South Korea App Market Statistics in 2023
- Last update: 21 Jun 2023 CET
South Korea is home to some of the world’s most highly engaged app consumers. Indeed, Koreans consistently rank amongst the most active app users in the world, spending considerably more time per day consuming app content than the average global app user. This is bolstered by the fact that South Korea is something of a tech haven. The birthplace of such powerhouses as Samsung, LG, NAVER Corp., and SKTelecom, Korea has a lot to offer for the global app market.
In this article, we will provide a number of detailed app statistics and insights into the South Korea Android app market with focus on apps only. We will cover a number of topics, including: how many Korean app publishers exist on the Google Play Store, how many apps they have released, and how Korean apps have performed compared to the global average. The data is aggregated based on address, such that only major app publishers and ones with valid Korean addresses on the Android market have been considered. Furthermore, all download statistics are estimates.
42matters tracks everything from app meta data, to rankings, to download estimates, to changes in meta information, to SDK usage, to App-ads.txt and more. If you would like to leverage our data into your own product, research or app industry analysis, it can be obtained via our API or File Dumps or our interactive App Market Explorer.
There are more than 9,575 Korean publishers on Google Play out of all 1,013,062 app publishers. One of the biggest Korean publishers are mobirix, SUD Inc., BitMango, Netmarble, CookApps, Button E&M, Com2uS, SUPERBOX.Inc, JOYCITY Corp., mobirixsub . Less than 1% of all app publishers on Google Play are from South Korea. Find the biggest app publishers with our App Market Explorer.
There are more than 36,778 apps from Korean publishers on Google Play out of the 3,251,473 apps. Apps with most downloads of Korean publishers are Coupang Play, KB Pay, Naver Papago - AI Translator, 티빙(TVING) - 오리지널 방송 영화 실시간, 한전:ON, Karrot: Buy & sell locally, 발로소득 – 전국민 일상지원금으로 돈벌기, 티머니GO–고속/시외 택시 따릉이 씽씽 티머니고, The건강보험, KakaoTalk : Messenger . 1% of all apps on Google Play are from Korean publishers. Filter for apps by publisher country with our tool here.
The average rating of 36,778 apps from Korean publishers on Google Play is 3.58 out of 5 stars. This is less than the overall average rating of all apps of 3.74 stars. Apps from Korean publishers on Google Play have on average 3,902 ratings. This number is higher than the average number of ratings of all apps, which is 1,678 ratings. Sort by the best rated app or by the app with most ratings directly in our App Market Explorer.
76% of released apps by Korean publishers are apps and 24% are games. That means the focus is more on apps than on games. Compared to the worldwide market, Korean publishers focus more on games with 24% of releases compared to all publishers that focus 14% on games. Use our full App Market Explorer to filter for the most successful mobile apps and games.
Apps by Korean publishers have an average of 1.6m downloads. Overall they get more downloads than the average of all apps which is 232.16k. We offer also more detailed download estimates for any app.
9% of apps by Korean publishers are paid. That is a higher value of paid apps compared to the overall apps, where 3% are paid. 35% of apps by Korean publishers include ads. That is a lower value compared to the whole world, where 35% have ads. 8% of apps by Korean publishers make use of In-App Payments to monetize. That is higher than the average of 4%.
25% of apps of Korean publishers are available on both Google Play and iTunes. But overall they put less effort in publishing on both stores, compared to the average publisher with 26%. Use our iOS to Android Matching API or Android to iOS Matching API to find the same app across stores.
The following are the top publishers from South Korea that accumulated most downloads.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is on position 1 of the biggest Korean app publishers. Samsung is a multinational electronics company based in Suwon, South Korea. In addition to developing mobile apps, they manufacture a wide range of consumer and industrial electronic equipment and products such as semiconductors, personal computers, and smartphones. Samsung has developed and published such apps as Samsung Members, Samsung Elite, Samsung HeartWise, Chef Collection, and more. They own 115 apps that have been downloaded together more than 43.91b+ times.
