I never liked apps, I like programs. apparently others are like myself.

According to a new study on mobile app usage, nearly one in four mobile users only use an app once. TechCrunch reports: 

"Based on data from analytics firm Localytics, and its user base of 37,000 applications, user retention has seen a slight increase year-over-year from 34 percent in 2015 to 38 percent in 2016.

 However, just because this figure has recovered a bit, that doesn't mean the numbers are good. 

Instead, what this indicates is that 62 percent of users will use an app less than 11 times. 

These days, 23 percent launch an app only once -- an improvement over last year, but only slightly. 

For comparison's sake, only 20 percent of users were abandoning apps in 2014. 

On iOS, user retention saw some slight improvements.

 The percentage of those only opening apps once fell to 24 percent from 26 percent last year, and those who return to apps 11 times or more grew to 36 percent from 32 percent in 2015. 

In particular, apps in the middle stage of their growth (between 15,000 and 50,000 monthly active users), saw the strongest lift with retention and abandonment, the report also noted.

 This is attributed to these apps' use of push notifications, in-app messages, email, and remarking.

 While push notifications have always been cited as a way to retain users, in-app messages also have a notable impact -- these messages improve users retention to 46 percent, the study found. 

17 percent will only use app once if they see an in-app message, but those not using messages see 26 percent of users abandoning the app after one session.