As we continue to take stock of all things “tech” in 2014, we take a look at another popular area – mobile applications (apps). While it would not be a surprise to imagine that there is indeed an app for everything, there were some apps that got more attention that others throughout the year, and not just domestically but internationally as well.
Here is a look at some of the most downloaded apps for the soon-to-be-concluded 2014:
Candy Crush
Who knew that clearing jelly and getting ingredients could be so fun? For yet another year, Candy Crush – from developers King Digital – was the most downloaded game app.
While the “match-three” puzzle game concept is not original – Bejeweled being another popular example – the features of Candy Crush have allowed it to rank among the very best. Impressively, some reports indicate that the game is being played more than a billion times daily, with individuals of all ages determined to advance to the next level. From this, it can easily be argued that Candy Crush is not only a popular game, but one of the most popular apps of all time.
Transitioning to another form of entertainment, the much beloved music app Pandora was also among the year’s top downloads. One factor that contributed to this is the fact that it is available on two of the most popular mobile operating systems – Android and iOS, but in reality its impact stretches much further. Understandably, this is a factor that contributes to all the apps in the list.
The web radio platforms – birth from the Music Genome Project – is praised for its ability to analyze a vast collection of songs based on individual preferences and produce others based on their similarities.
Surprise, surprise (not really) – Facebook is one of the most downloaded apps of 2014. The number of individuals who don’t have a smart phone continue to diminish, and considering that there are more than a billion monthly active users of Facebook, it is understandable that many would want to access their profiles via this medium.
It is reported that the Facebook app was the most downloaded social app on Google Play, and claimed fourth spot from the App Store – with its close friend the Facebook Messenger at #1. While it hasn’t been reported, it is not beyond reason that this was the most downloaded app across all categories.
WhatsApp Messenger
As far as “app prestige” goes, it can easily be argued that WhatsApp Messenger accumulated more of that than any other in 2014. As if the messaging software wasn’t popular enough before (aided by its availability on seven mobile operating systems), its profile received a major boost when it was announced in February that Facebook would be acquiring it for $19 billion.
It was recently reported that the instant messaging service had over 600 million active users worldwide, with over 100 million new users between the months of April and October alone. Unsurprisingly, it is the most popular app in that category.
Rounding off the series of apps from the parent company Facebook Inc. is the popular photo-sharing social media platform Instagram, which was purchased by the Mark Zuckerburg-led company for $1 billion in 2012. The app started out as an iOS-exclusive, but ever since it opened its door to Android devices in 2012, the number of individuals downloading it has vastly increased.
As at December 2014, there were over 300 million monthly active users of the picture-centric mobile software, and many of those users downloaded the app this year. With Instagram recently introducing their first new set of filters since 2012, they are seemingly on a quest to not only maintain their loyal users but also attract more throughout 2015.
Duolingo
Venturing into another category, Duolingo enters the list as the most downloaded app related to education. This marks consecutive years that the app has had a commendable reception, having been awarded the “App of the Year” title by Apple in 2013.
The free language-learning platform offers both text materials and dictation to users of the app, and provides various lessons that can be used to determine ones progress. Impressively, the app now offers nine foreign languages to native English speakers – inclusive of Danish, Dutch, German, and Italian, while offering American English to over 15 other language speakers – Hungarian, Japanese, Russian and Turkish among that lot.
MyFitnessPal
As big as social media was throughout the year, there are those that would argue that fitness was all the rage. The surge was boosted by an influx of wearable tech – fitness bands in particular – but as far as apps go, MyFitnessPal was easily the most popular.
Rather than promoting a host of diets to undertake, MyFitnessPal instead promotes the practice of keeping a food journal so that individuals will have the knowledge that they can use to control their weight gain (or weight loss as it is for most).
2014’s Most Downloaded Apps
No comments:
Post a Comment