Mobile app business affected by poor connectivity — Opensignal

THE mobile app business suffers when connectivity is poor as it turns users off from spending more time in apps, global consumer analyst Opensignal said.

“When there’s poor connectivity, users spend less time in apps as they become dissatisfied with the experience and are less likely to retain apps on their device,” said Ian Fogg, who authored the Opensignal report.

It found that users spend 20% less time in each app session when with poor connectivity. App retention rates are also 49% lower for users whose connectivity is consistently poor after a week.

The Philippines’ mobile internet is ranked 79th in the world, with a median download speed of 25.63 megabits per second (Mbps), according to Ookla’s March 2023 report.

Meanwhile, Philippine fixed broadband placed 41st with a median download speed of 90.57 Mbps.

“Poor connectivity directly affects app revenues as well as increasing user dissatisfaction. Almost all apps are monetized either through in-app purchases or advertising,” Mr. Fog added.

The Opensignal study found that smartphone users globally have a poor cellular signal during 29% of app sessions, resulting in fewer adverts being shown to users and thus hurting app revenues.

“Additionally, if users spend less time in apps, they are more likely to cancel ongoing paid subscriptions or uninstall an app,” it said.

Users with Wi-Fi also tend to exhibit a greater drop in app session length of 38% during the average 11% of time that the Wi-Fi signal is poor.

The importance of this data is crucial to countries like the Philippines, whose citizens partake in heavy internet usage despite inconsistent connectivity, according to Opensignal.

“With greater satisfaction, users are less likely to uninstall apps. Users, app developers, and app publishers will all benefit through improving connectivity for all,” Mr. Fogg said.

The Philippines ranked third among the countries spending the most time using the internet, as per an October 2022 report by We Are Social and Hootsuite.

Internet users aged 16-64 years old in the country spend an average of nine hours and 39 minutes per day, it found.

Opensignal added that video players, lifestyle, and navigation apps see the largest drops in app session length, with more apps also being uninstalled on day one when there is poor connectivity. — Brontë H. Lacsamana