The apps and devices industry is a new addition to this year’s Brand Intimacy Study, and it debuts in fifteenth place. Uber leads the category, followed by Kindle and Google Maps, three very different offerings that illustrate the wide range of functions and emotional connections within this industry. With an average Brand Intimacy Quotient (BIQ) score of 22.4, apps and devices fall below the 25.1 cross-industry average. The result is surprising given the indispensable role these brands play in daily life. However, ubiquity is not the same as intimacy. While apps continue to shape how we navigate, work, commute, and connect, market saturation and endless device cycles might be eroding bonds that once felt unshakable.
Enhancing Life through Utility, Ecosystems, and Cultural Symbols
Enhancement is the dominant archetype driving intimacy in this space. Apps and devices consistently improve people’s daily lives, making them smarter, more capable, and more connected. The category leaders reflect this value in different ways: Uber (#1) has redefined urban mobility by offering a car at your fingertips, Kindle (#2) has transformed reading into a portable, limitless library, and Google Maps (#3) has become the essential compass of our digital age. Together, they highlight how apps and devices often succeed by embedding themselves seamlessly into existing behaviors rather than inventing new needs.
At the device level, Apple and Google have elevated their products beyond tools into cultural symbols. Apple has long been exceptional at this, turning its devices into icons of status, creativity, and identity—and then supplementing them with services that deliver emotionally powerful experiences. Google has thrived by expanding into both business and personal ecosystems, offering integrated services that span subscriptions, payments, cloud offerings, app stores, and more. Individual devices have long been out of focus, having given way to the promise of comprehensive platforms and their component applications, which can be better monetized—and are more difficult, if not impossible, for consumers to leave behind.
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, and Apple continue their rivalry in our brand family rankings, ranking #1 and #8, respectively. This difference partly reflects Alphabet’s portfolio brands, which are firmly embedded in consumers’ hearts. Both showcase how ecosystems, rather than single products, play a significant role in anchoring customer relationships. Consumers are no longer wedded to phones alone; they are bound to the services, content, and communities associated with them.
Incrementalism, Digital Overload, and Eroding Trust
Intimacy between brands and consumers can be fragile. The incremental nature of today’s update cycles, fatigue with the oversaturation of digital experiences, and declining trust of technology brands are all contributing to reduced intimacy in this category.
The idea that the industry needs to shift from incrementalism to innovation is gaining traction.1 Each new phone launch, software patch, or app update now seems less a breakthrough and more an attempt to retain consumer attention or accelerate obsolescence. Consumers today might be questioning whether enhancements are actual improvements or engineered inconveniences.
Digital fatigue compounds this erosion of interest. The average consumer now manages 10 apps daily,2 leading to a juggling act of notifications, settings, and subscriptions. What once symbolized empowerment now often feels overwhelming. Adolescents, in particular, report stress and distraction tied to constant pings and alerts, fueling a culture of burnout. Recent reports show that the average teenager receives more than 200 app notifications a day, with a quarter of these messages arriving during school hours.3 This “always-on” reality counteracts the emotional bonds that once made these brands indispensable.
Signs of a backlash are emerging. Digital detoxes and app-free weekends are growing in popularity, especially among Gen Z4, the very cohort that is most dependent on these technologies. Their ambivalence underscores the conflicted relationship in which consumers cannot function without apps and devices, but they no longer feel fully in control of them. While dependency can force consumer behaviors and choices, it can often run counter to creating increased intimacy by limiting perceived choice and eroding trust.
Trust is the category’s most pressing issue. Concerns around data usage, surveillance, and AI ethics continue to shape expectations. From Meta’s algorithmic controversies to TikTok’s political scrutiny to Apple and Google’s ongoing privacy debates, every major player has faced reputational damage. Consumers no longer take transparency for granted; they want control over their data, clarity about its use, and reassurance that their digital lives are not merely fuel for corporate gain.
Ecosystems Create Lock-In, but AI Raises New Tensions
Loyalty now depends on how well brands can deliver connected value across services rather than within a single product. Although this creates intimacy, it’s a fragile kind, based on dependency rather than desire, and disappointment in one area risks jeopardizing the whole ecosystem.
Meanwhile, AI is being marketed as the next great leap. From voice assistants to generative AI and predictive personalization, brands promise smarter, more intuitive technology. Nonetheless, adoption reveals mixed emotions: consumers are intrigued by the novelty and purported convenience, but they fear overreach, intrusion, and bias. Once again, intimacy hangs in the balance. The brands that succeed will not simply innovate; they will manage the tension between usefulness and control for their customers, empowering them to customize and optimize their experiences while delivering automation and efficiency in the right doses, with appropriate controls.
Greater Intimacy Happens across Devices, Moments, and Experiences
App and device brands now have the opportunity to build stronger consumer relationships through meaningful connections across multiple touchpoints rather than through constant engagement. Brands should start thinking about how they can create emotional bonds at relevant, opportune moments across the consumer’s digital life. The platform ecosystems created by device brands and the any-device and any-location continuity created by today’s apps already make these brands pervasive in our lives. However, by being useful at the right moments and places rather than overwhelming users with features and notifications, brands can simplify, protect, and genuinely enhance people’s lives, thereby strengthening bonds.
The apps and devices category underscores that indispensable brands don’t succeed by simply remaining indispensable. They also need trust, timeliness, relevance, and empathy for user needs to win. As this category matures, the real success stories will be those that move beyond incremental engagement and ecosystem traps. In a world that is always on, the most powerful app and device brands may be the ones that know when to step back.
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Sources
1 Digiday. (2024, December 12). Digital media needs to shift from incrementalism to innovation for continued relevance in 2025. Digiday. https://digiday.com/sponsored/digital-media-needs-to-shift-from-incrementalism-to-innovation-for-continued-relevance-in-2025/
2 TekRevol. (2024, March 18). Mobile app download statistics: 2024 industry report. TekRevol Blog. https://www.tekrevol.com/blogs/mobile-app-download-statistics/#:~:text=Google%20Play%20Store%20currently%20hosts,billions%20of%20apps%20downloaded%20annually
3 Michigan Medicine. (2024, November 7). Study: Average teen received more than 200 app notifications a day. Michigan Health Lab. https://www.michiganmedicine.org/health-lab/study-average-teen-received-more-200-app-notifications-day
4 Santos, A. (2024, August 21). Gen Z is embracing a digital detox—and the Martha Stewart summer. Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/91350185/gen-z-is-embracing-a-digital-detox-and-the-martha-stewart-summer