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App Development
7 minutes read

What Apps do Millennials Use in 2023?

By Mario Tatis
By Mario Tatis
App Development
7 minutes read

If you are working on an app development project, you’re likely wondering ‘what apps do millennials use?’ Ensuring interest and engagement from the millennial generation is likely to be crucial to your app’s future success. While older generations like the baby boomers or Generation X and the young Gen Z populations are still major forces to be reckoned with, millennials now make up the biggest working-age group. 

Recognizing that there are 4.8 billion people in the world who use social media – over half the global population, highlights the immense potential for tapping into the millennial demographic through strategic social media integration, enabling your app to resonate with the preferences and habits of this influential user segment.

Read on to find out about some of the apps millennials will use the most in 2021. 

Who are the Millennials?

Millennials are the generation that grew up with the rapid advancement of technology, specifically in the area of the Internet and smartphones. Typically, people born between the years 1981 and 1996 are considered millennials. This is the generation that was the earliest adopter of social media. Millennials continue to be the most active social media generation in the world. Some of the most popular apps with millennials tend to be social media apps, but there are other mobile apps too that are popular with millennials but are not as widely used by older generations. 

What Apps are the Most Popular with Millennials?

Let’s take a look at some of the most popular mobile apps with millennials. This will help you get a better understanding of the types of features and UX trends driving millennial engagement with mobile apps. 

Facebook

Just over 90 percent of all millennials use Facebook regularly. Nearly 91 percent of people who use social media access it through their mobile devices. Based on these numbers, it is safe to say that the Facebook mobile app is very popular with millennials. The Facebook app has several features that make it appealing to millennials, including messaging, sharing photos, posting text, images, videos, etc., sending money, shopping for items, and so much more. 

While app trends may be moving away from creating large all-in-one type apps like the one Facebook has created, this app remains popular with millennials because it offers so many features and helps bring friends, family, groups, and communities together all around the world. Facebook is useful, and this is why it continues to be successful with millennials and older generations

Airbnb

The principles of the sharing economy have gotten a lot more popular over the years, thanks in large part to apps like Airbnb. The majority of Airbnb users, 66 percent, are millennials. Older generations may be warier about sharing someone’s house, and younger generations such as Gen Z are likely still too young to take full advantage of the service offered by Airbnb. 

This app is popular with millennials because it provides a useful service. Airbnb gives millennials a chance to have more unique travel experiences and stay in local neighborhoods and communities rather than in hotels. Millennials love to have unique, local experiences. Airbnb found a way to capitalize on this desire. They delivered a simple-to-use mobile app that allows travelers to find accommodations in almost any city in the world by staying in people’s spare bedrooms or homes. 

Kik Messenger

This social media app is more popular with younger millennials, but the millennial population accounts for more than 60 percent of Kik Messenger users. Kik allows users to text chat with one another, play games, and access other entertainment and lifestyle content on the mobile app as well. 

Kik Messenger began as a messaging platform and provided many millennials with this essential service. Since its earliest days, Kik has continued to evolve and now offers more entertainment value than ever before. This mobile app is popular with millennials because it combines function with entertainment, much like other social media apps

Mint

This is a personal finance app that allows users to create budgets, track spending, check their credit scores, and more. Mint, like the other mobile apps already listed thus far, provides users with a valuable service. Mint’s users are overwhelmingly millennials. Millennials make up 66 percent of the Mint User Base

This app not only gives users the ability to track their finances but also helps educate them on financial issues. Millennials are looking for apps that provide value, whether it be through service, education, or entertainment. Mint provides service and educational value. Mint helps millennials take control of their finances as they become the dominant generation in the workforce. 

Snapchat

This social media upstart is extremely popular with millennial users. Millennials account for roughly 70 percent of Snapchat users. This video app has been popular with millennials through its many iterations and updates. Originally, Snapchat was a video messaging app that was popular because all videos and messages disappeared after viewing. Since then, Snapchat has added a ton of entertainment and lifestyle featured content for users to view, they have made group video messaging more accessible, and of course, they continue to release a variety of fun filters for video and photos. 

Snapchat is another good example of a mobile app that combines a useful service like messaging with entertainment value. Finding a way to balance service, entertainment, and education value is essential for developing an app for the millennial generation.

Tinder

While Tinder was far from the first dating service online, it quickly became the most popular mobile app for dating. A simple User Interface, integration with other social media platforms like Facebook, and a useful service made Tinder very popular with millennials. Over 70 percent of Tinder users are millennials. 

While other dating apps have taken the swipe right and left interface that made Tinder so original when it was first launched, this app continues to be very popular with millennials today. 

Venmo

This payment app has quickly been adopted by millennials as an easier way to pay back friends for a night out or even pay for goods and services. Over 80 percent of Venmo’s users are millennials. Venmo has gotten so ubiquitous that the brand name has begun to be used as a verb. “Just Venmo me,” for example. 

Venmo combines the ease of digital transactions with a social component that allows users to share their transaction history with friends. Venmo is not the first digital payment app, but it has gotten popular because it has a simple User Interface, an interesting social component that millennials love to use, and it provides a valuable service in a world where cash transactions are disappearing.

Final Thoughts: The Apps Millennials Use in 2022

If you have an idea for an app, you should ask yourself what apps millennials use. While older generations and Gen Z can still help your app be successful, millennial use and engagement will be crucial for long-term success

Millennials like to use apps that offer them at least one of the following three things:

  • Useful service
  • Entertainment
  • Education

Millennials grew up with the first development of mobile apps. Most of them likely remember the early Apple commercials that stated, “There’s an app for that.” As smartphone technology has gotten more advanced, the idea that there is an app for everything is something that millennials take to heart. Successful apps can be as expansive as Facebook or as simple as Tinder, but they need to feature a simple User Interface and provide a service, entertain, or educate. The best mobile apps Millennials Use today find a way to do all three of those things. 

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