App Store Downloads Show China’s Workforce is Working From Home

Much of China's massive workforce has been grounded since the novel coronavirus hit the country, forcing companies across the country to shut down temporarily.

Looking at App Store download trends however we can see many workers are starting to work from home as the demand for messaging apps has grown 6x in just a few days and is holding steady.

Since the end of January, DingTalk, 腾讯会议, and WeChat Work have seen a surge in downloads which propelled them to take over China's Top Apps chart.

Here's what downloads look like for all three since the beginning of this year:

Personal chat apps, however, haven't seen any surge. WeChat and QQ, both popular messaging apps in China, have seen their downloads go down since the beginning of the year:

This is likely a short-term trend, but it's interesting to see and be able to validate such a big trend using App Store Downloads. For now, we'll continue keeping an eye on the store and report on any new and interesting findings.

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All figures included in this report are estimated. Unless specified otherwise, estimated revenue is always net, meaning it's the amount the developer earned after Apple and Google took their fee.