We’ve grown accustomed to a steady decline in app downloads, which is why the numbers for August come as a bit of a surprise.
Top Apps by Downloads: A Closer Look
The top five apps in terms of downloads have remained unchanged from July, but if we look at the actual installation numbers, an interesting trend emerges.
Instagram retained its top position and even saw a rise in downloads by 3 million compared to July, defying the general downward trend. Meanwhile, TikTok, which holds the second spot, saw a decrease of 2 million downloads compared to the previous month.
WhatsApp, in fourth place, showed slight growth, adding 4 million downloads compared to July. On the other hand, Facebook, which ranks third, stayed consistent at 43 million downloads. Temu, in fifth place, remained unchanged in ranking, but its downloads fell by 2 million, dropping to 35 million from July’s 37 million.
Some shifts occurred in the lower half of the list: Threads climbed to sixth place, and ChatGPT broke into the top 10, landing at ninth.
Overall, the top 10 apps in August received 353 million downloads, a 1 million increase over July. While this doesn’t necessarily signal the end of the overall decline, the slight drop in June and July followed by modest growth in August is a positive sign, notes NIX Solutions. We’ll keep you updated on how these trends develop.
Top Earning Apps: Closing in on $1 Billion
August also brought some interesting changes in the chart of top-grossing apps. They are now edging even closer to the $1 billion mark.
TikTok remained the highest-grossing app globally in August, earning ByteDance $240 million in net revenue, $19 million more than in July—a 9% increase month-over-month.
YouTube held steady in second place, adding another $7 million in August. Rounding out the top five are Disney+, Tinder, and Max, whose revenues remained relatively unchanged from July.
Last month, thanks to the Olympics, Peacock overtook Hulu to claim ninth place. In August, Peacock rose further to eighth place, adding another $4 million.
And look who’s back in the top 10—Duolingo. For the first time since April, Duolingo returned to the top 10, knocking Tencent Video out of the list.
So, how close are we to hitting the $1 billion mark? In August, the top 10 apps generated about $917 million. At this rate, we expect to surpass the $1 billion milestone by the end of the year. We’ll keep you updated on the progress.