This review includes a list of the popular apps which are considered to be the most downloaded apps of all time. You can explore this list of the most downloaded apps to select one for your personal and business use:
With the arrival of smartphones, our use of apps has been going up every year. Some apps are more popular than others and there is no debate about it.
The arrival of the pandemic has also had a great impact on the download of the apps.
In this article, we are going to tell you about the most downloaded apps and their features. See if you have tried them all and if you haven’t, it’s time to download them.
Let us begin!
What You Will Learn:
Exclusive List of Popular Apps
Here’s the trend of the use of apps for the last 4 years:
FAQs on Most Downloaded Apps of All Time
Q #1) What are the 5 most popular apps?
Answer: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram are the 5 most downloaded apps of the current year.
Q #2) Is TikTok the most used app?
Answer: TikTok has been the most downloaded app, and it is indeed the most used app so far, closely followed by Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp.
Q #3) How many users are on TikTok?
Answer: TikTok has over 1 billion active users worldwide.
Q #4) What is the highest downloaded game?
Answer: Pokemon Go, Subway Surfer, OUBG, Clash of Clans, etc are some of the highest downloaded games.
Q #5) Name a most downloaded app.
Answer: TikTok is the most downloaded app of the current year.
List of the Top Most Downloaded Apps
Remarkably impressive popular apps list:
- TikTok
- Telegram
- Zoom
- Snapchat
- Facebook Messenger
- CapCut
- Spotify
- YouTube
- HBO Max
- Cash App
- Subway Surfers
- Roblox
Comparison Table of Favorite Apps
| Name | Best for | No. of Downloads in 2021 (Forbes) | Rating-Play Store (Google/Apple) |
|---|---|---|---|
| TikTok | Creating and sharing short creative video clips | 656 million | 4.5/4.9 |
| Sharing ideas and thoughts across social media through photos and videos | 545 million | 4.1/4.7 | |
| Connecting with friends, families, and people with similar interests | 416 million | 3.2/2.2 | |
| Communicating seamlessly using internet data | 395 million | 4.3/4.7 | |
| Telegram | Messaging and sending photos, videos, and other documents | 329 million | 4.5/4.3 |
Detailed review:
#1) TikTok
Best for creating and sharing short creative video clips.
TikTok is one of the most popular apps to date. It is at the top of the list of most popular apps. By now, it has been downloaded over 2 billion times overall globally. The rise was also due to the worldwide lockdown due to the pandemic. TikTok isn’t just a way of entertainment but also a source of income for many.
Features:
- Creating and uploading short video clips.
- A wide range of editing options.
- Plenty of effects and filters.
- Easy sharing on social media.
- Following celebrity accounts and those of others you like.
Verdict: There’s so much you can do with TikTok and you get to earn from it too. You can be a TikTok celebrity. No wonder it is at the top of the list of most downloaded apps of all time.
Price: Free
Website: TikTok
Suggested Reading => Explore the list of the TOP Video Downloader Apps
#2) Instagram
Best for sharing ideas and thoughts across social media through photos and videos.
Instagram is one of the most popular apps and largest social media platforms. It has approximately 1.4 billion monthly users. It was launched in 2010 and was acquired by Facebook two years later.
It is a great marketing tool and many big brands upload posts frequently here through Instagram Lives, IGTV, and stories to engage the audience. With the launch of Reels two years ago, it is now in direct competition with TikTok.
Features:
- Amazing photo filters
- Images and video posts
- Highlighting best stories
- Live broadcasting
- Instagram TV for videos
Verdict: Instagram is undoubtedly one of the most loved social media platforms for its outstanding features, like posting short video clips and photos with filters. And if you do well, you also get a chance to earn from your Instagram profile.
Price: Free
Website: Instagram
#3) Facebook
Best for connecting with friends, families, and people with similar interests.
With the monthly active users at 2.9 billion and 416 million downloads last year, Facebook is one of the most famous apps. It has allowed people to connect with long-lost friends and people they can’t meet regularly.
Facebook has allowed users to connect to people with the same interests. It has also helped businesses advertise, create a customer base, and grow. There’s a lot you can do with this app.
Features:
- Posting stories with texts and pictures.
- Searching for people.
- Suggesting connections they might know or are interested in knowing.
- Reacting and commenting on others’ posts.
- Groups and communities with varying interests.
Verdict: Facebook is an amazing app where you can find people you have not been able to see in ages or connect with people and businesses that interest you. It is one of the best as well as most downloaded apps globally.
Price: Free
Website: Facebook
#4) WhatsApp
Best for communicating seamlessly using internet data.
WhatsApp is a messenger service that allows you to chat, voice call, or video call on internet data. That means you can make international calls without being charged on the phone network. It was launched in 2009 and was sold to Facebook in 2014. As of now, it has surpassed the 1.5 billion benchmarks of users worldwide.
Features:
- Chatting to people or groups.
- Voice calling to a person or a group.
- Video calling a person or a group.
- Sending documents, live location, videos, contacts, etc.
