Mikey Campbell
According to fresh statistics from analytics firm App Annie published on Wednesday, social media giant Facebook is responsible for four of the top ten most downloaded iOS apps of all time, with Google and Apple titles in tow.
App Annie broke down the results of its study, which ranks iOS apps by worldwide downloads and revenue, into two sections: games and everything else.
Collectively, Facebook, Google and Apple dominated the most downloaded apps list, taking eight of the top ten spots. Twitter and Skype were the lone standouts. Facebook's flagship app took the No. 1 slot, followed by Facebook Messenger, YouTube, Instagram and Skype.
Apple's Find My iPhone and, interestingly, iTunes U came in 7th and 10th, respectively. App Annie said China was in part to thank for the strong iTunes U performance, as the country's download tally came in a close second to the U.S.
All time apps ranked by revenue tells a different story, with Pandora taking the top spot followed by messaging app Line, dating service Zoosk, Apple's Pages word processor and Spotify. Apple's Pages was the only app in the top ten to generate all its revenue from paid downloads, as opposed to in-app purchases and subscriptions.
Classic titles pulled in the most downloads in the gaming category, with Candy Crush Saga placing first followed by Fruit Ninja and Angry Birds. Casual games account for nine of the ten top-ranking apps, while seven rely on the swiping gesture control scheme pioneered by Apple's iPhone.
As for gaming revenue, Clash of Clans and Candy Crush place first and second, with Puzzle & Dragons coming in third.
Looking at app usage, App Annie discovered that many of the most-downloaded and top-grossing titles of all time have the most monthly active users, a trend reflected in both games and non-game categories. The results serve as a testament to the stickiness and staying power of these elite apps as enabled through Apple's iOS platform.
For its study, App Annie ranked apps based on data collated from July 2010 through July 2015.
AppleInsider Staff
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
20 Comments
Ugh. Every one of those games make me cringe. Casual games are here to stay but man I don't care for them...
I would have thought find my iPhone would be number 1. That Facebook is number 1 and 2 is disturbing. And hard to believe.
I would have thought find my iPhone would be number 1. That Facebook is number 1 and 2 is disturbing. And hard to believe.
I would expect Apple to embed the FMiP app into iOS.
As for Facebook, that people still use that is beyond me. It seems to be mostly used to hang out your laundry, whether it's clean or dirty, doesn't matter. One pic after the other of what people are having for dinner, or what the view is from their bed by the pool while on holiday. Disturbing to say the least!
Actually Facebook have 4 OUT OF TOP 6 iOS App downloads.
@ entropys "Hard to believe?"
- check out Globalstats and you will see Facebook has 84% of social media worldwide internet usage, which is why they are taking so much mobile Ad revenue market share from Google
@ PhilBoogie "One pic after the other of what people are having for dinner, or what the view is from their bed by the pool while on holiday. Disturbing to say the least!"
Are you really so out of touch that you are not aware of Facebook News Feed?
Did you not know you can follow most news media and publications, most breaking news and sporting and musical events and most celebrities, writers, journalists and sportspeople on Facebook? - And billions of people do?
Or that Facebook has rapidly overtaken YouTube as the No. ONE video site? AND as the preferred platform for video brand advertising?
Or that Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp are growing exponentially and have rapidly becoming the top messenger sites outside China with 700 million and 800 million users - each more than doubling the number of monthly users in the last year?
Or that Facebook Messenger is developing into a multi-media, news, voice and video communication, music and shopping platform?
Or that Instagram is the second most popular social media site for the young, second only to Facebook itself?
And that Facebook platforms are so absorbing and compulsive for most users, young and old alike, that engagement levels dwarf any other websites - with an average time spent per user of 46 minutes per day, with a billion users a day and 1.5 billion users a month?