The Onavo Mobile Data Report is a quarterly report which examined data from iPhone and iPad users in the US. The purpose of the report is to shine a light on which apps are consuming mobile data, thus helping people make informed choices about their data usage and save money.
The report found that the iTunes and App Store apps account for more than 13% of all iPhone data usage across the US. Three quarters of that data comes from downloads and app updates, while 24% comes from searching for apps. The top 5 apps in terms of data usage include media streaming (YouTube), web browsing, iTunes, navigation and email, with Facebook coming in sixth.
The report was quoted by The Daily Finance, CNET, others and can be be downloaded from our slideshare page.
October 19, 2011 at 2:15 am, Julia Yu said:
Have a question: The pie does not add up to 100%. Where does gaming stand from data consumption?
Thanks
Julia
October 21, 2011 at 12:27 am, Dvir Reznik said:
Julia,
Although games are quite popular in terms of downloads, when it comes to data consumption – most are offline and require no connection at all. Even the in-app ads are minor compared to other apps.
Thanks for the comment!
November 04, 2011 at 3:56 pm, Six tips for developing a data-friendly app | onavo :: blog said:
[...] During our work on the ‘Magical Shrinking Machine’ here at Onavo, we have come across hundreds of thousands of different iOS and Android apps and services. After studying these apps, we have identified a relatively small set of design patterns (or “network usage models“) on the apps’ side that drive their usage of network resources. The more popular models seem to be those that are easier to implement and more design-intuitive, but unfortunately these easy-to-implement models don’t always coincide with being data-friendly, and at times can turn apps into genuine data hogs. [...]