In 2024, TikTok was still the most downloaded mobile app worldwide. The short-video sharing app generated 825.5 million downloads during the same year. The social video app Instagram followed with 817 million downloads. Fast-fashion app Temu ranked in fifth, with over 516 million downloads for global users in the last examined year, while ByteDance-published video editing app CapCut had around 410 million downloads. TikTok Owned by the Beijing-based tech company ByteDance and launched in 2017, TikTok quickly gained popularity after the acquisition of Musical.ly in 2018. In 2025, the number of TikTok users worldwide was expected to exceed 955 million, with the United States being one of the leading markets. In 2024, TikTok engaged the largest audience from Indonesia, with over 157 million consumers from the region using the app. United States, and Brazil followed with 120.5 and 105.2 users, respectively. Meta Platforms In October 2021, Facebook was renamed and rebranded as Meta, with the CEO Mark Zuckerberg aiming to be associated with the metaverse. Meta’s products include Facebook, Messager, Instagram, and WhatsApp, also known as Meta’s Family of Apps (FoA), generating most of Meta’s revenue. Moreover, these are among the most popular social networks worldwide. As part of its rebranding, Meta’s Reality Labs business segment develops a series of virtual reality (VR) headsets, the Meta Quest - one of the leading VR devices on the market.

In March 2024, Meta-powered apps Facebook and Instagram were the most downloaded mobile apps worldwide, with 59 million and 58 million downloads, respectively. Social video app TikTok followed with 46 million downloads. Meta-owned microblogging platform Threads generated 24 million downloads during the last month of the year.

In March 2023, the online marketplace app Temu was the most downloaded Chinese app in the United States, with 10 million downloads across iOS App Store and Google Play Store. The social video platform TikTok came in second with 7.4 million downloads, followed closely by CapCut with 6.7 million. SHEIN, a popular fashion and e-commerce app, has also seen significant success in the US, with 6.3 million downloads only in the last examined period.

In 2022, TikTok was the most popular mobile app in the United States, with 99 million downloads. Instagram ranked second generating 72 million downloads across iOS and Google Play combined, while Cash App ranked third with 64 million downloads. Meta-owned platform WhatsApp ranked fourth, with 63 million downloads during the year, while Facebook Messenger and Facebook ranked last, with 45.5 million downloads and 46.3 downloads, respectively.

In June 2023, Instagram was the most-downloaded app in the Google Play Store worldwide, generating almost 70 million downloads from Android users. Facebook was the second-most popular app with approximately 38.5 million downloads from global users.

The Google Play Store ecosystem Launched in March 2016, the Google Play Store is the major app distributor for global Android users, as well as one of the most important mobile app stores in the industry. As of the first quarter of 2022, over 3.29 million mobile apps were available on the Google Play Store, after hitting the record number of 4.67 million apps available to users during the previous quarter. Android users browsing the Google Play Store can find any type of mobile app, from dating to mobile productivity, with gaming apps being the most popular app category on the platform. Maintenance of apps hosted in the Google Play Store helps improve the overall quality of content proposed to users. On average, the first apps appearing to users on the platform’s results page were updated in the previous 60 days.

Built for success: app optimization in the Google Play Store

Being featured in the first positions on mobile app stores results page is key to the success of an application, as it improves impressions and increases the chances of downloads. User satisfaction and good experiences are, as always, the top variables to determine apps’ popularity. As of February 2022, the average rating of mobile apps figuring in the first 10 positions on the Google Play Store was almost four stars, with reviews ranging from 3.90 to 3.98 stars. When it came to SEO optimization, it was found that mobile apps spotting category-specific target keywords in the titles ranked higher than those who did not. Additionally, app icons in the Google Play Store presented industry-specific colors for different categories, like black for gaming apps and red for food and drink apps. Highly recognizable app category colors might not only help users in their app search endeavors, but also increase brand awareness.

In 2021, gaming apps generated more than 55.5 billion downloads from users worldwide. Tool apps were the second-most popular app category with 12.13 billion global downloads. Social media apps ranked third, amassing almost 10 billion downloads across iOS and the Google Play Store in the examined year. In 2021, users worldwide downloaded approximately 230 billion apps to their mobile devices.

In June 2023, social video app TikTok was the most-downloaded app in the Google Play Store in the United States. The app generated over 3.13 million downloads from Android users. Shopping app Temu was the second-most popular title for U.S. Android users with approximately 2.2 million downloads from U.S. users.

In July 2024, Shazam: Find Music & Concerts was the most popular app published by Apple, generating approximately 4.6 million downloads from iOS and Google Play Store users during the month. Second-ranked Move to iOS was downloaded three million times from global users. Developer-specific app TestFlight, which allows app publishers to test beta versions of their product to publish on the Apple App Store was the third most popular app published by Apple, with 1.66 million downloads

In March 2024, Facebook was the most downloaded mobile apps worldwide for Android users from the Google Play Store. Instagram ranked second, with 50 million downloads, while Meta-powered communication app WhatsApp ranked third with 33 million downloads. Microblogging platform Threads recorded around 15 million downloads from Android users in the last examined month, while music and podcast app Spotify generated around 14 million downloads.

