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Analytics & Retention

Monthly Active Users (MAU)

Also known asMAUMonthly Active UsersMonthly Actives

The count of unique users active in the app across a 30-day window. The denominator of stickiness and the top-of-funnel reach metric.

MWM data

State of April 2026

Median MAU

10K+

Unique users active in the month for the median measurable iOS app

Top-25% MAU

90K+

Above-median audience — focused product with consistent reach

Top-10% MAU

300K+

Mainstream tier — well-known apps with multi-million monthly audiences

Top-1% MAU

4.7M+

Mega-app tier — household names

Key takeaways

  1. 01MAU = unique users active over a 30-day window. Two flavors: calendar-month vs trailing-28-day (trailing is less noisy).
  2. 02MAU and DAU together define stickiness (DAU/MAU) — the headline engagement-quality metric.
  3. 03Catalog reality: the median US iOS app has 10K MAU; the top-10% threshold is 300K+; the top-1% threshold is 5M+.
  4. 04Watch MAU vs DAU trend together — divergence between the two is the earliest signal of engagement health changes.

MAU (Monthly Active Users) is the count of unique users active in the app across a 30-day window. It's the top-of-funnel reach metric — how many distinct humans saw your product in the last month. MAU pairs with DAU to define stickiness (DAU ÷ MAU), and pairs with revenue to define ARPMAU.

The MAU distribution is more compressed than DAU — many apps with thousands of DAU have tens-of-thousands of MAU because users come and go intermittently across the month. The median measurable iOS app sits around 10K MAU, with the "mainstream" tier (multi-million MAU) reserved for the top decile.

Calendar-month vs trailing-28-day MAU

  • Calendar-month MAU: unique users active between the 1st and last day of the named month. Varies with month length (28-31 days) and weekday alignment.
  • Trailing-28-day MAU: unique users active in the rolling last 28 days. Same window length every observation — analytically cleaner, less noisy.
  • Most mature analytics platforms expose both. Trailing-28 is generally preferred for engagement health tracking; calendar-month is preferred for board reporting where stakeholders think in named months.
MAU distribution — US iOS catalogMonthly active users across measurable iOS apps. The distribution is power-law: most apps sit between 1K and 100K MAU; reaching 1M+ puts an app in the top decile.02.5K5K7.5K10K<1K: 3,4901K-10K: 5,68010K-100K: 8,209100K-1M: 4,5981M-10M: 72910M+: 118Mainstream tier<1K1K-10K10K-100K100K-1M1M-10M10M+Monthly active users
MAU distribution — US iOS catalog — US iOS apps with ≥500 d30 downloads and ≥100 MAU (MWM monthly usage), State of April 2026.

The histogram shows the heavy right-skew — most apps live in the 1K-100K range; the 1M+ tail is small but visible. Reaching mainstream-app MAU (multi-million) requires either viral mechanics, network effects, or sustained paid acquisition over multiple years.

MAU by category — US iOS, MWM

CategoryMedian MAUTop-10% MAU
Lifestyle & Well-being30K+600K+
Game10K+200K+
Education & Knowledge10K+200K+
Productivity & Tools10K+300K+
Media & Entertainment10K+300K+
Social & Communication10K+300K+

MAU vs DAU divergence is the signal to watch. Healthy products track them in proportion (stickiness stays roughly constant as both grow). If MAU is growing while DAU stays flat, your new users aren't sticking past the first visit. If DAU is growing while MAU flatlines, your active base is engaging more deeply but the audience isn't expanding.

Quick answers

What is MAU in a mobile app?

**MAU (Monthly Active Users)** is the count of unique users active in the app across a 30-day window. Two common variants: calendar-month MAU (active between the 1st and last day of the named month) and trailing-28-day MAU (active in the rolling last 28 days — analytically cleaner). MAU pairs with DAU to define stickiness (DAU/MAU).

What is a good MAU for a mobile app?

Category-dependent. Across MWM's measurable US iOS catalog: median app ~10K MAU, top-25% threshold ~90K, top-10% threshold ~300K, top-1% threshold ~5M+. The "millions of MAU" tier is structurally rare. Compare your MAU to your own historical trend and category peers, not industry-leader headlines.

Should I use calendar-month or trailing-28-day MAU?

Trailing-28-day for engagement-health tracking — same window size every observation, less noise from month-length variation. Calendar-month for board reporting where stakeholders think in named months. Mature analytics platforms expose both; pick one as the operating metric and never switch without recalculating history.

What is the difference between MAU and DAU?

**DAU** = unique users in a single day. **MAU** = unique users in a 30-day window. A user active on multiple days in the month contributes 1 to MAU but multiple times to daily DAU readings. DAU/MAU = stickiness — the share of monthly users who return on any given day. Stickiness is the ratio metric that connects the two.

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