Smartphone apps account for 50% time Americans spend onlineNew York, Sep 3 (AZINS) Out of the total time spent online, users in the US spend half the time on smartphone applications and if the tablet applications are added into the mix, the figure rises to nearly 60 per cent, a new report said.

"The results are a testament to people's increasing reliance on native mobile applications to deliver us the information we need, as well as the entertainment and distractions we crave -- things we used to turn to the web for, in previous years," Tech Crunch quoted the report by the US-based analytics company comScore.

The app usage has grown as a result of the omnipresence of smartphones (also devices with large screens) and other factors like faster mobile internet speeds.

"In addition, the app stores have grown to house millions of downloads -- so there is an app for just about anything you need," the report said.

comScore also highlighted which of the apps are most popular.

The list of top apps by unique visitors is dominated today by the big players: Facebook, Messenger, YouTube, Google Maps, Google Search, Google Play, Gmail, Pandora, Instagram, Amazon mobile, Apple Music, Apple Maps, Pokemon Go, Snapchat and Pinterest.