Zoom and NHS Covid-19 app overtake WhatsApp and Instagram to become the UK’s most popular App Store downloads of 2020, Apple reveals
- Zoom is the most-downloaded free iPhone app in the UK in 2020, Apple reveals
- Second-placed on the list is the NHS’s Covid-19 app released back in September
- Apple has also revealed top 20 for paid iPhone apps, iPad apps and gaming apps
Zoom and the NHS’s Covid-19 app have overtaken WhatsApp and Instagram to become the most popular downloads from Apple’s App Store in the UK for 2020.
Top of Apple’s list of the most-downloaded free iPhone apps in the UK is Zoom Cloud Meetings, reflecting users’ increasing reliance on video calls to accommodate working from home.
Taking the second spot is the NHS Covid-19 app, released late September as a tool to help alert users if they have been in close proximity with anyone who has tested positive for coronavirus.
Video-sharing platform TikTok, WhatsApp and Houseparty, the app which combines group video-calls with games and quizzes, round out the top five for free iPhone apps.
The impact of coronavirus is evident throughout the list for this year, with Microsoft Teams, a communications platform for businesses, ranking seventh.
Apple has also revealed top 20 lists for paid iPhone apps, iPad apps and gaming apps in the UK this year.
Zoom has been the most downloaded free app for the iPhone by people in the UK in 2020, according to Apple
Apple’s lists reflect that fact Britons were effectively forced to turn to video conferencing technology to work from home, chat apps to stay in touch with family during social distancing, and e-learning to catch up on schooling.
‘This year, more than ever before, some of our most creative and connected moments happened in apps,’ said Phil Schiller, Apple Fellow.
‘This was thanks to the amazing work of developers who introduced fresh, helpful app experiences throughout the year.’
Streaming services are also peppered throughout the top 20 list of free iPhone apps downloaded from the App Store – YouTube at number eight, Spotify at 13 and Netflix at 16.
Disney+ – the launch of which on March 24 coincided with the start of lockdown in the UK – ranks at number 12.
Other social networks and chat apps such as Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook Messenger also sit in the top 20.
Last year, WhatsApp and Instagram were number one and two on the list, but Zoom and the NHS Covid-19 app have knocked them off their perch.
MOST DOWNLOADED FREE iPHONE APPS IN THE UK FOR 2020
The NHS Covid-19 app was second on the most downloaded free iPhone apps in the UK for 2020
1. ZOOM Cloud Meetings
2. NHS Covid-19
3. TikTok
4. WhatsApp
5. Houseparty
6. Instagram
7. Microsoft Teams
8. YouTube
9. Snapchat
10. Facebook
11. Facebook Messenger
12. Disney+
13. Spotify
14. Widgetsmith
15. Amazon
16. Netflix
17. Google Maps – Transit & Food
18. Uber Eats: Food Delivery
19. Gmail – Email by Google
20. Microsoft Outlook
In the paid-for iPhone app category for the UK, Driving Theory Test 4 in 1 Kit and Official DVSA Theory Test Kit are revealed as ranking first and second for the year, respectively.
Also in this list is the Dark Sky Weather, a weather-predicting app bought by Apple earlier in the year, and Mirror for Samsung TV, which casts a phone display onto a Samsung Smart TV.
There are also a few e-learning apps in the iPhone paid list, including Hit the Button Maths 20 and Spelling Shed, for remote learning after schools closed to curb the spread of the virus.
MOST DOWNLOADED PAID-FOR iPHONE APPS IN THE UK FOR 2020
The Dark Sky app – now only for iOS since being bought by Apple in April 2020 – provides users with hour-by-hour temperature readings, visualisations of weather activity and smartphone alerts
1. Driving Theory Test 4 in 1 Kit
2. Official DVSA Theory Test Kit
3. Procreate Pocket
4. The Wonder Weeks
5. Forest – Stay focused
6. TouchRetouch
7. Facetune
8. CITB Op/Spec HS&E test 2019
9. Dark Sky Weather
10. AutoSleep Track Sleep on Watch
11. Squeezy NHS Pelvic Floor App
12. Freya • Surge Timer
13. Teach Your Monster to Read
14. Mirror for Samsung TV
15. Sky Guide
16. WatchChat 2: for WhatsApp
17. SkyView®
18. Ski Tracks
19. Hit the Button Maths
20. Spelling Shed
For the iPad, Zoom also lands at number one in the free apps chart, with Microsoft Teams in the top five too.
