Did COVID Cabin Fever Help Us Reach Our New Year’s Goals?
Download the full report on app growth during H1 2020.
New Year’s resolutions: we make them, then life happens. But what happens when life gets put on pause? Every year we dream big, and this year gave some of us the window of opportunity to make it happen.
Just like buying gym equipment, users typically get more active in the app market in January thanks to New Year’s ambition. As many as 88% of consumers have increasingly shown “appnostic” behavior — browsing their phones aimlessly and wandering into time-killing activities.
Let’s look at how the lockdowns inspired consumers to turn some of their aspirations into action — and how others didn’t.
Building the Dream Body At Home
If you ask anyone their New Year’s resolutions, fitness and diet are guaranteed to come up. In fact, Ipsos found that 50% of Americans aspired to be more active in 2020 and 51% resolved to eat healthier. So, what did people do to achieve these goals during lockdown?
AppAnnie saw health and fitness apps climb at the end of March to a substantial 58.9M downloads (the highest peak ever), with consumer spend also up by 10%. In an astounding show of health-conscious drive, a record high for time spent in-apps was achieved at 113M hours globally.
At a time without gym facilities and support from trainers, Fitbit was on top at the back end of March with MyFitnessPal taking third place. The top 10 at-home fitness apps were also surging with 60% download growth around the early days of COVID-19. With the slower pace of pandemic living, people leaned into “30-day” fitness programs.
That said, some apps may have seen growth during this time due to free offers rather than a direct, pandemic-triggered relationship. For example, Peloton app installs spiked 245% at the end of March thanks to a free 90-day trial. But earlier that same month showed a relative plateau compared to competitors like Nike Training Club and Strava.
Read More: A Story of Resilience: The Mobile Market in the Waves of a Pandemic
Finding Quiet in the Chaos
38% of Americans set out to improve mental wellness in 2020 by cutting back unhealthy stress and leaning into mindfulness. Now, roughly half of Americans are experiencing anxiety over themselves or loved ones contracting COVID-19. Ever-present stress plus the pandemic panic has the potential to boost the mental health mobile market, but did it?
Overall, app engagement for therapy, mediation, and mindfulness was similar to the pre-pandemic growth seen year-over-year. But, Calm stayed above Headspace, with 120% more app sessions in the United States — even despite Headspace’s “free subscriptions for healthcare workers” campaign.
On the therapy side, Talkspace’s short-lived spike of 2K installs daily in late March didn’t shake up the slow and steady growth in surrounding periods. Aside from a sprinkle of high-volume days, actual daily engagement seems to come from loyal, long-time customers.
Perhaps apps like Calm suit “appnostic” behavior during lockdown more than larger time commitments like Talkspace’s therapy sessions. With pockets of users regularly working through their stress-free aspirations, there is at least some consistency in both spaces.
What’s “app,” Doc?
Telehealth engaged users more than ever in history, with various healthcare apps gaining 65% download growth across the globe from January to April. Video check-ups with “tele-doc” apps and filling prescriptions via pharmacy apps were critical during social distancing.
However, not every market was as receptive to this growth. For instance, Doctor on Demand stands at #8 in the U.S. top 10 telehealth apps with quarter-over-quarter growth, but slow falls in downloads and active users (both daily and monthly) have been noted by Apptopia since January 2020.
Undoubtedly, behavior change to remote services usually carries some lag time. Case and point: the United States trailed far behind the worldwide average telehealth uptick. This fits the discovery by J.D. Power that 3 in 4 Americans claim to either not have telehealth access or don’t know if they have telehealth options with their provider. Lack of awareness — especially in rural areas that need the service most — and lack of faith in care quality really seem to be slowing the adoption of critical healthcare tools at this time.
Living Our Best Lives
DYK 51% of Americans set out to manage their finances better in the new year? Yep, really! Lifestyle apps are directly aligned with financial aspirations, offering ways to fall in love or put your savings towards finding a new home.
According to Appsflyer, lifestyle app usage nearly doubled since mid-March and sustained the higher usage even after its leaps during the lockdowns. U.S. lifestyle organic installs peaking in mid-April and declining shortly after didn’t stop revenue from skyrocketing since June 9th.
Zillow and Trulia didn’t gain much from the rest of the housing industry’s impressive growth (and 22% of U.S. adults moving due to COVID-19). Zillow does seem to be creeping back towards an increase as of May 2020. Meanwhile, dating apps held their own among all the top-grossing apps of early 2020 with Tinder holding the #1 spot in overall revenue. But it remains to be seen whether trends in either category are just window shopping or an actual uptick in intentional action.
Aside from being more attentive to our health, we may have to be a bit more intentional to turn our “someday” goals into today’s reality. When we take a step back, it’s easy to see how increased app activity in these verticals shows consumers’ progress on New Year’s resolutions. And If we don’t reach our goals? Well… at least we always have next year.
Originally written by Dane White. He writes about finance and technology. Learn more about him at: bydanewhite.com.
