Android has seen apps flooding in the Android Market, as recently Google rejoiced the 10 billion app downloads. But in the pool of these apps, finding the most popular app on Android is a really difficult task. What one could expect is that as always, Google’s first-party apps would rule Android’s most popular app list. however, things seem to be changing. The social media giant has been famous enough to earn the top slot to become the most popular app on Android in the US.
The stats noted from Nielsen’s data, which ranks mobile apps by active reach the percentage of Android owners who used the app within the past 30 days. It noted that during this period, the Facebook app saw a higher active reach than all of Google’s first-party apps, and all third-party apps overall. However, the Android Market usage is spared from the analysis.
The data analysis is based on the usage data from its proprietary device, which are helped by the meters put on the smartphones belonging to thousands of participating consumers.
The chart below, details the facts, classified in the form of age groups. Facebook had an 80 percent active reach for 18-24 year-olds, 81 percent for 25-34 year-olds, and 77 percent for 35-44 year-olds. In every category, the competition was not really there as the top five was similar for each category, which had only Google’s first-party apps, along with Facebook. They were Google Search, Gmail, Google Maps, and YouTube.
Apart from the top five, the other apps differ majorly when compared to other age groups. Again, they even have a low reach, which is easily noticeable.
Its surely an achievement for the Palo Alto’s Android app, as it has actually gained in popularity from the results we saw just a few months ago. Four months back in July 2011, Facebook was the most popular third-party app on Google’s Android platform, but when compared with the first-party apps of Google, it stood third. Surprisingly, that time even Facebook app was even more widely used than all of Android’s first-party apps, amongst females.
Facebook, is continuing its efforts to improve its support for Android. Currently, the latest release of the app, by the way, is Facebook for Android 1.8, released just last week.
YouTube even has been enjoying wider popularity on Android apps, as it got heavy usage from Android smartphone owners 18 to 24, with 64 percent using it in the last 30 days, compared to 56 percent and 51 percent of 25 to 34 and 35 to 44 year olds, respectively.
It seems Facebook is ending the year on a happier note on Android devices and even Facebook users are enjoying using the app on their Android smartphones.