SNOW Corporation is on position 2 of the biggest Korean app publishers. They own 6 apps that have been downloaded together more than 1.08b+ times.
Kakao Corp. is on position 3 of the biggest Korean app publishers. They own 23 apps that have been downloaded together more than 470.27m+ times.
KineMaster, Video Editor Experts Group is on position 4 of the biggest Korean app publishers. They own 3 apps that have been downloaded together more than 457.8m+ times.
Retrica, Inc. is on position 5 of the biggest Korean app publishers. Retrica is a South Korean app publisher whose products are renowned for their unparalleled quality and ability to combine a variety of colors and shades. Retrica, which enables users to record experiences, captivates not only casual users but content creators as well. Currently, RicaRica – Bling Bling is the only app that Retrica has published. They own a single app that has been downloaded more than 359.82m+ times.
SKTelecom is on position 6 of the biggest Korean app publishers. SK Telecom is a South Korean wireless telecommunications operator and is part of the SK Group. In addition to publishing mobile apps, SK Telecom is South Korea's largest wireless carrier. SKTelecom has produced such mobile apps as T world, Bill Letter, PASS, Jump AR, Jump VR, and more. They own 60 apps that have been downloaded together more than 351.43m+ times.
NAVER Corp. is on position 7 of the biggest Korean app publishers. Naver is an internet content service company located in Seongnam, South Korea. They are primarily known for operating the Korean search engine Naver. They aim to research technologies that improve lives, support individuals for greater growth and opportunities, and cultivate competitiveness aimed towards the future. Their mobile app portfolio includes: BAND, Moot, V LIVE, Naver Papago, NAVER Korean Dictionary, NAVER Map, and more. They own 34 apps that have been downloaded together more than 338.24m+ times.
Studio SJ is on position 8 of the biggest Korean app publishers. They own a single app that has been downloaded more than 275.43m+ times.
Notes is on position 9 of the biggest Korean app publishers. Notes is the developer name of the South Korean startup, Social & Mobile. They are best known for their minimalst note-taking app, ColorNote. Social & Mobile was founded in 2009. Notes has developed and published the apps ColorNote Notepad Notes, Color Flashlight, ColorDict Dictionary, and Korean Hangul Keyboard (Beta). They own 4 apps that have been downloaded together more than 269.95m+ times.
Springwalk, Inc. is on position 10 of the biggest Korean app publishers. They own 2 apps that have been downloaded together more than 267.05m+ times.
The following shows which SDKs are most used by South Korea app publishers. To find out which apps integrate the following SDK use our App Market Explorer. We have also aggregated the worldwide Top Ad Network SDKs and other categories.
72% of apps from Korean publishers have Google Firebase integrated. In total 23,694 apps. Firebase is a mobile and web application development platform SDK that gives app builders the ability to develop their apps faster, without worrying about infrastructure. It includes functionalities like analytics, databases, messaging and crash reporting so developers can move quickly and focus on their users.
53% of apps from Korean publishers have Firebase Cloud Messaging integrated. In total 17,370 apps. Firebase Cloud Messaging is a cross-platform messaging solution developed by Google that lets app developers reliably deliver messages at no cost. With Firebase Cloud Messaging, app developers can notify a client app that new email or other data is available to sync, and drive user re-engagement and retention with notification messages.
37% of apps from Korean publishers have OkHttp integrated. In total 12,119 apps. OkHttp is an open source project designed to be an efficient HTTP client. It's also easy to use. OkHttp’s request/response API is designed with fluent builders and immutability. It supports both synchronous blocking calls and async calls with callbacks.
36% of apps from Korean publishers have Glide integrated. In total 11,809 apps. Glide is an open source media management and image loading framework for Android that supports fetching, decoding, and displaying video stills, images, and animated GIFs. Glide includes a flexible API that developers can plug in to almost any network stack.
