With gyms across the world closed, and efforts to maintain social distancing continuing even as restrictions are lifted, consumers have found new ways to exercise and maintain a healthy lifestyle. The surge in downloads and revenue for Health & Fitness apps in 2020 is yet another example of consumers increasingly turning to their mobile devices for necessities and to support their daily routines. Revenue, meanwhile, increased by 166 percent from January to $6.4 million and 98.7 percent from April. Installs grew to a record 3.4 million in May, up 179.2 percent from January, and 9.8 percent from April. One fitness app that has seen a particularly sharp rise in downloads and user spending so far in 2020 is Strava. Last month, the category accumulated $160.5 million in user spending, an increase of 14.5 percent from January and about 5 percent from April. While April proved to be a record month for downloads, May 2020 has generated record revenue. Following a typical month-over-month decline in installs during February, March and April went on to represent record months for Health & Fitness app adoption, peaking at 339.7 million in April, up 83.6 percent from January and about 42 percent from March.

Historically, January has consistently been the top month for Health & Fitness app downloads in any given year, but 2020 has bucked this trend. That’s below last year’s 47 percent Y/Y growth, and Q2 2018’s record 76 percent increase, but with a month still to go in the quarter, we expect to see a significant rise in user spending once June has concluded. Revenue growth Y/Y for the current quarter stands at close to 13 percent, with the Health & Fitness category generating $328.5 million so far. In Q2 2019, installs grew by just 6.8 percent compared to the previous year. The previous highest Y/Y increase occurred between Q2 2017 and Q2 2018, when downloads for Health & Fitness apps surged by 29.2 percent to 417.7 million. This represents the largest Y/Y increase ever for Q2, and comes amid the global COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns that have kept consumers at home, rethinking their lifestyle and exercise regimes. Global downloads of Health & Fitness category apps are already up a record 47 percent year-over-year in Q2 2020 to about 656 million with a month still remaining in the quarter, Sensor Tower Store Intelligence estimates show.

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