WhatsApp is the most downloaded app in the fourth quarter of 2019 even as the mobile apps owned by Facebook Inc. dominated the list of top apps by worldwide downloads. According to SensorTower, Google leapfrogged Facebook as the top publisher of mobile apps in the last quarter. Between October 1 and December 31, 2019, Call of Duty was the most desired game, with over 180 million downloads.
TikTok was the only non-Facebook app that made it to the top five most downloaded apps and it grabbed the second spot. Facebook, Messenger and Instagram (in that order) completed the top five. TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook were the top apps downloaded from the App Store. On Play Store, the top five spots were grabbed by WhatsApp, TikTok, Facebook, Messenger and Instagram.
Overall, Call of Duty: Mobile was the most downloaded game in the fourth quarter, followed by Sand Balls, Brain Out, PUBG Mobile and Garena Free Fire. In the App Store, Call of Duty: Mobile topped the list with Mario Kart Tour, Brain Out, Ink Inc and Rescue Cat following the suit. Similarly on Google Play Store, Call of Duty: Mobile was the most downloaded game. Sand Balls, Garena Free Fire, PUBG Mobile and Fun Race 3D took the next four spots respectively.
For the first time in five years, Google leapfrogged Facebook as the top publisher of mobile apps, thanks to the wave of downloads coming from emerging markets like India and Brazil. In the last quarter of 2019, people downloaded apps 850 million times from Google Play Store as compared to Facebook‘s nearly 800 million. If the downloads of the whole are taken into account,Facebook amassed 3 billion downloads as compared to Google’s 2.3 billion downloads.
Overall, the top publishers in the quarter are Google, Facebook and ByteDance -- the owner of TikTok. On the App Store, Google again took the top spot followed by Tencent and Facebook. When it comes to Google Play, Facebook clinched the top spot with Google and Say Games following the Menlo Park-based company.
The report also listed the top countries that downloaded the most number of apps in the Q4, 2019. Overall, it was India that topped the charts followed by the US, Brazil, Russia and Indonesia. India fell behind when it came to most number of downloads from the App Store. China grabbed the top spot, and the US, Japan, Great Britain and Russia took the next four slots. India, however, was at the top when SensorTower took Google Play in account. Brazil, the US, Indonesia, and Russia followed the suit.
If we talk about the whole year, it proved to be fruitful for app developers and companies. During 2019, downloads grew 9.1 per cent to 114.9 billion, with 30.6 billion of them on the App Store and 84.3 billion from Google Play.