36% of apps from Korean publishers have Google Ads AdMob integrated. In total 11,778 apps. Google Ads AdMob is a mobile advertising platform that enables users to monetize their mobile applications via in-app advertising. AdMob is based on the Google Mobile Ads SDK and serves over 200 billion ad requests a month, with over 1 million advertisers and 1 million apps currently running on the AdMob mobile ad network.
36% of apps from Korean publishers have Google Ads AdMob Mediation Adapters integrated. In total 11,725 apps.
34% of apps from Korean publishers have gson integrated. In total 11,144 apps. Gson is a Google-developed Java library that app developers can leverage to convert Java Objects into their JSON representation, and vice versa. It works with arbitrary Java objects, including pre-existing objects of which developers do not have the source-code.
19% of apps from Korean publishers have Android Sqlite integrated. In total 6,283 apps.
18% of apps from Korean publishers have Android Support Library V4 integrated. In total 5,795 apps. Android Support Library V4, developed by Google’s Android team, is a platform that helps app developers manage the release of new API versions. Rather than developing code to handle the provisioning of new features on earlier releases, developers can leverage Android Support Library V4 to provide that compatibility layer.
The following shows which android permissions are most frequently request by South Korea app publishers. Use our App Market Explorer to filter the Google Play Store by apps with specific permissions.
android.permission.INTERNET makes it possible for app publishers to create network sockets and use custom network protocols within their apps. This permission is not required for internet connection however, as the mobile browser provides all apps with the ability to send data to the internet. 100% of the apps from Korean publishers use the Internet Access permission. Total 44,417 apps.
The android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE permission can be leveraged by app developers to enable their apps to view information about network connections. This information includes such things as which networks exist and which already have connections. 100% of the apps from Korean publishers use the Network Information Access permission. Total 41,308 apps.
android.permission.WAKE_LOCK gives apps the ability to prevent the phone they are running on from going into sleep mode. This is good for apps, like YouTube, that get extended periods of engagement that do not necessarily require the user to touch the screen or otherwise interact physically with the device. 99% of the apps from Korean publishers use the Phone Sleep Mode Preventation permission. Total 36,241 apps.
Apps often advertise other apps. By leveraging com.google.android.finsky.permission.BIND_GET_INSTALL_REFERRER_SERVICE apps can make sure that installs of other apps launched via their ads are properly attributed. 67% of the apps from Korean publishers use the Install Referrer permission. Total 24,648 apps.
com.google.android.c2dm.permission.RECEIVE can be used within apps to allow them to accept cloud to device messages sent by the app’s service. It should be noted however, that using this service will incur data usage, and malicious apps could cause excess data usage. 66% of the apps from Korean publishers use the Push Notification permission. Total 24,290 apps.
android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE makes it possible for app developers to enable their apps to modify or delete the contents of users’ SD cards. 65% of the apps from Korean publishers use the Write External Storage permission. Total 24,010 apps.
The android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission allows app developers to enable their apps to read the contents of user SD cards. 59% of the apps from Korean publishers use the Read External Storage permission. Total 21,842 apps.
android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED gives apps the ability to start themselves as soon as the system it is running on has finished booting. It should be noted, however, that this can often slow down the phone start time. In addition, it can slow down the device generally by enabling the app to run constantly. 51% of the apps from Korean publishers use the Start At Boot Time permission. Total 18,619 apps.
android.permission.VIBRATE makes it possible for app builders to give their apps control over the vibrating function of the devices they are running on. 49% of the apps from Korean publishers use the Vibration permission. Total 18,047 apps.
48% of the apps from Korean publishers use the android.permission.FOREGROUND_SERVICE permission. Total 17,490 apps.
42matters tracks everything from app meta data, to rankings, to download estimates, to changes in meta information, to SDK usage, to App-ads.txt and more. If you would like to leverage our data into your own product, research or app industry analysis, it can be obtained via our API or File Dumps or our interactive App Market Explorer.
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