Facebook's apps dominate Android downloads globally (FB)

Global Android App Downloads

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Facebook dwarfs the global Android app space, owning six of the top 10 most downloaded Android apps in the month of August, according to Prioridata. The findings point to Facebook’s strong influence over the global Android app market, as the firm impedes other app publishers from getting their apps in front of users.

Facebook’s mobile audience is massive. Collectively, Facebook and its family of apps captured 264 million downloads on Android devices globally in August.
Messaging apps lead in Android downloads. Facebook-owned WhatsApp was downloaded 88 million times on Android devices in August, while Facebook Messenger came in second with 76 million downloads.
Lite apps are proving their worth as an app growth strategy. Facebook Lite and Messenger Lite — the company’s stripped-down apps for emerging markets — had 22 million and 10 million downloads, respectively. These apps give users who lack data or have a slow internet connection access to these services. As data becomes more affordable and faster, and as connections become more commonplace, it’s likely that users will upgrade to the full versions of these services.

It’s important to note that the data doesn’t capture Google’s footprint in the Android app ecosystem. Google’s partnership with many original equipment manufacturers means that a large share of smartphones come preloaded with G-Suite apps. For context, Google owned five of the top 10 apps with the highest reach in the US mobile app market compared with Facebook’s three apps in the top 10.

Nevertheless, it does demonstrate the importance of brands and publishers establishing a presence under the Google-Facebook app umbrella. For example, mini-app experiences, such as Google's Instant Apps and Facebook's Instant Games, can provide developers with the opportunity to leverage the more popular apps — namely Google Search and Facebook Messenger — to get in front of where users are already spending a large portion of their mobile time.

Jessica Smith, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on app engagement that explores the current state of the app market, the issues around engaging consumers, and the tools at a publisher's disposal. It also identifies best practices for the implementation of some app engagement tools, and presents the pitfalls that:

Identifies the major challenges in today's app market and explains why employing good app engagement practices is more important than ever before.
Presents the major app engagement tools currently available.
Examines the pros and cons of each app engagement tool while outlining some pitfalls that publishers encounter in implementing them.
Prescribes best practices for adopting various app engagement tools or strategies.
Assesses how the market will likely change over the next five years as emerging technologies change both consumer behavior with mobile devices and introduce new tools with which to engage consumers.

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