Globally, mobile app downloads across Google Play and the App Store declined by 2.5% year-over-year in Q2 following modest growth of 1.1% in Q1, according to the latest report [download page] from Sensor Tower.
All told, Sensor Tower estimates 35 billion downloads in Q2 from the App Store and Google Play, down from 35.9 billion during the first quarter. Downloads on both the App Store and Google Play declined, though the former experienced a smaller drop. Google Play downloads fell by 2.9% globally from 28 billion to 27.2 billion, while global downloads on the App Store dipped by 1.3% from 7.9 to 7.8 billion.
Games continued to be the dominant category for app downloads, though mobile game downloads fell by 2.6% on the App Store and were relatively flat (+0.6%) on Google Play.
Among non-game apps, TikTok remained the leader by downloads globally across the App Store and Google Play, for the 8th time in the past 10 quarters. It was followed by Meta-owned Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp. In fact half of the top 10 apps were Meta properties.
Within the App Store, TikTok was easily the most downloaded app globally, with about twice as many downloads as the next app on the list, CapCut. On Google Play, however, Facebook edged Instagram for the top spot, with the latter registering its biggest quarter yet with 141 million downloads. TikTok was third with 125 million.
In the US TikTok reigned supreme overall with almost 14 million downloads, easily ahead of second-place Facebook, with less than 10 million. In fact, TikTok had as many downloads on the App Store in the US as Facebook did on the App Store and Google Play combined.
Not surprisingly, then, TikTok was the clear leader in App Store downloads in the US for the quarter, although it fell below 10 million downloads for the first time since 2020. Second-placed YouTube, for its part, saw its downloads fall by 43% from the first quarter.
As for the top apps by US downloads on Google Play, Facebook took back the top spot it last held in Q2 2021, with nearly 5 million downloads, its best quarter in 4 years. TikTok was second with more than 4 million downloads.
With respect to the US market, Sensor Tower notes that US revenues declined for the first time year-over-year in May, which it attributes to a market correction from “the atypically high spend seen in the early months of the pandemic” and could also owe to the difficult economic environment. And in a significant milestone, more than half (50.3%) of spending on the US App Store in June came from non-games, the first time non-game apps have passed the majority threshold. Five years ago, in June 2017, gaming apps accounted for more than two-thirds of total spending on the US App Store.
For more, download the report here.
