Stats compiled by AppData show that for the first time since the Android app was launched in September 2009, the average number of daily Facebook visitors viewing the site from their Android phone are outnumbering the average tally of daily viewers checking out the site on the Apple iPhone. The data reveals that Facebook for Android draws in 58.3 million average daily users versus an average of 57.4 million daily readers that are viewing the app on an Apple iPhone. As recently as November 17th of this year, the iPhone app had 2 million more users than the Android version on an average day. Users of the Android Facebook app have recently showed some great momentum with 1.4 million average readers a day being added in the last week compared to a 600,000 average daily viewer gain for the iPhone's Facebook app.
The recent surge in Android users might have to do with the 550,000 activations per day for the green robot. It also could be due to the recent update to the Android version of the app which includes the Timeline feature, something that is currently missing on the iPhone's Facebook app. Until the feature is added to the App Store app,some iPhone users might decide to use the HTML5 powered mobile site from their Safari browser. Another reason for Android overtaking Apple in daily Facebook readers is that since the Apple iPad received its own Facebook app in October it now has 5.5 million average daily users, with some of those coming over to the iPad app from the unoptimized iPhone version and others switching from unofficial third party apps.
The numbers show that when it comes to monthly viewers, the Facebook app for the Apple iPhone gets 99.1 million average users against the Android figure of 85.4 million. But the monthly stats do not have the weight that "stickiness" does. This is the number of monthly viewers that return to the site every day. With the Android figure at 68.2% versus 57.9% for the Apple iPhone, that explains why Android has the lead in daily readers of its Facebook app even though it trails iPhone viewers on a monthly basis.
Why does this matter? These numbers are important because they could play a part in determining where Facebook and other developers decide to put new featuresand apps first. And if more features like Timeline are written into Android apps before the iPhone gets them, that could help phone buyers make a choice about which platform to buy. As far as the competition is concerned, BlackBerry's Facebook app gets 29.9 million average daily users while Windows Phone's app reaches 360,000 people a day on average.
Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.
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