Why Users Quit Slow Apps: Insights from China’s 2016 Mobile Performance Report
The 2016 China Mobile App Performance Report, released by leading APM provider Tingyun, analyzes iOS and Android crash rates, network performance, error distributions, and third‑party API responsiveness, revealing that iOS apps crash five times more often than Android, network errors dominate failures, and certain industries suffer higher latency, offering developers data‑driven guidance to improve user experience.
In the mobile internet era, millions of apps compete for users. By the end of 2016, over 1.5 million apps were available in China’s App Store, yet more than 74% of users abandon apps that suffer performance problems.
Crash Overview
The 2016 China Mobile App Performance Report shows that iOS apps have a crash rate about five times higher than Android apps. A notable spike in crashes occurred from June to August 2016, likely linked to new version releases.
Android: the aviation industry has the highest crash rate at 2.05%. iOS: O2O and gaming industries exceed 4% crash rates, with gaming reaching 5.83%.
Network Performance
Comparison of major mobile operators under 4G shows similar performance, while China Unicom leads in 3G.
Wi‑Fi: Fangzheng Broadband, China Unicom, and China Telecom perform best. Overall, China Unicom and China Telecom outperform China Mobile in Wi‑Fi performance.
Response time comparisons between Android and iOS across industries reveal that Android generally exceeds 1000 ms for categories such as video, aviation, and tools, whereas iOS stays around 700 ms for social, reading, and mobile payment apps.
App Error Analysis
Network errors dominate app failures, especially request timeouts, unknown hosts, and connection failures. Android experiences higher rates of these errors compared to iOS, while iOS shows more URL‑related errors.
HTTP error distribution differs by platform:
Android: 404, 403, 503, 500 errors account for 86.55% of HTTP failures. iOS: 404, 400, 502, 401 errors account for 90.1% of HTTP failures.
Third‑Party API Performance
The report lists the top 20 monitored APIs, with Alipay, WeChat Pay, and AMap routing APIs ranking highest in traffic.
Map API response times show AMap routing as the fastest, while Google Maps is the slowest. Success rates are highest for Baidu Maps and lowest for Google Maps.
Other API categories (login, sharing, advertising, analytics, push, payment, etc.) are also evaluated for response time and success rate.
Overall, the report provides valuable data on crash rates, network errors, and third‑party API performance across iOS and Android, helping developers reduce IT operational costs and improve user experience.
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