Most Popular Mobile Apps in the US in 2024
The most popular mobile apps for iOS and Android users alike feature crowd favorites used worldwide, but many are specially tailored to helping Americans enhance their lifestyle. And, let’s be honest, aren’t we all a little guilty of wanting to improve how we live our lives?
Be it to fuel a love of shopping, improve health and wellness, or stay entertained, there truly is an app for everything. It’s created what feels like an endless sea of options to download, which leads to the question, which apps are worth your time to use?
Well, based on their popularity over the past year, these are the apps that are worth looking at:
Shopping Apps
Shockingly, at the tail end of 2022, a brand-new shopping app named Temu entered the scene and skyrocketed to the number one shopping app position. This app allows you to shop for wildly discounted items. It has gained awareness through its generous affiliate program and its “Shop Like a Billionaire” Super Bowl ad.
It’s not often that a new app will see such success in such a short time frame, but the Temu app found a way and is still going strong in 2024.
Trailing behind Temu in the online shopping app niche are the Shein, Walmart, and Amazon apps.
Health & Wellness Apps
When it comes to improving or maintaining your physical health, apps like MyFitnessPal, Fitbit, and Peloton all hold top positions in the health and wellness categories. And, if you want to get outside and explore more for your health, AllTrails is a popular option.
Caring for our health also encompasses our mental health, and the most popular options for unwinding and calming your mind with an app are Headspace and Calm.
Entertainment Apps
Video and streaming apps like YouTube, Disney+, Netflix, and Amazon Prime are the most popular entertainment apps. Given that these apps let you binge-watch your favorite shows, keep up with your favorite celebrities and creators, and learn new things, it’s no surprise at all that they continue to be so popular.
Social Networking Apps
Somewhere between an entertainment app and a social media app, TikTok has continued to hold high levels of popularity in the social networking category and in the top-ranking position of apps in general. While less popular than TikTok, Instagram continues to be a highly popular app that still sits at the top of app store charts.
2023 saw the debut of Threads, which led to this becoming a hugely popular app almost overnight. It proved that even though other social media apps have flopped despite their initial hype (like the BeReal app), newcomers still have room for success in the social media world.
Veteran social media apps like WhatsApp, Snapchat, Facebook, and Facebook Messenger continue to be heavily favored by mobile users for keeping up with friends and family.
Food & Drink Apps
Food and drink delivery apps became hugely popular during the pandemic for obvious reasons. These apps allowed you to get just about any food you could imagine delivered right to your doorstep, even amid lockdowns and self-isolation periods. According to Business of Apps, some of these food delivery apps are still enjoying increased revenue and use.
So, which apps stole the show in the food delivery world? DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Instacart. The convenience and variety these three apps offer keep people actively ordering through them (and indulging in their favorite treats).
Today, restaurant-specific apps are also becoming chart-toppers, with McDonald’s and Starbucks being two of the most popular.
Game Apps
While the categories of popular mobile apps among players in the US comprise everything from casino games and arcade games to trivia games and brain teasers, under the general category of ‘games,’ these were some of the most popular over 2023: Monopoly Go!, Royal Match, Candy Crush Saga, Roblox, and Pokémon GO.
Education & Learning Apps
When it comes to learning a new skill or supporting schoolwork, there are plenty of app options to help you. Duolingo, Headway, Nerd AI Homework Helper, Photomath, and Google Classroom are among the most popular education apps.
Duolingo is an incredibly useful app for learning languages in a way that feels like a game. Meanwhile, Headway offers book summaries, which are excellent for students and non-students alike wanting to learn more about a book. The other three apps support students and teachers because they help work through and distribute homework assignments and grades.
Productivity Apps
Productivity apps are great tools for staying on top of your workload and being updated about people in your network. In the past year, a few standout apps have supported the work and productive aspects of our lives. The biggest standout app is ChatGPT, which experienced a rapid rise in app store charts. The mobile app has ranked in the top place for productivity apps in both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store since its release in May of 2023.
Beyond ChatGPT, Google holds the top spots for providing some of the most popular productivity apps, including their Drive, Calendar, Sheets, and Docs apps. And don’t worry, you don’t need a Google phone to use them!
What App Will You Try Next?
With popular apps that appeal to a vast array of interests and lifestyles, you’ve likely already downloaded a few of the apps mentioned here. But, while you were perusing through the most popular apps from this past year, were you tempted to download a new app or two to your phone? Who knows, this list may have just helped you discover a whole new reason to be obsessed with your phone.
