Top Apps Worldwide for Q1 2019 by Downloads

In the next few days, we’ll be sharing a few excerpts of our Q1 2019 Data Digest Report. We’re starting off with the most downloaded mobile apps worldwide in Q1 2019. WhatsApp topped the list with the most downloads last quarter with more than 223 million new installs. The full ranking of the top 10 most downloaded publishers is below. App download estimates are from Sensor Tower’s Store Intelligence platform.

Worldwide Top Apps by Overall Downloads

Messenger was the second best performing app by downloads worldwide in Q1 2019 with close to 209 million installs. The next highest performing app was TikTok, followed by Facebook and Instagram.

The top 10 apps were the same as the previous quarter, with the top five all retaining their rankings from Q4 2018. Facebook once again had four of the top five apps. Video editing app Biugo and photo editing app PicsArt entered the top 20 apps worldwide for the first time in Q1. First-time users in India helped both apps achieve new install highs in the quarter.

Worldwide Top Apps by App Store Downloads

TikTok was the most downloaded app on the App Store worldwide for Q1 2019 with more than 33 million installs, followed by YouTube, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger.

TikTok was the most downloaded app on the App Store for its fifth consecutive quarter in the No. 1 spot. YouTube was No. 2 for the second quarter in a row. Twitter had 11.7 million App Store downloads in Q1 2019, making it the No. 16 most downloaded app. This was Twitter’s highest total since Q1 2015 and a year-over-year increase of 3.6 percent.

Worldwide Top Apps by Google Play Downloads

WhatsApp was the most downloaded app on Google Play worldwide for Q1 2019 with close to 199 million installs, followed by Messenger, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram.

Four apps exceeded 150 million installs in Q1 2019, including Facebook-owned WhatsApp, Messenger, and Facebook. ByteDance’s TikTok was once again the No. 3 Google Play app. YouTube Kids joined YouTube and YouTube Music among the top 20 Google Play apps. YouTube Kids had 29 million downloads in the quarter, an increase of 291 percent quarter-over-quarter.

Store Intelligence users can see revenue and download estimates for the above apps in addition to historical performance metrics on the Sensor Tower platform. Our estimates include worldwide downloads for the App Store and Google Play between Jan. 1, 2018 and Mar. 31, 2019. Apple apps and Google pre-installed apps are excluded. We report unique installs only. Android estimates do not include third-party stores. Figures represent aggregate installs of all app versions, ex: Facebook and Facebook Lite.

Interested in additional Q1 2019 insights? Download a free copy of our Q1 2019 Data Digest Report: