Jakarta. Indonesian consumers spend the most mobile app screen time in the world, exceeding six hours per day, as reported in the 2024 State of Mobile by research firm Data.ai.

Indonesia emerged as the leader in mobile usage, with users spending over 6 hours daily on mobile apps. Although there was a slight decrease in screen time from 6.14 hours per day in 2022 to 6.05 hours in 2023, it remains higher than the global average.

Across the top 10 markets analyzed by Data.ai, the weighted global average surged to over 5 hours in 2023, marking a 6 percent increase from 2022 and setting a new record. Following Indonesia's mobile app usage are Thailand, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, and Brazil, with each country surpassing 5 hours per day in 2023.

"Consumers are increasingly spending more time in apps, creating new opportunities for brands to build direct relationships with customers. Marketers who invest in developing seamless app experiences and advanced app solutions are meeting consumer expectations and driving ROI (return on investment) for their businesses," Mike Holtgrewe, Head of Sales, Apps at Google said in the Data.ai report released on Thursday.

The most significant growth in time spent was observed in Japan, Australia, and Canada, with increases of 18 percent, 16 percent, and 16 percent respectively since 2020.

In terms of subgenres, four out of the top five categories, ranked by time spent, belonged to the entertainment or social media genres. These genres accounted for more than two-thirds of the total time spent on mobile apps.

Indonesian users spent a total of 134.7 billion hours on video-based entertainment apps such as YouTube and TikTok. The most frequently used apps included YouTube, TikTok, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Google Chrome.

Globally, consumers spend a total of 5.1 trillion hours on their smartphones, or around 14 billion hours per day.

Meanwhile, personal loans were the most downloaded app in Indonesia in 2023 with 222 million downloads or roughly the size of Indonesia's population, followed by VPN services with 195 million downloads, utility and productivity (personalization) app with 190 million, utility and productivity (tool) 177 million, and photo editing app 160 million. The most downloaded apps in 2023 were Easycash, Turbo VPN, TikTok Live Wallpaper, AutoClicker, and Remini.