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In 2021, life was less COVID-constrained than it was in 2020.
What did that mean for apps? Were people less interested in the digital world? Sort of!
They were definitely less interested in Zoom, according to Apptopia data.
Most downloaded: TikTok
It was 2021’s most downloaded app in the U.S. by a huge margin — downloaded 30M more times than second-place-finisher Instagram.
Biggest download growth YoY: HBO Max
It was downloaded half as many times as TikTok, but nearly 2X more than it was in 2020.
It’s the only streaming app that made the top 10. Sorry Netflix!
Biggest momentum losers: Zoom and Meta
It’s still on the top 10 most-downloaded list, but Zoom downloads fell by more than a third YoY, making it 2021’s biggest momentum-loser.
Facebook Messenger and Facebook were downloaded less in 2021 than they had been in 2020, which tracks: Facebook lost users in 2021, too.
Our takeaway?
Zoom and Meta downloads slumped in 2021, but video (NOT video calls) had a moment: HBO became the most-downloaded streaming app, while TikTok took over the downloads chart.