- Sending and receiving money.
Verdict: WhatsApp is an awesome messenger service you can use to stay connected with people. It is one of the most downloaded apps that has also introduced a payment option to seamlessly send and receive payments.
Price: Free
Website: WhatsApp
Suggested Reading =>> Top WhatsApp Hacking Apps
#5) Telegram
Best for messaging and sending photos, videos, and other documents.
Telegram is yet another popular app for messaging. It has a monthly active user base of more than 500 million. You can chat with someone and send attachments like photos, videos, documents, etc.
It also supports mentions and hashtags along with having cross-platform availability. This makes it useful and convenient for large businesses and organizations. You can create huge groups and both public and private channels.
Features:
- Editing photos before sending
- Self-destructing messages
- Locking conversations
- Creating public and private channels
- Editing sent messages
Verdict: Telegram offers a wide range of features that are unique to it. There’s so much you can do with it apart from chatting, like locking the conversation and self-destructing the messages after a set time. It is an amazing messenger to use.
Price: Free
Website: Telegram
#6) Zoom
Best for video conferencing, chatting, and phone meetings.
Pandemic forced almost all businesses to work from home. Although video conferencing was still used by many businesses, it became ubiquitous. In April 2020, there were more than 300 million participants every day and it was downloaded more than 38 million times in January 2021.
During the pandemic, it has been an extremely useful app for people to stay in touch with family and friends.
Features:
- Call transferring and forwarding
- Call recording and blocking
- Group call and meeting
- Salesforce integration and call delegation.
- Call monitoring, holding, whispering, barging, etc.
Verdict: Zoom is an immensely useful app for conducting meetings, classes, and just fun video calls with family. You can add a huge group to the meeting.
Price:
Zoom Meetings:
- Basic: Free, Pro: $149.90 /year/license
- Small Business: $199.90 /year/license
- Large Enterprise-Ready: $240 /year/license
Zoom Phone:
- US & Canada Metered (Pay As You Go): $120 /year/user
- US & Canada Unlimited (Unlimited Regional Calling): $180 /year/user
- Pro Global Select (Choose from 40+ Countries and Territory): $240 /year/user
Zoom Events and Webinars:
- Webinar:
- (upto 500 Attendees): $690/year/license
- (up to 1000 Attendees): $3,400/year/license
- (up to 3000 Attendees): $9,900/year/license
- (up to 5,000 Attendees): $24,900/year/license
- (up to 10,000 Attendees): $64,900/year/license
- Contact sales for more than 10,000 attendees.
- Zoom Events:
- (up to 500 Attendees): $890/year/license
- (up to 1000 Attendees): $4,400/year/license
- (up to 3000 Attendees): $12,900/year/license
- (up to 5,000 Attendees): $32,400/year/license
- (up to 10,000 Attendees): $84,400/year/license
- Contact sales for more than 10,000 attendees.
- Zoom Rooms:
- $499/year/room( for up to 49 rooms)
- Contact sales for more than 49 rooms. Free 30-day trial.
- Zoom United:
- Pro: $250 /year/user
- Business: $300 /year/user
- Enterprise: $360 /year/user
Website: Zoom
#7) Snapchat
Best for making and sharing ads specific to the target demographic easily and quickly.
Snapchat is a particularly popular app for young people aged 34 and under. It has been downloaded more than 200 million times. Snapchat can be used for both fun and business. Its Instant Create feature allows you to make ads based on location and share them with their target demographic easily and quickly.
Features:
- Taking pictures, recording videos.
- Filters, lenses, and other effects.
- Offer privacy and security.
- Disappearing messages.
- Screenshot notification.
Verdict: Snapchat is as secure as it is fun to use. It offers a lot of filters. You can make messages disappear after a certain time, and it tells you when someone takes a screenshot of the messages you have sent.
Price: Free
Website: Snapchat
Further Read => Download Snapchat For Windows
#8) Facebook Messenger
Best for making voice or video calls to friends, family, and people you know.
You can use Facebook messenger with Facebook, on its website, or as an app on your phone. You can also use a browser add-on to quickly access Messenger. These add-ons are free third-party extensions that put messenger on the side of the screen while allowing you to use other websites.
Features:
- Sending texts, pictures, and videos.
- Making video and voice calls.
- Sending or requesting money.
- Playing games
- Location sharing
Verdict: You don’t need to have a Facebook account to use Messenger. That makes it an ideal messenger service for those who want to stay connected with friends and family without being on social media.
Price: Free
Website: Facebook Messenger
#9) CapCut
Best for editing videos for TikTok and Instagram Reels.
CapCut is a video editing app for Android and iOS. It is used for editing videos for TikTok. The app comes with a wide range of editing tools like stickers, filters, background music, speed change, etc. You can also reverse, split and do a lot of other things with the videos.
Features:
- Video splitting
- Increasing and decreasing the speed of a video
- Reversing the video
- Music library
- A wide range of editing tools
Verdict: CapCut is a wonderful tool for editing videos for Instagram reels and TikTok. You can make your videos unique and creative with this app. You can control the speed of your video and do a lot more customization with CapCut.
