Small developers around the world grew their revenue by 71% between 2020 and 2022. This is according to an independent study done by economists at Analysis Group. They also said that the reach and growth of some small developers outpace larger developers.

The study, titled “Small Business Developers and App Creators on the App Store in 2022”, shows that entrepreneurs’ ability to identify new ways to tap into the needs of their users is a reason why revenue growth for small developers active on the storefront since 2020 exceeded that of large developers.

Here small developer is defined as those earning up to 1 million USD (4.5 million MYR) a year and with fewer than 1 million annual downloads. They comprise more than 90% of all developers on the App Store.

App developers saw earnings increase across all app categories. Health and fitness, sports, and lifestyle apps from small business developers more than doubled their earnings in the last two years.

According to the study, in 2022, nearly 80% of small developers were active on multiple storefronts and about 40% of total app downloads from all small developers came from users outside of each developer’s home country. It also found that developers who monetise their apps by selling digital goods and services on multiple storefronts have earnings from users of more than 40% on average.

To put things into perspective, the App Store is available in 175 countries and over 40 languages and Apple’s installed base of over 2 billion active devices around the world.

The research found many developers who sold digital goods and services on the App Store and earned more than 1 million USD (4.5 million MYR) in 2022 were previously small developers. Of these global developers, 40% were either not on the App Store or had less than 10,000 USD (44,620 MYR) in earnings just five years ago.

Analysis Group economists also found that of the thousands of new developers and entrepreneurs that joined the App Store in 2022 from all over the world, approximately 25% came from Europe, 23% from China, 14% from the U.S., 4% from Japan, and 35% from other regions including South Korea, India, and Brazil.

Developer Resources Are Growing

Developers of all sizes have built successful businesses while benefitting from the App Store’s global reach. Apple provides several initiatives to support small developers on the App Store, including the App Store Small Business Programme, Apple Entrepreneur Camp, App Accelerators, the App Store Foundations Programme, and Apple Developer Academies. Additionally, ongoing informational series like App Store sessions, Ask Apple, and Tech Talks offer developers even more opportunities to connect directly with Apple experts year-round for insight, support, and feedback on the latest features and technologies available.

An extensive suite of free tools and frameworks — including software development kits (SDKs) and developer services with more than 250,000 APIs — support developers building apps for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS. These tools enable developers to add new functionalities to their apps easily and quickly and harness powerful capabilities like machine learning, augmented reality, and many more. The Swift Student Challenge, as well as open access tools like Everyone Can Code and Swift Playgrounds, ensure the power of coding technology is accessible and inclusive.