Glossary | A | Active User

What are active users?

In mobile marketing, an active user is a person who accesses an app for a specific period of time. During this time, each user is counted uniquely to determine how many people use an app. Active user counts act as an indicator of an app’s general health and as a first step toward calculating deeper metrics.   

Active users are an important metric for assessing user engagement. For example, knowing the number of active users is essential to calculating an app’s retention rate, and customer lifetime value.   

Companies track active user metrics to evaluate the success and growth of their offerings and make informed decisions about product improvements, monetization strategies, and user acquisition efforts.   

There are three commonly used active user types:  

  • Daily active users (DAU): The number of people who engage with an app within a 24-hour window.  
  • Weekly active users (WAU): The number of people who engage with an app over a period of seven days. 
  • Monthly active users (MAU): The number of people who engage with an app over a period of 30 days.  

DAU is typically used by businesses that expect users to interact with their app daily, whereas an app that is based on seasonal or occasional usage, such as a travel app, might place more emphasis on WAUs or MAUs.  

emphasis on MAUs.