Messaging and social app use grows more than 200% in 2013

As smartphone adoption increases, so does the use of apps – particularly messaging and social, which have grown exponentially over the last year.

Research from Flurry Analytics revealed that in 2013, while overall app usage increased 115%, messaging and social services, such as WhatsApp and Blackberry Messenger, grew by a huge 203% – faster than any other app.

Flurry reports app use in terms of app sessions rather than in terms of time spent with apps, i.e. people have opened messaging apps 203% more often in 2013 than in 2012.

The research comes alongside new findings from Deloitte, which revealed that last year instant messaging took over texting for the first time.

Utilities and productivity apps are proving to be popular too, with usage growing 149%, while music, media & entertainment and lifestyle & shopping apps grew 78% and 77%, respectively.

Games (66%) and sports, health & fitness (49%) saw – comparatively speaking – moderate growth, while news & magazine apps increased the least over the period at 31%.