Mobile Market Review: Niche Applications Steal Installs from Traditional

Softonic recently published a group of studies in which it shared some updates on the mobile applications market. Softonic uses its own platform to collect statistical data. 

LoveMobile Agency has gathered the most valuable insights from these studies and packed them into an article for everyone interested in mobile marketing services.

Video content boom

TheDownload Trends Report shows that demand for video editors has grown, making CapCut the top downloaded application with around 5 million installs.

Statistically, 92.8% of users from 16 to 64 years old go online every week for video content, and more than 26% of them watch gaming-related videos.

Among the top installed apps are Microsoft Word, WhatsApp, Zoom, Instagram, and mobile games, including GTA and Garena Free Fire. 

Rich applications gain more installs

Softonic states that users began to look for and download applications offering unique functionality, preferring them to traditional Google Docs and Drive. These apps demonstrated a downward trend in terms of installs. 

A Softonic representative told recently that users’ preferences are shifting to unique apps, while specialized platforms, like Softonic, support such applications. 

New leaders in the traditional app vertical

Pocket is a content search and bookmarking application. It showed a 98% YOY increase in downloads in 2023. Pocket allows you to save articles and videos to read and watch them later, and even access them when offline.

Hive is a project management and collaboration application. It saw a 79% increase in installs throughout 2023.

Pomodone, a time management and productivity utility designed based on the Pomodoro technique, boosted its installs by 48% in 2023 compared to the previous year.  

Another upward trend is demonstrated by Notion, a tool for making notes, keeping databases, and communicating with remote teams. It showed a 13% increase in downloads. 

3 new promising apps according to Softonic

• Hypic Photo Editor AI Art, an AI-driven photo editor.
• Sigma game Battle Royal, a game where users can combat online.
• Only Up!, a game where the player overcomes various obstacles. 

Development takeaways for 2024

• Developers should keep in mind the Digital Markets Act (DMA). It’s been adopted in the EU, and the App Store has introduced some new terms for the applications distributed in Europe. One should adapt to the new reality if they want to promote apps in the European market, and try something new to keep up with the trend. 
• It’s crucial for developers to factor in the growing popularity of AI and introduce AI-based functions into applications. Those may include personalized recommendations and interfaces adapting to the user’s behavior. AI-inspired functions will increase the user’s session in the app and, eventually, the retention rate.