TikTok overtook Instagram to become the most downloaded app globally in Q1 2022: Sensor Tower

TikTok overtook Instagram to become the world’s most downloaded app in the first quarter of 2022, according to a report by app market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. The short video app, which is banned in India, has managed to continue to be one of the top five most downloaded apps in the world. However, Meta – the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – has retained its dominance in the global app market, with Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp as the three most downloaded apps globally after TikTok.

Sensor Tower reports that no app has had more downloads than TikTok since the start of 2018. Since the start of 2022, the app has been downloaded more than 175 million times, according to the report.

TikTok was the best app in the world in the first quarter of 2022
Photo credit: detection tower

TikTok surpassed 70 million downloads on the App Store globally for the third time in the first quarter. It was driven by 11% quarter-on-quarter growth in Asia. CapCut, a video editing app from ByteDance, the maker of TikTok, also had its best-ever last quarter with over 30 million downloads. It has ranked among the App Store’s top 10 apps for the past five quarters, Sensor Tower said in its 75-page report.

Along with global growth, TikTok has become the most downloaded app on the App Store and Google Play in the United States and on Google Play in Europe. India’s ban didn’t have much of an impact in Asia either, as TikTok continued to be the most downloaded app on the region’s app store. It also rose to the third position of the most downloaded apps on Google Play, after fourth in the previous quarter.

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However, on Google Play worldwide, Instagram and Facebook managed to continue battling TikTok and maintain their leadership on the top two positions.

Along with TikTok, YouTube has become one of the top two apps in the US App Store every quarter since the first quarter of 2021, according to the report.

Sensor Tower said that while TikTok has exceeded 10 million downloads in each of the past nine quarters, YouTube has exceeded that threshold for eight consecutive quarters.

Nevertheless, TikTok continued to gain momentum in the United States. Sensor Tower noted it was the top app on Google Play for the third consecutive quarter, with installs up 19% year-over-year in the first quarter.

The current trend of connecting people via virtual calls – despite the revival of physical meetings – has apparently helped Zoom grow in the market in which entertainment-focused apps including TikTok and Facebook parent Meta are writing news. growth stories.

Sensor Tower said Zoom posted positive quarter-over-quarter growth for the first time in a year as it reached the sixth position on Google Play in the United States with more than three million downloads. It was the top app on Google Play as recently as the first quarter of 2021, according to the report.

Apps such as Telegram and WhatsApp have a tough fight in Europe. While WhatsApp managed to take the second position in the list of most downloaded apps on the continent, Telegram also had its second best quarter in the region in the first quarter of 2022, behind the nearly 28 million installs that it had during the same quarter of 2021, according to Sensor Tower.

WhatsApp was also the top app, especially on the App Store in Europe for the seventh consecutive quarter in the first quarter. Sensor Tower said it was also WhatsApp’s best first quarter since 2018.

In Asia, Instagram remained the top app for the third consecutive quarter in the first quarter, followed by Facebook. Instagram was also the top app in India, where it accounted for more than 60% of Instagram’s installs in the country, Sensor Tower said.

Instagram was also the top app on Google Play in Asia, ahead of Facebook and Shopee. Sensor Tower noted that the photo-sharing app accounted for 29% of Meta’s Google Play installs in Asia in the first quarter, compared to 26% in the same quarter last year and 18% in the same quarter of 2020.

Shopping apps are also increasingly important in Asia, at least on Google Play. Sensor Tower said shopping app installs on Google Play in Asia grew 63% year-over-year in the first quarter. Top apps include Shopee, Meesho, and Flipkart’s Shopsy.

In gaming, Garena Free Fire, which was banned by the Indian government in February, was the top Q1 app globally, followed by Subway Surfers, Merge Master and Roblox. India’s Ludo King also emerged among the top ten most downloaded games in the world, the report revealed.

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On the App Store, Subway Surfers, Wordle and Coloring Match were the top three global games in the last quarter. Garena Free Fire, Subway Surfers and Merge Master were the top three global games on Google Play, however.

Wordle – named after the New York Times word game Wordle – was also the most popular game in the United States, with over nine million downloads. It was also the top game on the app store nationwide and had the top US app store downloads since Among Us in the fourth quarter of 2020. Wordus and Word Guess were the other two games with Wordle-style gameplay that stood out. ranked among the top 20 games in the country, the report mentions.

However, Sensor Tower said that Roblox has managed to continue placing in the top five games every quarter since Q4 2020. In Asia, the top three games list in Q1 was the same as the previous quarter, with Garena Fire. Fire topped the leaderboard, followed by Ludo King and Subway Surfers.

“Garena Free Fire and Ludo King have been in a tight race since the start of 2019, with Garena Free Fire’s 468 million installs surpassing Ludo King’s 461 million since then,” Sensor Tower said.

PUBG Mobile also returned to the top five in Asia in the last quarter. It took the top spot on the mainland’s App Store, growing 37% quarter-on-quarter. However, Garena Free Fire has become the top game on Google Play in Asia. Garena Free Fire Max also managed to get over 60% of its Google Play downloads in Asia in the last quarter, while the original title took the remaining 39%, according to the report.

In terms of demographics, India continued to be the world’s largest app download market in the first quarter. It was followed by the United States, Brazil and Indonesia, according to the report.

India continued to dominate major app markets globally in Q1 2022
Photo credit: detection tower

Sensor Tower also noted that Meta became the world’s top publisher for the first time since the first quarter of 2020. Google and ByteDance were, however, the other two top publishers in the global app market.

Overall, app downloads worldwide rose 1.4% in the first quarter to 36.9 billion, compared to 36.4 billion downloads in the first quarter of last year. Downloads from the App Store increased to 8.6 billion from 8.4 billion last year, while downloads from Google Play reached 28.3 billion from 28 billion, according to the Sensor Tower report.

The report is based on App Store and Google Play download estimates between January 1 and March 31. Download estimates are per user and do not count reinstalls and updates of the same app by the same user. Additionally, Android app download estimates represent downloads from Google Play only and do not include download estimates from third-party Android stores.