Technology

Trending Types of Apps That Make The Most Money

We are living in a world where smartphones have become like an extended limb for us. Digital citizens cannot imagine their lives without smartphones. As we all know, an app is the thing that makes smartphone ‘smart’.

Today we have an app for everything, whether you want to book a cab, make hotel reservations, book a movie ticket, get a degree online, book your appointment with the doctor, online food order, watch movie online, or book a handyman. With smartphones, you have the world at your fingertips, literally!

Mobile apps have become big business now; the new-age entrepreneurs are making millions and even billions of dollars through mobile apps.

Like any industry, the mobile app industry also has certain specific categories of mobile apps that make more money than the others.

Top Custom mobile app development companies can help you in aligning your idea with the profitable and relevant app categories and their sub-categories.

Even if you have a great idea, it is possible that your app won’t make money for you. This happens because just having a great product is not enough, but you will need a significant market for this product.

You can hire a reliable mobile app development company and discuss a profitable niche before starting the process of building the mobile app.

In this article, we shall discuss the kinds of niches, which produce the most profitable apps.

Top Profitable Apps Categories

Music & Video Streaming Apps

Entertainment apps rule the roost when it comes to money-making and are one of the most popular categories of mobile apps.

According to a study published by AppAnnie showed that video and music apps are some of the most successful apps ever published on app platforms like iOS. Netflix happens to be one of the highest-grossing apps, with $25 billion in revenue.

According to a report published by SensorTower, users spent around $1.37 billion on the top 10 subscription video-on-demand apps in the United States alone. Globally, the top 5 video streaming services garnered more than $2.5 billion.

Like Netflix and Spotify, music and video streaming apps rely heavily on subscriptions. As they provide content in the form of videos and audio, the subscription model suits these kinds of mobile app categories.

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Videos primarily fuel the rise of social media apps like Instagram and Snapchat. Let’s face it; most of the people would rather watch a video than read a blog. This human tendency is driving the adoption of OTT video streaming apps. Hence, the importance of OTT video streaming apps is increasing.

Dating Apps

Dating apps are one of the most profitable mobile app categories. Dating apps are a goldmine when it comes to revenue generation. The king of dating apps, Tinder was the top-grossing app in the first half of 2021.

People spent more than $133 billion across both Google Play Store and Apple App Store in pursuit of their soulmate.

Tinder is another example of the successful implementation of a subscription strategy. Tinder Gold, a premium subscription version of Tinder is responsible for most of its revenue. Dating apps have emerged as one of the money making app categories.

Social Media and Messenger Apps

Social media apps are the all-time highest grosser in both the app stores. Apps like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have maintained the pole position in terms of revenue generated.

Social platforms come under one of the top-grossing categories of mobile apps.

TikTok was the most downloaded app in August 2020, with more than 51.6 million downloads, followed by Facebook with more than 60 million app downloads.

The revenue potential of social networking apps can be estimated by the fact that more than 7 million advertisers lined up to put up their ads on Facebook.

Instagram, another popular social platform happens to be the best platform for social media influencers. According to a survey 90% of surveyors responded that Instagram was the most important social networking platform that they used.

Twitter, the popular microblogging and social networking site, witnessed decent growth and clocked in revenues above $1.2 billion during Q3 2021.

LinkedIn, the world-renowned professional social networking app has more than 800 million decision-makers as its members. This fact makes it an ideal social networking medium for marketers aiming at B2B positions.

Social media apps are one of the most popular mobile app categories and you should definitely consider this category whenever you build an app.

Health & Fitness Apps

People are becoming more and more health-conscious, and tech-savvy users are using apps to monitor and improve their fitness.

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It is forecasted that the global fitness app market size shall reach the value of $14.7 billion by 2027.

Mobile users spent $327 million on the top 10 health and fitness apps listed on Google Play store and the Apple App Store.

Calm, the most popular Health and Fitness app clocked revenues of around $7.7 million for May 2020. With more than $6.5 million in revenue, Myfitnesspal came second.

