Most Downloaded Apps
With the number of social media users worldwide rising year after year, and estimated to be 5.17 billion in 2024, it should come as no surprise that social media apps currently rank among the most downloaded apps.
As it stands, more than half of the 10 most downloaded apps in the United States are social media apps. What does this ranking look like on a global level? In other words, what is the most downloaded app worldwide? Here’s a look at the latest app download rankings.
Mobile app download rankings: top 10
|
Mobile app |
Developed by |
|---|---|
|
1. TikTok |
ByteDance |
|
2. Instagram |
Meta |
|
3. Facebook |
Meta |
|
4. WhatsApp |
Meta |
|
5. CapCut |
ByteDance |
|
6. Telegram |
Telegram |
|
7. Threads |
Meta |
|
8. Snapchat |
Snap |
|
9. Temu |
PDD Holdings |
|
10. WhatsApp Business |
Meta |
10 most downloaded apps worldwide: Dec 2023–Feb 2024
A recent analysis of app download rankings from December 2023 to February 2024 shows that much like the US’s list, social media apps also heavily dominate the global charts.
Topping the list of app download rankings is ByteDance’s TikTok. The popular social media network also has the honor of being the app on which users spend the most money. It is also the fourth-most used app in terms of time spent, after YouTube, Facebook, and WhatsApp.
The next three on the list are all Meta-owned entities, which highlights the company’s dominance in social media. Instagram is in second place and is followed by Facebook. WhatsApp, the most popular messaging app both in the United States and worldwide, ranks next as the fourth most downloaded app in the world.
Following this tranche of Meta-owned networks and completing the top five on the app download rankings is CapCut, a video editing app owned by TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance. The app has been downloaded more than half a billion times on Google Play alone.
Telegram ranks next, in sixth place. It is followed by Threads, a text-based conversation app launched by Meta that experts say is meant to rival X (formerly known as Twitter). Launched in the summer of 2023, the app received a record-breaking 150 million downloads in less than a week, making it the app to reach this milestone in the shortest amount of time.
Snapchat follows in eighth and is ahead of shopping app Temu. Meta’s WhatsApp app for businesses rounds out the 10 most downloaded apps worldwide.
Of these 10 apps, half belong to the Meta empire. As many as eight are categorized as social media or messaging apps—the only two not in this category are CapCut and Temu.