Tool apps - such as VPN, browsers, video players, and more - were the most downloaded category worldwide. During the first half of 2024, tool apps generated approximately 14 billion downloads from global mobile consumers across the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. Communication apps were the second most popular app category in the examined period, generating approximately 8.4 billion downloads, while productivity apps ranked third and generated 7.3 billion downloads.

In March 2024, the podium of the most downloaded apps for iOS users went to two ByteDance apps. TikTok was the most downloaded mobile app worldwide for iOS users, with 16 million downloads. ByteDance-owned video editing app CapCut ranked second, with 10 million downloads. Google Maps and Instagram ranked third, with approximately nine million downloads in the last examined period.

Google was the most popular app in India, with 449 million downloads overall as of 2023. It was followed by Instagram. Reliance Jio was the leading Indian-made app with over 200 million downloads until 2023. Social media leads app usage in India Social media is the most used smartphone app category among Indians, with Facebook holding the largest market share among social media apps in the country. Facebook maintains a significant presence with over 378 million users, while Instagram, known for its visual-centric content, has a strong following among younger demographics with over 362 million users nationwide as of 2024. Furthermore, Facebook's dominance in India's social media landscape extends beyond user count, with the Indian arm of the company making a revenue of about 27 billion rupees in fiscal year 2023. Media and entertainment apps In India, media and entertainment apps have become integral to the digital lifestyles of consumers, offering a diverse range of content and services tailored to their preferences. YouTube was the top streaming choice among Gen Z users, while apps like Spotify were favored for listening to podcasts. Additionally, news portals such as Dailyhunt, developed by Indian app publisher Eterno Infotech, led digital news consumption in India, with over 100 million downloads.

In June 2023, search engine Google was the most-downloaded app for iPhone in the Apple App Store worldwide. The app generated around 6.36 million downloads from iPhone users. CapCut was the second-most popular app with approximately 6.16 million downloads from global users in the examined month.

Telegram, a multi-platform messaging service, was the most popular non-gaming app in Russia by downloads on iPhone and iPad App Store and Google Play in 2024, at around 38 million. Wildberries, an online marketplace, ranked third with approximately 27.8 million downloads. Several VPN apps made it to the ranking.

Between 2023 and 2024, games dominated the app market, with the category generating over 40 percent of all app downloads worldwide. Photo and video apps were the second most downloaded category, making up 10 percent of all downloads. Conversely, apps related to business and music had four percent of all downloads, respectively. The most downloaded gaming apps in March 2024 were "Ojol The Game" on Android and "Call of Duty: WarZone Mobile" on iPhone.

In September 2024, Threads was the most downloaded free app in the social media category in Hong Kong with a monthly installations of around 110 thousand. Meta (the rebrand name of Facebook) claimed sixth out of top ten free social media apps in Hong Kong in that month.

In 2023, Temu reigned as the world's most popular marketplace app, boasting nearly 338 million downloads. Amazon Shopping ranked second with over 188 million downloads, followed by Shopee, downloaded approximately 160.7 million times over that period.

Chinese online retailer Temu was the most downloaded shopping app worldwide in 2024. The application counted almost 550 million downloads from the Apple App and Google Play store. Temu's main rival, Shein, was the second-most downloaded shopping app that year, with roughly 235 million downloads. From China to the world Since its launch in September of 2022, Temu has achieved remarkable success, with its monthly gross merchandise volume (GMV) surging by over 600 million U.S. dollars in less than a year. Similarly, its competitor, Shein, continues to experience exponential annual revenue growth. With Temu ascending to global stardom and Shein consolidating its dominance, Chinese e-commerce giants are actively looking to conquer the world of online sales. Mobile taking the upper hand In 2024, mobile commerce accounted for more than half of all global online retail sales. Despite its significant traction, the zenith of mobile commerce remains on the horizon, with forecasts indicating a sustained growth in contribution to total e-commerce sales in the coming years. Across various nations, over 30 percent of internet users already participate in weekly mobile commerce transactions, surpassing the global average.

As of February 2024, Meta's platforms apps were the most downloaded Google Play apps in Singapore. Both Instagram and Whatsapp Messenger had total downloads of about five billion.

This ranking provided by Airnow shows the most downloaded apps on Google Play in France between March 24 and April 3, 2020 (thousands of downloads). WhatsApp came in first with 379 thousand downloads during the confinement period after the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak in France, followed by ZOOM Cloud Meetings with 338.6 thousand downoads. Tik Tok ranked in third place with 157.9 thousands and Houseparty occupied the fourth place with 155.5 thousand downloads that week. From the same source, a ranking of the most downloaded apps on the Apple app store is available.