App spending is set to exceed $23 billion in 2022, according to Sensor Tower data. 

This year alone, non-gaming apps are expected to draw in $4 billion - 51 per cent of total App Store earnings. In 2022, that is likely to grow to 61 per cent, amounting to $23.5 billion in spending in Europe. Over three years, this shows an increase in revenue by 109 per cent since 2019.

Furthermore, there will be a 27.9 per cent compound annual growth rate over the intervening years.

App Store user spending in Europe will also hit around $12.6 billion in 2022 - an increase of 109 per cent over three years. Meanwhile, Google Play will earn $10.9 billion in 2022, also at a rise of 109 per cent.

Increased downloads

It is expected that in 2022, first-time app installs will increase by 22.7 per cent from 2019 to 29.6 billion. More specifically, Google Play will account for 22 billion downloads. Meanwhile, the App Store will bring in 7.6 billion downloads. Both stores will see an increase of 24.9 per cent and 16.8 per cent over three years respectively.

Russia will remain on top in terms of downloads, accounting for 6.2 billion installs in 2022 and increasing by 17.2 per cent from 2019. Turkey and the UK, follow in second and third,  which will see four billion and 2.6 billion installs in each country from 2022 respectively. This represents a growth of 32.8 per cent for Turkey and 19.4 per cent for the UK.

As expected, the games category will be responsible for the majority of downloads in Europe. It will increase by 19 per cent compared to last year to generate 12.4 billion downloads by 2022.

Revenue growth

In terms of revenue, the UK is expected to generate the most in terms of European countries generating income through apps, with the market predicted to grow to $4.1 billion in 2022 or an increase of 91.6 from 2019.

Germany will cement itself as the runner up in second at $3.7 billion from user spending, jumping up by 77.9 per cent from 2019. France will then earn itself third position at $2.6 billion in 2022, a 91.4 per cent rise over 2019.

The type of app that will bring in the most money is games. Between both Google Play and the App Store, total revenue from games in Europe will hit $12.9 billion in 2022. This represents an increase of 72.8 per cent from 2019.

The games category is projected to be responsible for 55 per cent of revenue in 2022, a drop from 66 per cent in 2019. Furthermore, it will bring in 39 per cent and 73 per cent of income for the App Store and Google Play respectively.