The Top Four Most Downloaded Mobile Apps In 2014 Are Owned By Facebook

App Annie is a firm that studies trends related to mobile apps. Just recently, the analytics company released a report on the 2014 mobile app trends, specifically tackling data on what types of software people downloaded for their smartphones and tablets last year. 

App Annie found out that the four most downloaded mobile apps in 2014 are owned by Facebook. Indeed, the Facebook app, the Facebook Messenger app, WhatsApp, and the Instagram app are all owned by the immensely popular social network website. This quarter make up the four most downloaded mobile apps in the planet, that is, based on the number of downloads on both the Android and iOS platforms.

It should be noted, however, that App Annie does not put apps and games in the same grouping. So its list will not include hugely popular titles like Subway Surfers or Candy Crush Saga. This is interesting because if games were grouped together with mobile apps, some titles may fare better than Facebook's apps, in terms of the number of downloads.

Still, Facebook's feat of putting four mobile apps in the top five in the world is quite an achievement. It appears that its strategy of having its users utilize multiple apps when on Facebook is working. 

Although the Facebook Messenger app's strong download numbers (it sits at number 1) are no surprise. Facebook, after all, required all its users to download the app separately in order to be able to use the messaging service. 

Not all of Facebook's mobile apps are superhits, however. Groups, Paper, and Rooms are also owned by the social media giant, but they do not show up in any of App Annie's top lists. 

Four of Facebook's mobile apps may be lording the most downloaded charts, but the top app in the world in terms of sales last year is actually the Line app. It is a Japanese-based messaging mobile app that is widely used in Asian regions. It also has a sibling gaming app called Line Play, which ranked third worldwide in terms of iOS and Google Play sales (just behind the Pandora app, which also has the distinction of being the most downloaded music app in the US).

When it comes to gaming, the Clash of Clans app posted the highest sales. As for the Candy Crush Saga app, it did not generate the most revenue, but it did come out as the most downloaded.

Interestingly, neither Facebook or Google have mobile apps inside the top ten iOS apps list in terms of revenue and downloads. A significant reason for this is that neither of these companies widely offer its services in the Chinese market.

App Annie also found out that China is the country with the third biggest revenue for iOS in 2014, supplanting the United Kingdom. For Android, the country with the biggest revenue is Japan.

If you want to know what other findings App Annie came up with, you can view the entire report here.