The global downloads for health and fitness apps are up by a whopping 47% in the year 2020 as compared to the previous year. Health and fitness apps are one of the most downloaded categories of mobile apps.

Health and Fitness apps are going to be prolific in the coming years as people become more aware of their physical and mental health. The fitness apps also tend to motivate people by serving as fitness social networks. 

The rise of wearable devices, such as Apple watch and Fitbit, has accelerated the growth of health and fitness applications.

Games

The gaming apps rule the roost when it comes to money-making in the digital world. It seems that all that user wants is to play!

In the year 2020 out of $100 revenue generated by mobile apps, $76 were generated through games. Gaming apps have the highest ARPDAU(Average Revenue Per Daily Active User) in the industry of mobile apps. Gaming apps are one of the most profitable categories of mobile apps.

Whether it is Pokemon Go, Candy Crush, Mario, Contra or PubG, the allure of gaming is enticing. Human nature is such that it requires entertainment of some form.

Gaming provides the best entertainment as it is personal, addictive, and one of the fastest and cheapest ways to get that dopamine rush. With a mobile game, you can draw attention quickly.

To entice gamers, you need to keep the game free initially, and then as the number of players rises, you can think of adding in-app purchases and other mobile game monetization strategies.

Make sure that gamers should be able to enjoy the game even with the free plan; it will help you in keeping the number of players high.

Roblox, the top-grossing mobile gaming app in the app store clocked in revenues over $25,00,000 per day as of June 2020. It is evident from the above chart that even the lowest-earning game, Clash of clans earned more than $200,000 in revenue which is a pretty decent sum of money.

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Penetration of cheap smartphone devices, new real-time multiplayer abilities, live streaming with the help of 4G and high-speed internet networks, and the growth of social media platforms like Twitch has propelled the growth of mobile gaming.

People associated with the app industry know that gaming is one of the money making app categories, but due to high competition, you have to get it right if you want to make it big in the gaming category.

Shopping Apps

Shopping apps are one of the most profitable mobile app categories. E-commerce apps like Amazon and Alibaba are a huge success. Amazon earned $386 billion in 2020 while Alibaba posted a sales figure of $ 71.95 billion in 2020. Shoppers have now become accustomed to ordering online.

The apprehension of fake products and payment forgery are becoming obsolete now, and the explosive growth of eCommerce apps is showing that this is a very lucrative segment in mobile apps.

With Amazon Prime, Amazon has shown the way regarding gaining subscriptions from consumers. You could also adopt a similar approach and garner a loyal customer base.

In the age of Data-driven marketing it is necessary to identify the app categories with the best ROI. 

Key Takeaways

Entertainment apps like Spotify and Netflix are the most enticing and trending app Category in the non-gaming sector. Most of these apps work on a subscription basis.

Dating apps are the new blue-eyed boys of the app world, with apps like Tinder giving stiff competition to video streaming giants like Netflix in terms of revenue earned.

With the health awareness rising amongst consumers, the health and fitness app market is booming. Also due to Corona Virus Pandemic (Covid-19) is motivating consumers to be fit and healthy to avoid getting ill.

Games still rule the roost when it comes to gaining revenues.

We have learnt that there are many trending app categories in which you can make your moolah. But make sure that your skills are aligned with the app sub-category that you choose.

Building an app just because someone else has built a successful app rarely brings success. You need to identify a real need, a gap in the market before launching your own app. 

Just identifying the money making app categories is not enough, you need to build a robust app that fulfills the needs of the customers.

Avantika Shergil

An enthusiastic Operations Manager at TopDevelopers.co - A dedicated directory of IT service providers, coordinating and managing the technical and functional areas. She is an adventure lover, passionate traveller, and an admirer of nature, who believes that a cup of coffee is prime source to feel rejuvenated. Researching and writing about technology keeps her boosted and enhances her professional journeying.

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