Apple’s App Store ecosystem achieved a remarkable milestone in 2022, with developer billings and sales surpassing an impressive $1.1 trillion, as confirmed by an independent study conducted by economists from Analysis Group.
Furthermore, the study revealed that over 90% of the billings and sales directly benefited developers and businesses of all sizes, with no commissions paid to Apple, reinforcing the platform’s commitment to fostering developer success.
Developer billings and sales increased by 29% between 2021 and 2022, showing a slight increase over the previous 2 years’ increase of 27%. The economists at Analysis Group believe that growth rates signify a positive trend, consistent with an exciting marketplace full of dynamism, innovation, and competition.
The App Store serves as a robust global distribution platform for Apple developers, offering access to a wide range of local payment methods and currencies across 175 storefronts. In a testament to its global reach, over half of the app downloads in 2022 originated from storefronts outside developers’ home countries. Additionally, the App Store enjoyed a significant user base, with an average of over 650 million weekly visitors, resulting in millions of app downloads and redownloads each week throughout the year.
Strong Growth in Billings and Sales Across App Categories
The report showed that developers’ billings and sales facilitated by the App Store grew across a wide variety of categories.
- With the ease in restrictions in many parts of the world, app categories like travel and ride-hailing saw demand rebound significantly. Travel sales made on iOS apps increased by 84 percent in 2022, alongside a 45 percent increase in sales on ride-hailing apps.
The app categories of food and grocery sales experienced remarkable growth, with iOS-based food delivery and pickup sales more than doubling since 2019, and grocery sales more than tripling during the same period. Furthermore, enterprise apps have gained significant popularity among global companies in recent years, making them one of the fastest-growing categories in terms of billings and sales. Analysis Group’s estimates also revealed that the app-based entertainment category witnessed the highest growth in digital goods and services, driven by emerging trends like the creator economy and the increasing prominence of apps supporting this domain.
As Apple Ecosystem turns 15
Since the launch of the App store in 2008, iOS developers have earned more than $320 billion on the App Store from inception to 2022. iOS users have downloaded apps more than 370 billion times from 2008 to 2022. And today, the App Store has more than 123 times as many apps — nearly 1.8 million — to choose from, compared to the thousands available on the App Store at the end of 2008.
Thanks to Apple’s stringent App Review process and strong privacy and security measures, the App Store has maintained its position as a secure and trusted marketplace for users. In 2022 alone, the App Store successfully prevented over $2 billion in fraudulent transactions and turned down 1.7 million app submissions that did not meet the required privacy, security, and quality standards. These measures demonstrate Apple’s commitment to ensuring a safe and reliable experience for App Store users and upholding the highest standards of privacy and security.
