Sensor tower released its latest quarterly Data Digest last week, and it explores the top mobile apps, publishers, categories, and stories of Q1 2020, accompanied by an in-depth look at the impact of COVID-19 on the global app ecosystem.
According to the report, the combined app downloads of the Apple App Store and the Google Play store account for 33.6 billion downloads worldwide, up from 27.9 billion in Q1 2019, i.e., an overall increase of 20.3%.
Independently, the App Store and Play Store saw a growth of 25.4% and 18.4%Â respectively, as compared to the same period yesteryear.
As far as the applications are concerned, TikTok once again dominated, surpassing the previous record of nearly 308 million installs for Pokémon GO in Q3 2016. The app has been downloaded a total of 315 million times this quarter.
Sitting on the second place is WhatsApp, followed by Facebook. Rounding up the top 10, we have Instagram, Messenger, Likee, Zoom (also a recent addition due to many people working from home), SHAREit, Snapchat, and Netflix.
The following bar graph shows the combined App Store and Play Store downloads.
For the App Store, the top 10 are TikTok, YouTube, Zoom, Instagram, Facebook, DingTalk, WhatsApp, Netflix, Facebook Messenger, and Gmail. On the contrary, the top 10 on Play Store are accounted for by TikTok, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, Likee, SHAREit, Snapchat, UC Browser, and Zoom.
The report also details the worldwide download of gaming applications. Hyper casual games dominated both the App Store and Play Store during the First Quarter of 2020. Half of the top 20 games downloaded the most are casual titles.
Hunter Assassin leads the list topping 95 million downloads, followed by Brain Out at 88 million downloads, Johnny Trigger at 77 million downloads, Woodturning at 76 million, and PUBG Mobile at 74 million.
As the housebound masses try to find the best way to spend their free time, they are resorting to games mostly, as per the report.
Sensor Tower’s Q1 data digest shows that game downloads on the App Store reached nearly 3 billion, an all-time high. Game installs had hovered between 2 and 2.5 billion for the prior quarters stretching over three years.
Other top categories include Entertainment, Utilities, and Social Networking.
The statistics show that the impact of COVID-19 was greater on Apple’s App Store than on Google Play.
The COVID-19 enforced lockdown around the world has led to a significant increase in downloads in some countries. According to the report:
By two weeks following the country’s 200th confirmed case, downloads in the China, Italy, Spain, and the U.S. were more than 40% higher than their pre-coronavirus levels.
The ongoing pandemic has reshaped the app ecosystem, as categories such as Business, Education, and News saw huge growth, while Travel, Navigation, and Sports experienced massive declines.
The featured image shows the data is of 2017. Has Propakistnai fired the editor to cross-check everything before they publish?