New app study: Women are social, men are practical

We all have our apps that we can’t live without. Apps we use as the first thing in the morning. Apps we use in our lunch break. Apps we use when we get off from work. And apps we use as the last thing before we go to bed.

In our new study on the app usage across the Nordics we see that the most preferred apps are greatly dominated by social media apps. Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Facebook Messenger and YouTube are all a part of the ten most important apps in the Nordics.

At the same time, our study shows that the Facebook app is superior to all other apps. More than a third of the Nordic population point at the Facebook app as one of their most important apps, while this is the case with “just” 15 % in relation to Instagram, which is the second most preferred app.

However, when looking at the top apps across demographics and devices, we see a very diverse app usage. We use our mobile much differently than our tablet and the app usage differs a lot between young and old as well as men and women.

Men vs women

Across genders both Facebook and WhatsApp are among the most important apps, but the women are far more oriented towards social media with Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook Messenger also being a part of their top 5 mobile apps. On the other hand, men are more practically oriented with Mail, Google and Weather as the other three most preferred apps on the mobile.

Young vs old

Among the young part of the Nordic population covering those between 15-25 years, social media dominate the app usage. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook Messenger are the four most preferred mobile apps, while the digital music service Spotify also manages to squeeze into the top 5.

In the older age group being the 56+ years old, the picture is completely different. Their app usage is far more practically oriented with apps like Mail, Google, Weather and the Norwegian weather app Yr being a part of their most important mobile apps.

Mobile vs tablet

Looking across devices, we see that Facebook is the most important app on both mobile and tablet, but apart from that, the app usage differs a lot on the two devices. While mobile is primarily used for social media, tablet is more used for browsing and streaming.

In addition to Facebook, the other social media apps, Instagram, WhatsApp and Snapchat are among the top 5 mobile apps. On the other hand when looking at the tablet, other apps like Netflix, Safari and YouTube find its way to the top 5.

Get further insights

Download the study below to find further insights on the app usage across the Nordics. Enjoy!