TikTok tops download chart In India during Jan-March quarter

TikTok’s popularity is skyrocketing worldwide, and nowhere is that more evident than in India.  According to a report released by mobile data and analytics company App Annie, TikTok has become the most downloaded app in India in the social media category as the country undergoes a lockdown to check the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.

In its quarter 1 (Q1) Global App Market Index report, the firm has analyzed the top mobile applications worldwide in the first quarter of 2020.

TikTok bagged the top spot in terms of a maximum number of app downloads in Q1, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger joined TikTok to make the top five in the list.

When compared to January, social media app downloads on iOS and Google Play during the lockdown in India in its first week starting March 22 went up 20%, surpassing over 49 million new downloads. 

The current period of social distancing has brought a seismic shift in the way consumers and businesses interact. The daily time spent on mobile devices has also jumped across the world as the outbreak expanded in Q1 of 2020.

Separately, video conferencing calls and entertainment related apps have also seen a significant jump. AajTak, Zoom Cloud Meetings, Jio TV, and Amazon Prime were among the most downloaded apps in the entertainment category. 

While Google Play downloads grew 5% year-on-year to 22.5 billion, iOS downloads grew 15% year-on-year to over 9 billion new downloads for the quarter, added the report. 

The gained momentum for TikTok comes at a time when the Chinese video app has been reprimanded by the Indian government over misleading content being posted on its platform around COVID-19.

TikTok has emerged as the showstopper social media app in 2019 as well. Since January 2019, the app has been installed more than 104.7 million times with India accounting for 44% (323 million) of 2019’s total TikTok app downloads.