This Week in Apps is a weekly, no-fluff, review of highlights from around the mobile industry. Many countries are locked down right now, which exaggerates some trends in our industry. Here are our top highlights.
1. Move over Zoom. Jitsi Meet, an open-source (aka free) video conferencing solution, has been getting a lot of downloads on the App Store and Google Play. As Zoom falters on security, Jitsi is becoming an attractive alternative. Report
2. The King is here. Burger King has been very active during this lockdown. They recently dropped their delivery fee which caused downloads for the app to more than triple, taking the lead from rival McDonald's. Report
3. Apple to the rescue. Apple partnered up with the CDC, FEMA, and the White House to create a screening tool for COVID-19. Launched this week in the US, the app has already been downloaded more than 400,000 times and took over the #1 spot in the Health & Fitness category.
4. Investing. Downloads of Robinhood, the no-fee trading app, have tripled in March, up from roughly 30,000 per day in the US to more than 100,000 per day. Competitors Stash and E*Trade have also increased in downloads, roughly doubling, though at a much lower scale.
5. Slowing down. According to the Mobile Download Index, downloads across most categories are starting to decline. All except for Health & Fitness.
6. How kids stay social. Did you know Facebook had a kid-friendly version of Messenger? Downloads of Messenger Kids have grown 6x in the last few weeks to top 100,000/day across the App Store & Google Play. The app is available in a small number of markets, and the US is leading in downloads, followed by Canada.
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