Most popular smartphone apps in South Africa

While social media apps are still fairly dominant in South Africa when it comes to the most popular free apps, the trend has shifted slightly, with fewer of these apps making the Google Play Store and Apple App Store top 10 lists.

The trend also appears to have changed for paid apps. Games dominated the top ten paid apps on both stores in 2021; however, no games feature in either list this year.

Last year, social media apps took up six and seven spots on the top ten free apps on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store, respectively.

In 2022, the number of social media apps in both lists dropped to four.

That said, the social media apps still rank relatively high on the two lists, with TikTok taking the top spot for Android and sitting at number two for iOS. Lensa AI sits in the number one spot on Apple’s App Store.

WhatsApp is in third place for both mobile operating systems, while curiously, Instagram doesn’t feature on Google Play Store’s top ten list. The Meta Platforms-owned app takes the number five spot for iOS.

Interestingly, “Lite” social media apps rank fairly highly on Android, with TikTok Lite and Facebook Lite taking the fourth and sixth places. The “Lite” versions of these apps aren’t available on iOS.

On the App Store, Instagram and Facebook sit in the number five and six spots.

Curiously, an app called Load Shedding Notifier is featured at number seven on the Google Play Store’s top ten free apps list for South Africa, while the well-known EskomSePush app is only ranked fifteenth.

Looking at paid apps, The Wonder Weeks — a developmental progress-tracking app for babies  — takes the number one spot on both operating systems.

The only other similarity between the two app stores’ top paid apps is Sasol eBirds Southern Africa which sits at number two on iOS and seven on Android.

Android’s top ten paid app list features various watch faces, including the MD307 Digital Watch Face, Rolex Oyster Perpetual Black, Osmium: Multicolor Watch face, and Santa Christmas Snowing Watch face.

On the other hand, Apple’s top ten paid apps list features utility, productivity, and graphic design apps.

The most popular free and paid smartphone apps for iOS and Android in South Africa are listed in the following tables.

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Most popular smartphone apps in South Africa