Key Takeaways for App Marketing for South African Brands in 2025

Key Takeaways for App Marketing for South African Brands in 2025

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If you're in the app space in South Africa, you've likely felt things shifting. We've gone through the latest AppsFlyer report on Sub-Saharan Africa and pulled out the key takeaways that every product manager and developer needs to know. Trust us, these numbers are a proper game-changer.

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The mobile industry remains a powerhouse in the region, contributing $140 billion US dollars to Sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP in 2023. But here’s the interesting part: with fewer than one in three people using mobile internet, the potential for growth is immense.

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From Volume to Value: The New SA App Playbook

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South Africa is moving beyond just chasing new downloads. While overall app installs are still forecast to rise by 18% in 2025, user acquisition (UA) spend dropped by 20% in the first half of the year. This isn't a contradiction; it means marketers are getting smarter and more efficient. They're prioritising ROI-driven growth over pure volume.

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And get this: the iOS market is on fire. While Android is set to grow by 14%, iOS is expected to rebound by a massive 68% in 2025. This is partly thanks to new legislation that removed a luxury tax on more affordable smartphones, which opened up the market and brought in a wave of high-value users through the refurbished device market.

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Why Data is Your New Best Friend

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The report notes that UA budgets declined, while remarketing spend in South Africa grew by a massive 48%. Marketers are shifting their focus from top-of-funnel acquisition to re-engagement and retention because that’s where the real money is. For winning apps, the real challenge is no longer acquisition, but engagement.

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But how do you figure out what makes a user stick around? A product analytics platform is your secret weapon. AppsFlyer's report gives you the "what", the big-picture data on installs and spending. But a tool like Amplitude gives you the "why". It helps you see user behaviour after the install. You can figure out what product journeys they are taking, why they drop off, and what a "high-value" user actually looks like. It’s the key to unlocking the value within your existing user base, exactly what the AppsFlyer report says is crucial for long-term success.

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What about App uninstalls? It’s a huge pain point, especially in developing countries where they're higher than the global average. In fact, more than 1 in 2 apps that are installed are uninstalled within 30 days. That’s a serious issue.

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This is where a customer engagement platform comes in. It's no use just tracking user behaviour to find out where they dropped off; you need to fight uninstalls by driving users to value quicker and finding ways to re-engage them. That’s why you need to connect your data to your marketing. Personally, we love OneSignal. It lets you send powerful, timely notifications and in-app messages to guide users along their journey and bring them back to your app, turning those potential uninstalls into re-engagements.

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Install Fraud, Now Available on Andriod AND iOS

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As marketers ourselves, we know that as the market matures, so do the threats. While South Africa has made significant progress in fighting fraud, with Android install fraud dropping by 31%, fraudsters are simply changing their tactics.

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The report shows a shift to iOS, where fresh investment is making it a more lucrative target. In the shopping category, bots now account for nearly 75% of all fraud in South Africa, up from just 5% in late 2023. This means that your user acquisition strategy must include fraud resilience. This isn’t just for marketers in shopping, it’s for all of us.

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Your Roadmap to Success: Final Takeaways

South Africa isn't just catching up to global trends; we're setting the pace for sustainable, performance-led app growth. To win in this new landscape, the report's key recommendations are to focus on:

• Performance, not just scale: Prioritising ROI-driven growth over sheer volume.
• The iOS opportunity: iOS users are a major growth lever.
• Retention as the new growth engine: The focus has shifted from acquisition to keeping the right users.
• Stronger fraud defences: Regularly reassessing your fraud defences is non-negotiable.

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To truly master that shift to efficiency, you have to go beyond just looking at the top of the funnel. It's not enough to know how many installs you're getting; you have to know which of those installs are actually providing long-term value. This is where a digital analytics tool like Amplitude becomes invaluable. By giving you a granular look into user behaviour after the install, this kind of platform can show you exactly where to focus your resources for the best possible ROI, turning that raw data into a smarter, more efficient marketing strategy.

Download their full report and dive into the numbers yourself 👇

🔗Link🔗

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