In our fast-paced, tech-centric world, mobile apps have become integral to our daily lives. The world’s most popular apps have transformed the way we work, interact with others, and entertain ourselves.
However, this ever-evolving digital world requires apps to stay on top of the latest trends to survive growing and often-changing competition. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic forced people indoors, leading to a rise in demand for online dating, fitness, and work-related apps.
The Most Popular Apps in 2022
TikTok was the most popular app worldwide by downloads in 2022, maintaining its title for the fourth consecutive year. The video platform had 672 million downloads in 2022, with the company also doubling its annual revenue to $9.4 billion according to Business of Apps.
Interestingly, TikTok is the only app from a Chinese company to see this level of success in international markets. And that’s despite being banned from countries including India and, for a short period, Pakistan.
Otherwise, social media apps fill the remaining four of the top five most-downloaded spots. Meta is the most prominent there with Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, while Facebook Messenger tied with the shopping app Meeshu for 10th place.
Meanwhile, Telegram, the cloud-based instant messaging service created with the intent of challenging Facebook Messenger, placed 5th with 310 million downloads.
| Rank | App | Type | Downloads (2022) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TikTok | Entertainment | 672M |
| 2 | Social | 547M | |
| 3 | Social | 449M | |
| 4 | Social | 424M | |
| 5 | Telegram | Social | 310M |
| 6 | Subway Surfers | Games | 304M |
| 7 | Stumble Guys | Games | 254M |
| 8 | Spotify | Music | 238M |
| 9 | Shein | Shopping | 229M |
| 10 | Messenger | Social | 210M |
AI Apps Are Gaining Popularity, Fast
In 2020 and 2021, many essential business apps including Zoom and Microsoft Teams grew quickly and saw massive success.
While downloads for these apps fell in 2022, many other travel, food, and shopping-centered apps including Google Maps, McDonald’s, and Shein helped fill the void.
However, it was artificial intelligence apps including Lensa AI and ChatGPT were the ones that saw the greatest spike towards the end of last year. Could these same AI-infused apps help lead the pack in terms of downloads for the most popular apps of 2023?
Source: Visual Capitalist
