WhatsApp is the most downloaded app on App Store, Google Play Store

WhatsApp registered a total of over 250 million downloads in the final quarter of 2019 on Play Store and App Store.

WhatsApp was the most downloaded app in 2019. (HT Web)

The world today is ruled by apps. From sending money instantaneously to your friends and family to taking care of your mental and physical well being, today there is an app for almost everything. This boom in the app market, both in terms of the number of downloads and variety of apps available, is fueled by the faster Internet connectivity and increased smartphone adoption rate across the globe.

Therefore, it comes as a no surprise that the globally, app downloads touched the 28.7 billion mark in 2019. This includes 7.8 billion downloads registered on Apple's App Store and 20.9 billion downloads registered on Google's Play Store. And guess which app stole the limelight in 2019? WhatsApp!

According to a research by Tensor Tower, WhatsApp registered a total of over 250 million downloads in the final quarter of 2019 on Play Store and App Store. The messaging app experienced a 39% quarter-on-quarter growth in the fourth quarter of 2019 after decreased downloads in the previous four quarters. While the app registered over 25 million downloads on the App Store, close to 250 million Android smartphone users downloaded the app on their devices.

Globally, app downloads touched the 28.7 billion mark in 2019. (Tensor Tower)

Globally, app downloads touched the 28.7 billion mark in 2019. (Tensor Tower)

Interestingly, Facebook's family of apps remained the most downloaded apps in the world with Instagram registering over 100 million downloads, Messenger registering over 150 million downloads and Facebook registering over 150 million downloads on Play Store and App Store combine.

The only other app that was able to break into the category of the top five most downloaded apps in the world was ByteDance's TikTok, which registered over 200 million downloads on App Store and Play Store. It became the second most downloaded app in the world after WhatsApp in the final quarter of 2019.

The report said that TikTok charted a 27% quarter-on-quarter growth in the final quarter of 2019 and it was the only other app other than WhatsApp that had more downloads in India.

As far as categories are concerned, games were the most popular app category in Q4 of 2019 charting 2.33 billion installs on the App Store and 8.59 billion downloads on the Play Store. PUBG Mobile became the most downloaded game in the world registering approximately 285 million installs last year on App Store and Play Store combined. That was followed by Garena Free Fire, which saw a 48% year-on-year growth compared to 2018.

With 5.86 million downloads on App Store and 1.37 billion downloads on Play Store, photo and video tools was the second most popular category in 2019.