• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, December 19, 2019

Among other non-organically installed apps, those dedicated to photography, health and fitness, and utilities are doing a particularly poor job of retaining users.

That’s according to the latest report from AppsFlyer, which compared app retention rates during the third quarter to those during the same period last year.

Over the past year, retention rates among non-organically installed photography apps fell by about 60%, while they fell more than 50% for non-organic health and fitness apps, and about 50% for utility apps.

During the same period, other losers included non-organically installed entertainment apps, and lifestyle apps.

Additionally, several non-organically installed gaming app categories -- action, simulation, casual, and strategy -- saw retention rates decline over the past year.  

By contrast, non-organically installed finance apps saw retention rates increase by approximately 30% over the past year, per AppsFlyer’s findings.

Among other non-organically installed apps, those dedicated to puzzle-based gaming and travel also saw retention rates increase by roughly 20% this past year.

Among other organically installed apps, this year’s big winners included those dedicated to puzzle-based games (which saw retention rates rise by about 60%), and health and fitness apps (which enjoyed an approximately 40% increase in retention rates).

Among all organically installed app categories, this year’s biggest losers included utilities (which saw retention rates decline by approximately 30%), along with entertainment (which saw retention rates fall by about 20%), and action-based gaming (which also saw retention rates fall by about 20%).

Among other approaches, AppsFlyer found retargeting to be a particularly effective way for app makers to increase retention rates. 

In fact, apps with medium-to-high shares of retargeting conversions in their marketing mix enjoyed 60% higher retention rates compared to those with a low-to-no share of retargeting.          

For its findings, AppsFlyer analyzed a data sample of 2.9 billion non-organic installs during the third period of the year; along with 15,000 apps with a minimum of 3,000 installs per country; 2.5 billion retargeting conversions; and 2,500 apps running retargeting campaigns with a minimum of 5,000 retargeting conversions.