Our second annual benchmark evaluates 10 leading cash-back credit cards, with no annual fee, across seven feature categories. It weights their scores according to the results of a survey of US cash-back credit card prospects.

Since seeing a major boost at the start of the pandemic, mobile gaming app downloads have moderated but held steady. In Q1 2022, there were 14.3 billion downloads of mobile games worldwide, 1.4% more than the same quarter in 2021.

Super apps in Asia, such as WeChat, Alipay, and mobile messaging app Line, have dominated ecommerce and online services in the region for years. Now, some Western apps are trying to build their own super apps by creating marketplaces next to their core financial, social, or delivery services. Most of these apps use a combination of monetization methods, including commissions and ad serving.

Online health consultation startups tackle doctor shortages in MENA: Esaal is leading the charge of health startups in the Middle East and Africa, where innovation is solving poor doctor-to-citizen ratios, obesity, and a growing mental health crisis.

The average number of smartphone apps used in the US will decrease over the next few years, following a pandemic-driven bump in 2020 that did not change the overall trend. This year, users will access an average of 20.4 apps each month, a figure that will drop to 19.7 in 2026.

3G shutdowns don’t just affect smartphone holdouts: The year-end transition will affect cellular customers as well as IoT, smart home, and home security systems, potentially pushing more users to 5G.

This second annual benchmark evaluates seven Canadian financial institutions across six feature categories and weights their scores according to the results of a survey of mobile banking users in Canada.

Dating apps Bumble and Hinge attracted more downloads worldwide in 2021 than the previous two years. Meanwhile, Tinder outpaced them both by at least 54 million downloads—albeit 8 million fewer downloads than its lead in 2020.

Meta uses fitness data to tap into Apple’s ecosystem: Bringing the metaverse’s fitness stats into Apple Health via Oculus headsets helps Apple users close their activity rings and gives Meta synergy with a larger user ecosystem.

Since Facebook rebranded itself as Meta, mobile apps have been scrambling to stake a claim in the metaverse—on paper at least. In November, the month after the rebrand, 29 apps worldwide added “metaverse” to their name or description, more than double the number in October. This trend hasn’t wavered: In the three months since Meta emerged, 86 more apps have featured the buzzword in their name or description.

According to a PayPal-commissioned poll by Maru Group in July 2021, almost three-quarters (72%) of adults in Canada said they like being able to order groceries online,

Chime was the most downloaded US mobile banking app in 2021, with 12.8 million downloads, up 16% from 2020. Other neobanks had a huge year as well: Current posted 67% growth in downloads, and Varo skyrocketed to 10th place with a 529% increase. That said, traditional banks took the rest of the top five positions.

In 2021, 233 mobile apps crossed the $100 million mark in consumer spending worldwide, and just under 75% of them were games. That’s down from about 82% in 2020, as more nongaming apps passed that milestone than their gaming counterparts. Still, games continue to drive much of the consumer spending in the multibillion-dollar mobile ecosystem.

TikTok was the No. 1 mobile app in the US last year, with 94.0 million downloads, a 6% increase over 2020. Runners-up Instagram and Snapchat reached 64.0 million downloads and 56.0 million downloads, respectively, meaning the three most downloaded apps in the US were all photo- and video-sharing platforms.

This fifth annual benchmark stacks up 23 US financial institutions against one another, evaluating their mobile app capabilities based on consumer demand for 42 emerging features.

This benchmark evaluates four US neobanks across seven categories and weights their scores according to the results from a survey of US mobile banking users. It highlights the most in-demand mobile banking features that an incumbent, fintech, or neobank can offer to attract, retain, or monetize users.

Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, owns the top four mobile apps worldwide, with WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Facebook, and Instagram seeing the most cumulative downloads between Q1 2014 and Q3 2021.

YouTube’s on top and on the go

Asset management apps’ 200% crypto boost