Most Downloaded Apps In The US In First Half Of 2016 Are Social Media Apps

According to a new study by SurveyMonkey Intelligence, the most downloaded and most used mobile apps in Android and iOS app stores in the United States during the first six months of this year are social media apps such as Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram. As for Pokemon Go? This phenomenal augmented reality game was launched in the US mobile market just this July, so it is pretty understandable that it did not feature in SurveyMonkey’s rankings. Speaking of mobile games, the only one to be included in the top ten most downloaded rankings is Slither.io. No mobile games cracked the top thirty most used rankings

Music mobile apps fared really well, with expected names such as Spotify and Pandora joining the rankings, as well as fresh new entrants such as Musical.ly. Mobile apps related to health and fitness interestingly were not included in the top thirty rankings, either in the most downloaded or in the most used category.

Remarkably enough, SurveyMonkey’s study shows that the most downloaded apps are not necessarily the most used. The top five most downloaded mobile apps in the first half of 2016 are Messenger, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, and Color Switch. Meanwhile, the top five most used mobile apps were Facebook, YouTube, Messenger, Google Maps, and Play Store. The top dozen most used apps are all entrants owned by either Apple, Google, or Facebook. The highest ranking app not owned by any of these three is Snapchat, which occupies the 13th spot.

An interesting observation: 40 percent of the most used mobile apps are ones that are pre-installed on the operating system, which means that apps made by Google (who owns Android) and Apple (iOS) have an inherent advantage over other apps. It also highlights the remarkable achievement of Facebook who has managed to rank really high with its apps, even though it is not tied to any particular OS.

No doubt there is some excitement over the upcoming rankings for the second half of the year. Considering how the Pokemon Go game has conquered just about everything, many are no doubt wondering how the addictive app will fair well in SurveyMonkey’s next study. Still, a lot can happen in the span of six months. The Pokemon Go craze could fade, or who knows, another addictive app may take its place. Or maybe, just maybe, Pokemon Go could take on those social media giants and bring victory on behalf of all cute monsters everywhere.