The Clash of Billionaire Apps: Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok

Grace Edwards 28 Dec 2021

Formally, 2021 isn’t over yet. Nevertheless, the results of it become clear even before the New Year; so it is, for example, with the most downloaded apps in the world. It’s no wonder the champions are all social media apps, but which? Instagram, Telegram, WhatsApp, TikTok, or Facebook? Or maybe Google Chrome?

The results turned out to be quite overwhelming. The most downloaded app of 2021 was (and still is) TikTok, by a Chinese publisher ByteDance has now gone global. The app was downloaded nearly 586 million times in 2021. It’s tailed by Instagram that was downloaded 566 million times. Then follow Facebook (474 million) and WhatsApp (444 million).

The top 10 most downloaded apps of 2021 also include Telegram, Snapchat (both mostly for Android), Messenger by Facebook, Zoom, CapCut (a video editor by the aforementioned ByteDance), and Google Meet. The list is quite predictable, with most apps of it representing the domain of social media and communication. And even the only pure productivity app on it – CapCut – is used mostly for creating videos and posting on TikTok and Instagram.

On the other hand, many of these apps come with built-in editors for creating content. Some of them are basic (like built-in editors of Instagram and Facebook), but others offer a lot. Along with CapCut, there are powerful content editors within Snapchat and Zoom, and Telegram, being text-centric, offers its own publishing platform and channel support. And when we look at the top downloaded apps for iOS, we see YouTube occupying the second place (on Android it usually comes preinstalled), with probably the most powerful video studio among these.

The conclusion we make from this rating is that 2021 unleashes our creativity. More and more of us want to create content and share it with the world. And what are your conclusions about the most downloaded apps? Which of them do you use? What about some WhatsApp vs. Telegram, or TikTok vs. Instagram? Got something to say? Post a comment in this space, and we'll appreciate it!