Facebook Messenger #1.
By Dileep Thekkethil
BENGALURU: As the year is coming to a close, tech giants like Google and Apple have come up with reports about their best performing applications. Google was the first to come up with their list of the most downloaded apps of the year and now Apple has released their report card too of the most in demand iPhone apps.
We installed a whole lot of apps in our iPhones this year; let’s see how some of them performed globally.
Facebook Messenger: When Facebook announced earlier in the year that iPhone users have to download a separate app for messaging and chatting, many cursed the Facebook Messenger. However, installing the Facebook without messenger is like buying a cake without icing. So, it’s not surprising that Facebook Messenger is the most downloaded app on iPhones, regardless of negative reviews days ahead of its launch.
WhatsApp: When launched in 2009, nobody would have thought that WhatsApp would become world’s number one instant messaging app. With more than 70 million active users in India alone, which is 10% of its global users, WhatsApp is way ahead of its competitors WeChat, Line and Viber. The popularity of WhatsApp decreased after Facebook acquired it in February, 2014. In recent months WhatsApp faced criticism over its new “blue double tick” feature that lets the other party know whether you have seen the message or not. But all scaremongers went tight-lipped after WhatsApp made it an optional feature. Its universal acceptability has put WhatsApp in the second spot of the most downloaded iPhone Apps of 2014.
Snapchat: For many smartphone users, an instant messaging app that self-destroys messages after being read was a dream come true. Snapchat allows users to send text, images, and video messages to a controlled number of recipients by setting a self-destroy time. Since April 2014, users can set the self-destruction time starting from 1 sec to 10 sec. According to Snapchat, 700 million photos are shared every day making it the third most downloaded app of the year.
Facebook: It is hard to find a smartphone user who doesn’t have Facebook installed. The Facebook application for iPhone receives constant updates, adding new features and improvement on a consistent basis. Recently Facebook introduced the graph search to its mobile version letting user find feed posts by typing keywords. Facebook finds number 4 spot in the most downloaded iPhone app, which is of little surprise as we knew it would come up somewhere in between the top 5.
YouTube: In no way can YouTube, the world’s most widely used online streaming website miss out on a list that features apps like Facebook and WhatsApp. Last but not the least YouTube App, which doesn’t need any introduction as it is the heaven for all popular videos, is the fifth most downloaded applications on iPhone.