesting. No, I don't expect that to happen, they are on a less info phase, not on a more info phase.

I suspect even that would lead to more confusion. My hunch is that there's a bimodal distribution with two pretty big humps. A lot of people, such as many of those chiming in on this thread, spend little to nothing. And then there's a small number of cost-insensitive people who are spending quite a bit and nudging the averages up. I'd really love to see the distribution, but absent that, I'd be most curious whether the median iPhone user is closer to the first mode (my suspicion) or the second mode.

 

[white4s]

$0 for me. The only one I ever actually bought was words with friends. Everything else I just deal with the ads.

 

[DevNull0]

That number actually amazes me. I guess it includes people who (for example) pay for their Netflix subscription though it, as well as iCloud fees, but still, wow.

Myself, my wife, and 3 of our parents all have iPhones, and total app spending among us was zero. I wonder if we count as "active" users or it's the average among people who spent something. My 2011 MBP came with a $100 app store gift card and I still have a balance left from that.

I used to spend a lot on games but since freemium-hell has ruined the platform for gaming it's just too hard to find decent games. I have a few specialized calculators, but as I bought them years ago there's no reason to re-buy them. It's not that I don't want to buy apps, it's that there is so much crap in the app store now, it's just too hard to find anything worthwhile; not that's it's not there, just the work to find it isn't worth it.

 

[Fancuku]

I don't know anyone in my circle who spend any spend money on apps.
I find the $79 hard to believe.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I don't know anyone in my circle who spend any spend money on apps.
I find the $79 hard to believe.

If a person has several subscriptions and buys apps, (which I do) $79 a year (or more) isn't hard to fathom.

 

[john123]

I don't know anyone in my circle who spend any spend money on apps.
I find the $79 hard to believe.

And that's the problem with generalizing from anecdotes and our own experiences.

 

[RecentlyConverted]

Interesting. My volume of purchases is down, as I pay for quality I will use. I also avoid subscriptions like the plague - my fear is more of a shift to this model.

Be interesting to watch.

My volume of purchases dropped off a cliff.

I too dislike subscription models, but I realize good developers need to earn income.

Personally I would be happy that o buy a good app, that was well maintained, but I would be happy for new IAPs for new features. I think that’s fair and gives the developer an incentive to improve the app.

 

[1madman1]

I spent $0 in the iOS App Store over the last year. In fact I think the last iOS applet I purchased was probably 2 or 3 years ago. The OS is too limited and crippled for me to bother wasting money in content for it.

I've spent at least a couple hundred dollars on OS X applications in the last year, though probably less than $10 of that was in the App Store.

 

[yoz-y]

My volume of purchases dropped off a cliff.

I too dislike subscription models, but I realize good developers need to earn income.

Personally I would be happy that o buy a good app, that was well maintained, but I would be happy for new IAPs for new features. I think that’s fair and gives the developer an incentive to improve the app.

One hick with in-app purchases for features or upgrade pricing is that in the long term it ends with bloated apps. To incentivise people to upgrade you usually need to add more features and at some point you end up with Excel connecting to databases and photoshop doing 3D modelling. This being said, having these as in-app purchases could solve the problem.

 

[dilbert99]

While that's admirable to give the Netflix corporation more money.... I get iTunes gift cards on sale for 20% off throughout the year. This saves me about $2 on my Netflix bill - over $24 a year.

I care about my money more than Netflix's.

I used to get itunes vouchers at 25% off, more recently have only been able to get them at 15% off.

I don't mind losing out as I want Netflix to succeed and bring lots more content and keeping that content decent.

Apple was just taking to high a cut

 

[Tech198]

$79? That's not that much really... Many more spend more than that on in-app purchases.. "The Simpsons" app would still be raking in millions. Everyone wants their own version of Springfield.. (assuming you can connect)

 

[honglong1976]

If you want more games, there's no better way to signal that than by paying for them. iOS is my favorite entertainment platform, bar none. My philosophy is, if something is worth my time, it deserves my money as well.

iOS as a gaming platform sucks! It was great at the beginning but now it's ruled by clones of clones and IAP. Shame really. That makes money, so it's the way it will be for some time.

I still use my 3DS, maybe go for a Switch (real gaming platform).

 

[Shanghaichica]

I spend money on in app purchases (subscriptions) but I don’t really buy stand alone apps.

I’m paying £6.99 per month for 2 TB iCloud storage

£9.99 for Apple Music

£15.99 for YouTube premium

£3.99 for ITV hub +

I spend most of my money not in the App Store. I usually spend about £50 a month buying movies and tv shows on iTunes.

 

[Dephtones]

I spend about $35 a year on a subscription app I use. $3 a month is worth it for me and I understand the costs behind the app so I support it. It's not a game though and I wonder how and why people spend thousands on games, but they do otherwise IAP's would cease to exist.

 

[cola79]

Estimated from what i spent on apps during the last decade, it would take me over 100 years to pay 79$.

I guess most of these earnings come from pathological gamblers who buy pay to win and casino games.

I literally don’t know anyone who spent more than 5$ for apps per year.

 

[mattopotamus]

I have been getting at least one, sometimes 2-3 spam calls per day. From 800 numbers, to numbers that are close to mine, it is driving me to the point of madness. Thanks for pointing out robokiller. Just wondering, I see it supports family sharing - do you happen to know if the $2.99/month would cover the total of two people in my family sharing group, or if it would be $2.99 per person? Thanks

Edit - found the answer to my question, family sharing itself specifies that in-app purchases can't be shared. I understand, but that's too bad. $6/mo is a little harder to swallow. How much is our sanity worth?

My wife hasn't complained about spam calling, so I just keep it a secret haha. Even at $6 it would be worth it. I probably was getting 5+ a day.