Glance user base grows by 30% YoY to reach 183 million in Q1 2022

Lock screen platform Glance’s active user base in India saw 30 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth to reach 183 million in Q1 2022, according to Counterpoint Research’s Quarterly Mobile Application Tracker. Glance added more than 10 million users in the first quarter of 2022, a sequential growth of 6 per cent.

Leading smartphone players like Xiaomi (including Poco), Samsung, OPPO, Vivo and realme, which collectively account for more than three-fourths of the Indian smartphone market, all currently have Glance as their lock screen platform.

Inmobi’s Glance, which is present in India, Indonesia and parts of Southeast Asia, is focussing heavily on expansion in existing as well as new markets. Together with its recent partnership with realme, in addition to the existing ones such as Xiaomi, Vivo and OPPO, Glance has announced several collaboration projects with key Indonesian brands, publishers, and creators as part of its ‘Indonesia First’ strategy. It is also reportedly planning to launch in other geographies such as Latin America and the USA – markets that will provide substantial additional opportunities.

Commenting on the factors contributing to Glance lock screen’s growth, Research Analyst Arushi Chawla said, “Glance lock screen coming as a pre-installed application in smartphones has been the primary and successful way of getting users on-board with the platform. However, the platform’s offerings and growing traction around Glance live entertainment and commerce are all helping Glance improve the user experience and user engagement to go beyond content absorption and ensure a unique interaction.”

Chawla added, “With the recent partnership with realme, Glance now covers all the top 5 smartphone players in India – Xiaomi, Samsung, realme, Vivo and OPPO, which combined account for more than 75% of the Indian smartphone market. This was the major reason for the rise in Glance’s active user base during Q1 2022. The partnership with realme will help Glance’s installed base continue to grow at a fast pace. And with Glance also going live on the Reliance Jio smartphone and its plans to develop new geographic markets, it will likely get a further boost in growth”.

Starting its journey in 2019, Glance has created an unmatched positioning by pioneering the use of lock screen as an asset for content discovery by bringing infotainment and trending content available 24/7 as a differentiator. Now other smartphone premium brands like Apple are showing interest in improving the lock screen experience.