What is Daily Active Users (DAU)?

DAU is the number of unique users who open and actively engage with your app on a given day.

It’s one of the most fundamental metrics for measuring usage frequency and product health — especially for apps that aim for daily habits like messaging, fitness, finance, or gaming.

For example, if 7,500 unique users opened your app yesterday, your DAU for that day is 7,500.

How does it work?

DAU is typically tracked using:

• Device or user ID (to count each user only once per day)
  
  

• Backend or SDK event tracking (e.g., “app_open”, “session_start”)

Depending on your definition, “active” can mean:

• Simply opening the app
  
  

• Completing a meaningful action (e.g., watching a video, logging a task)
  
  

• Triggering any server event
  
  
  

DAU is often used in combination with:

• WAU (Weekly Active Users)
  
  

• MAU (Monthly Active Users)
  
  

• Stickiness Ratio: DAU ÷ MAU (measures how often users return)
  
  
  

Why it matters

DAU helps teams monitor engagement, retention, and growth trends over time.

A rising DAU usually means:

• More consistent usage
  
  

• Better onboarding or content
  
  

• Growth in recurring value
  
  

A dropping DAU can signal:

• Onboarding issues
  
  

• Churn
  
  

• Lack of habit formation
  
  

It’s a core KPI for product, growth, and marketing teams — and a leading indicator for LTV, monetization potential, and overall app relevance.