COVID-19 impact on global app location opt-in growth rate 2019-2020, by vertical

In February 2020, location opt-in for the medical, health and fitness vertical registered a 33 percent year-over-year decrease. By comparison, between February and June 2020 location opt-in for the same vertical grew by 150 percent worldwide. The increase is due to the global coronavirus outbreak, which led users to depend more on in-app location tracking services through their mobile devices and smartphones. Of the overall twelve industry verticals examined, eight had previously registered a decline in February 2020 compared to the previous year. After the beginning of the pandemic, about half of the examined verticals reported an increase in growth rate, with the travel and transportation industry registering one of the highest increases in opt-in growth rates among all verticals. Apps in the travel and transportation vertical also registered an increase of 18.7 percent in mobile app opens between February and June 2020, compared to the decrease of 23 percent year-over-year in February 2020.