Highlights

India-based Meesho came in third place on the list of most downloaded shopping apps.

The most popular cryptocurrency app was Binance.

The most downloaded business applications list was topped by Zoom.

WHY IN NEWS

According to a recent research, TikTok is the most downloaded app in the world, with 656 million downloads in 2021. Other social networking applications, such as Instagram and Facebook (now Meta), as well as instant messaging systems WhatsApp and Telegram, have followed suit. Meanwhile, when it comes to app distribution by category, Netflix is the most popular entertainment app, Shopee is the most popular shopping app, displacing Amazon from the top three, Google Maps is the most popular travel app, and Spotify is the most popular music and audio app worldwide. The list includes downloads from both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.

Apptopia's newest research has compiled a list of the most downloaded apps worldwide, as well as a category-by-category breakdown. The general category has been driven by social networking applications, with TikTok being the most downloaded app worldwide. Following suit are Instagram (545 million), Facebook (now Meta) (416 million), WhatsApp (395 million), and Telegram (329 million). Snap (with 327 million users), Zoom (with 300 million users), and Spotify (with 203 million users) round out the top ten.

In 2021, the top downloaded game was Subway Surfer (191 million), followed by Rolox (182 million), Bridge Race (169 million), Garena Free Fire (144 million), and Among Us (152 million). PUBG Mobile and Battlegrounds Mobile India were not among the top ten games in India. According to Apptopia, the most downloaded entertainment apps in 2021 were Netflix (173 million), YouTube (166 million), Google Play Games (131 million), Disney+ (126 million), and Amazon Prime Video (120 million).

When it comes to shopping applications, Shopee (203 million users) is the most popular, followed by Shein (190 million). Meesho, an Indian reseller and marketplace website, came in third with 153 million users. With 148 million downloads worldwide, Amazon, which was the most downloaded shopping app in 2020, has been relegated to fourth place. According to an Apptopia assessment, it is still the most used app in the United States. With 93 million downloads, Flipkart cracks the top five.

The list of the most popular social networking applications is quite similar to the overall ranking. Snapchat, rather than Telegram, takes the fifth place on the social network app list, with 327 million downloads. In the food & drink category, McDonald's had the most downloads (116 million). According to Apptopia, the most downloaded travel applications in 2021 were Google Maps (106 million), Uber (94 million), and Booking.com (63 million).

Binance (64 million downloads), Crypto.com (41 million downloads), and Coinbase (40 million downloads) were the most popular cryptocurrency apps in 2021. PayPal (106 million), Google Pay (82 million), and PhonePe (79 million) were the most popular remittance applications. Spotify (203 million), Resso (84 million), and YouTube Music (79 million) were the top three music streaming services. Tinder (67 million downloads), Badoo (35 million), and Bumble (22 million) topped the list of the most popular dating applications. Work from home was also prioritised in 2021 as a result of Covid-19, thus individuals used business applications to interact with one another. Zoom led the list with 300 million users, followed by Google Meet (192 million), WhatsApp Business (143 million), and Microsoft Teams (143 million) (141 million).