urbanairship
App notification engagement rates across different industries. Credit: Urban Airship

Android users are more than twice as likely as iOS users to open an app after receiving a push notification, according to new research from Portland-based mobile technology company Urban Airship.

Urban Airship analyzed 93 million notifications from nearly 3,000 apps and found that Android apps in the “medium-performing” category got 20 percent of users to actually open the app after receiving a notification, while only 8 percent opened an iOS app under similar circumstances.

Business and finance apps saw a lot of response, while media and gaming apps were mostly ignored. Media apps are likely giving enough information in the notification to satisfy users, while gaming apps may be seen as spam.

The way Android handles notifications appears to be the main reason for the difference. Android notifications show up in chronological order and stick in the status bar until dismissed. Archived iOS notifications are displayed by app, not chronologically, and iOS doesn’t indicate waiting notifications in the top status bar.

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