Price: Free
Website: CapCut
#10) Spotify
Best for listening to your favorite music from various artists all over the world.
Spotify is one of the most downloaded apps with more than 320 million monthly users and over 144 million premium subscribers. Here, you can create your own playlist of your favorite songs or listen to any song from any artist worldwide. You can also listen to podcasts here.
You can use it for free but with ads or subscribe to its premium account for an ad-free experience with additional features.
Features:
- Listen and share songs instantly
- Private listening
- Tailored playlists
- Updates on live gigs
- Podcasts
Verdict: Spotify is an excellent app for listening to music and it is one of the most downloaded apps too. If you are a music buff, you can enjoy global music here, various artists, and more.
Price: For individual account: $9.99/mo, Duo plans (for two accounts): $12.99/mo, Family plan (up to 6 accounts): $15.99/mo, Student plan: $4.99/mo
Website: Spotify
#11) YouTube
Best for watching and uploading a wide range of videos.
YouTube is the best place for watching videos. You can watch songs, dance, recipes, DIY, tutorials, and many more videos. You can also watch complete movies here. If you want to upload videos, you can do that as well. If your videos get a substantial number of subscribers, you can also earn well from your channel.
Features:
- Search and watch videos.
- Creating a personal YouTube channel.
- Uploading videos.
- Download, like, comment, and share the videos.
- Subscribing to channels you like.
Verdict: YouTube is an app that you can use to keep yourself entertained on the go. You can watch millions of different types of videos and upload them as well.
Price: Free, $11.99/mo, 1-month free trial.
Website: YouTube
Also Read =>> List of alternatives to YouTube to host your videos online
#12) HBO Max
Best for watching movies and premium TV shows from Warner Brothers.
If you are a fan of watching amazing TV shows and movies, HBO Max is the app you will love. It has over 10,000 hours of content with the most popular shows and exclusive content. You can access it through a browser or download the app. You can also watch movies and shows offline by downloading them.
Features:
- Exclusive content
- App and browser support
- An impressive collection of content
- Option to download
- Exclusive content
Verdict: With HBO Max, you will never get bored. You can use your internet connection to view unlimited content of series, movies, documentaries, etc. Or you can download them to watch while traveling.
Price: With Ads: $9.99/mo, Ad-Free: $14.99/mo
Website: HBO Max
#13) Cash App
Best for paying for goods, services, bills, and transferring and receiving money.
Cash App is a peer-to-peer payment service from Square. You can use it to pay for goods and services. It is also a good option for paying utility bills and transferring and receiving money. You can also do ACH bank-to-bank transfers, purchase cryptocurrency, and trade in stocks with this app.
Features:
- Payment for goods and services
- Easy utility bills payment
- Transferring and receiving money
- Bank-to-bank transfer
- Trading in stocks and cryptocurrency
Verdict: If you want hassle-free payments, money transfers, and trading options, the Cash app is a great option for you. It is quick and easy.
Price: Free to download, 1.5% fee for instant transfer, 3% fee for the transfer from app to a bank account
Website: Cash App
#14) Subway Surfers
Best for playing video games individually.
Subway Surfers is a website and single-player amazing mobile gaming app developed by Kiloo. The game is to outrun a train inspector. While doing that, you will have to dodge incoming trains and cross barriers and other objects. You can collect coins on the way to get various advantages. It is somewhat similar to Temple Run but more user-friendly.
Features:
- User-friendly
- Liveaboards to see your and your friend’s records.
- Various missions
- Daily challenges
- Customization options
Verdict: Subway Surfer is one of the most downloaded apps. If you like to play often, on the go, and alone. There are various missions with different tasks and there are different features you can take advantage of.
Price: Free, Offers in-app purchases: $0.99 – $99.99/item
Website: Subway Surfer
#15) Roblox
Best for developing and playing millions of 3D online games.
Roblox is a very unique and popular app that offers users the opportunity to develop and play millions of 3D games online. It has a monthly user database of 64 million and over 178 million accounts. You can also chat with other gamers. You can play different games, earn badges, and create online universes.
Features:
- Privacy and security
- Avatar customization and friend finding.
- Millions of 3D games to play
- Chatting with gamers
- The gameboard to keep track of your games.
Verdict: Roblox is one of the most downloaded apps that will keep you engaged throughout the day with the games and features they offer. You will have a lot of fun with this app like customizing your avatar, playing games, and finding your friends.
Price: Free, offers in-app purchase: $0.49 – $199.99 per item.
Website: Roblox
Conclusion
Thus, these are some of the most downloaded apps which are in the most popular apps list as well. There are many other apps that people love to have due to their interesting features or because of their utility. If there is an app on this list that you haven’t tried, then you can download it and see if it interests you.
Research Process:
- Time Taken to Research and Write This Article: 16 hours
- Total Apps Researched Online: 30
- Total Apps Shortlisted for Review: 15