Telegram was the world’s most downloaded application in January on Android and iPhone (iOS) phones. The messenger recorded 63 million installations on the App Store and Play Store, a number three times greater than that recorded in January 2020. The second place in the ranking went to TikTok, while the third went to Signal, another messaging app considered “ultrasecure”. The growth of these apps may have been influenced by the new privacy policies announced by WhatsApp, which have been widely criticized by users.
The numbers were determined by the mobile consulting company SensorTower, which analyzed the downloads made at Apple and Google stores between January 1 and 31, 2021. The research does not take into account games or applications pre-installed on smartphones. Likewise, the download of secondary apps, such as Facebook Lite, for example, are counted in the main app installations.
The country that most downloaded Telegram in January was India, which accounted for 24% of total installations. Last month, the country came out against the new WhatsApp privacy policies and filed a petition in New Delhi court demanding the cancellation of Mark Zuckerberg’s messenger’s new security terms. In the country, Telegram showed a 40% growth in the number of downloads.
TikTok, second in the ranking, added 62 million installations worldwide. China and the United States were the countries that most downloaded the app, with 17% and 10% of the total, respectively. The list also has Facebook in fourth place, WhatsApp in fifth, and Instagram in sixth.
Officially, four of the 10 applications on the list are messengers (Telegram, Signal, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger). If we consider the private messaging feature, this number grows as apps like Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat also offer internal chats. With the exception of Zoom, all the apps in the ranking have a social networking function.
The list also has two short video apps little known. Developed in India, MX TakaTak and Moj have a similar operation to TikTok, with the recording of clips with effects and sounds. They were, respectively, in the eighth position overall and the eighth position among the most downloaded apps in the Play Store, surpassing Snapchat and Messenger. Check out, below, the most downloaded apps in the world in the month of January.
General List
- Telegram
- TikTok
- Signal
- Zoom
- MX TakaTak
- Snapchat
- Messenger
App Store
- TikTok
- YouTube
- Zoom
- Telegram
- Messenger
- Signal
Play Store
- Telegram
- Signal
- TikTok
- MX TakaTak
- Moj
- Snapchat
- Zoom
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