Top 10 most popular Android apps in play store:
What are the most popular Android apps? Here are the most downloaded apps in the Google Play Store!
top 10 most-popular-android-apps
Many of the Android apps we recommend aren’t popular in the wider community. Of course, they’re all excellent—we wouldn’t suggest lousy apps—but often you can file them into the “niche” category.
A Note on Stock Android Apps
We’re not going to include apps that come pre-loaded on stock Android devices. This means we’re excluding Google Play Services (10 billion “downloads”), Gmail (9 billion), Google Maps (6.9 billion), YouTube (10 billion), and a few others.
We’ve used Android Rank’s data to determine these numbers. The numbers in parentheses denote the placement change from March 2020, when we last updated this list.
1. Facebook (+1)
7.073 billion downloads
It’s not surprising to see Facebook as the world’s highest downloaded app. Despite seemingly endless scandals, questionable privacy practices, and the #DeleteFacebook movement, it still reigns supreme.
Not everyone is happy though, as this app has 76 million one-star ratings. Perhaps it’s justified; the app is bloated with pointless features that few people bother to use.
2. WhatsApp (-1)
6.983 billion downloads
In July 2018, WhatsApp was third with 2.9 billion downloads. A year ago, it had jumped into number one, but now it has slipped back down to second.
WhatsApp—which is the world’s most popular instant messaging tool—has been under Facebook’s ownership since a $19 billion buyout in early 2014. If you don’t fancy using a Facebook-owned app messaging app, try out one of the many WhatsApp alternatives.
3. Facebook Messenger (=)
5.327 billion downloads
The presence of Messenger in the third position reinforces the control that Facebook’s empire has over the smartphone app marketplace.
Messenger has grown in popularity over the last few years, with the increased availability of bots making the service more useful than ever. It’s down one place from July 2018 when we first published this list.
4. Instagram (=)
3.504 billion downloads
Instagram is yet another Facebook-owned app, which the company acquired in 2012.
It has significantly fewer negative reviews than its big brother, with just 28 million (out of 121 million) giving the app a single star.
5. TikTok (New)
2.631 billion downloads
TikTok’s ongoing growth shows no signs of abating. The app, which lets users create and share short video clips, became immensely popular during the first half of 2020 as the COVID crisis forced people to stay at home.
It broke one billion downloads in July 2019 and has more than doubled in the following two years.
6. Subway Surfers (-1)
1.438 billion downloads
At number six, we find our first game—and it’s not Candy Crush Saga! Subway Surfers is an endless runner game that sees you flee down a railroad in order to escape from a police officer and his dog.
7. Facebook Lite (-1)
1.933 billion downloads
And we’re already back to Facebook. The Lite version of the app is aimed at users with low-end devices (packing 1GB or 2GB of RAM) and those who only have access to 2G data networks. There are a few subtle usability changes, but all the main features are present and work as expected.
8. Microsoft Word (+2)
1.895 billion downloads
Given the popularity of Word on the desktop, it should come as no surprise that the Android app has also found similar levels of success.
Keep an eye on the Microsoft Office apps—they will almost certainly shoot even higher when we next update the list.
9. Microsoft PowerPoint (=)
1.655 billion downloads
Microsoft PowerPoint is the second consecutive Microsoft Office app on the list. You’ve likely used it at some point to create a presentation or slideshow.
10. Snapchat (+1)]
1.350 billion downloads
Snapchat concludes the list of the top 10 apps.
Instagram might be stealing all of Snapchat’s best features, but the latter still manages to rack up more than 280 million daily users, up from 240 million 12 months ago.
