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. Less is more? A little over a week ago, Quibi, a professional TikTok of sorts, launched with backing from a star-studded cast of content creators, investors, and other media moguls. Downloads topped 100,000 in the US on day one but quickly subsided as the app dropped in ranks. Maybe less isn't more. Report
2. YouTube & Chill. Airtime, an app that brings together YouTube and HouseParty, has crossed 1,000,000 downloads in a few weeks and entered the top 10 Entertainment app list in the US alongside Netflix, Disney+, and other popular streamers. Report
3. Tracking. Arrive, a package tracking app from Shopify has doubled its downloads since the lockdown started hitting an all-time high that exceeds the Christmas shopping season. Combine the convenience of online shopping with the need for immediate gratification, and this is what you get. Report
4. Ready. Set. Play. Demand for games, not surprisingly, has gone up drastically during this lockdown. According to the Mobile Download Index, on Google Play, the United Arab Emirates had the most growth (relative to its size), followed by India and Pakistan. Not the countries you'd guess, right?
5. 1,000% up. Instacart is continuing to have incredible growth on both sides of the marketplace. Since the lockdown started, downloads of the flagship app grew by 1,000%, and downloads of its shopper app also grew with a similar trend proving the scale of the gig economy. Report
6. Stimulus. IRS2Go, the official app for filing taxes, has gotten a second wave of downloads this April> Downloads are up from 300k in the first two weeks of April 2019 to 800k in 2020. But... you can apply for or check the status of your stimulus check with it.
7. Who's bored? Lastly, back to streaming apps, which command the Entertainment category. According to the Mobile Download Index, the top three countries with most growth in downloads on Google Play are Hong Kong, Singapore, and Israel.
#228 - Gemini hasn't caught up to ChatGPT, Disney+ and Hulu see massive churn, X wins Black Friday, and our monthly ranking of highest-earning and most downloaded apps in November.
#227 - Netflix won the big fight, TikTok drives massive downloads for one game, games race to a billion, Bluesky overtakes X, and the upcoming mobile browser shakeup.