In the rest of the top five for free iPad apps was Disney+, Netflix and Amazon Prime – reflecting Brits’ love of content on a decent-sized portable screen.
BBC, ITV and Channel 4 also have their own streaming free apps in the top 20 list for iPad, which also contains many high performers from the free iPhone app list.
In terms of paid iPad apps, graphic editing software Procreate and note-taking app GoodNotes 5 are first and second, respectively.
MOST DOWNLOADED iPAD APPS IN THE UK FOR 2020
Covid-19 has forced millions of people to turn to the screens for entertainment and streaming sites such as Netflix
Free iPad apps
1. ZOOM Cloud Meetings
2. Disney+
3. Netflix
4. Amazon Prime Video
5. Microsoft Teams
6. YouTube
7. Messaging for WhatsApp on iPad
8. TikTok
9. BBC iPlayer
10. Google Chrome
11. Houseparty
12. Messenger
13. Microsoft Word
14. Facebook
15. Skype for iPad
16. Amazon
17. All 4
18. Spotify
19. Sky Go
20. ITV Hub
Paid iPad apps
1. Procreate
2. GoodNotes 5
3. Notability
4. Teach Your Monster to Read
5. Hit the Button Maths
6. Duet Display
7. Driving Theory Test 4 in 1 Kit
8. Spelling Shed
9. Affinity Photo
10. Affinity Designer
11. Numberblocks: Card Fun!
12. Toca Life: Hospital
13. Alphablocks: Letter Fun
14. LumaFusion
15. Numberblocks: Hide and Seek
16. Toca Kitchen 2
17. Official DVSA Theory Test Kit
18. Toca Life: Neighborhood
19. Mirror for Samsung TV
20. Toca Life: Vacation
In the gaming category, online multiplayer social title Among Us! is named most popular free iPhone game, while Football Manager 2020 Mobile is the number one paid game.
Among Us! is a multiplayer social deduction game set in space where players have to uncover murderous saboteurs who attempt to jeopardise a mission.
The game’s profile shot up in October when a live-stream of Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez playing the popular game amassed almost half a million viewers on gaming service Twitch.
Alongside the most downloaded apps, Apple has also revealed its own editorial picks for best apps of 2020.
Light exercise app Wakeout! is named iPhone app of the year, while iPhone game of the year has gone to action role player Genshin Impact.
Elsewhere, Zoom picked up more accolades, being awarded iPad app of the year, while Legends of Runeterra, a digital collectible card game, is iPad game of the year.
Five winners were also celebrated as app trends of the year – Pokémon Go; Caribu, a video calling app designed for children; Shine, for ‘daily self-care’ and meditation; e-learning app Explain Everything Whiteboard; and ShareTheMeal, a crowdfunding app by the United Nations World Food Programme to fight hunger.
‘Around the world, we saw remarkable efforts from so many developers, and these Best of 2020 winners are 15 outstanding examples of that innovation,’ Schiller said.
‘From helping us stay fit and mindful, to keeping our children’s education on track, to helping fight hunger, their impact was meaningful to so many of us.’
TOP GAMING APPS FOR iPHONE IN THE UK FOR 2020
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) had 439,000 views on video live streaming service Twitch when she played multiplayer game Among Us
Top free iPhone games:
1. Among Us!
2. Brain Test: Tricky Puzzles
3. Subway Surfers
4. Roblox
5. Woodturning 3D
6. Call of Duty®: Mobile
7. Ink Inc. – Tattoo Drawing
8. Magic Tiles 3: Piano Game
9. 8 Ball Pool™
10. Cube Surfer!
11. Trivia.io
12. Brain Out
13. Draw Climber
14. Johnny Trigger
15. Mario Kart Tour
16. Tangle Master 3D
17. Sort It 3D
18. Fortnite
19. Fishdom
20. Park Master
Top paid iPhone games:
1. Football Manager 2020 Mobile
2. Minecraft
3. Monopoly
4. Plague Inc.
5. Heads Up! – Trivia on the go
6. Bloons TD 6
7. The Chase: Ultimate Edition
8. Tenable
9. Geometry Dash
10. Tipping Point
11. Cluedo: The Official Edition
12. Earn to Die 2
13. Pocket Build
14. Countdown – The Official TV Show App
15. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
16. Rebel Inc.
17. The Game of Life
18. True Skate
19. Bloons TD 5
20. RFS – Real Flight Simulator
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