20 trending mobile apps that people used during the COVID-19 lock down

The Covid-19 pandemic hit the world hard and coupled with the recession that had already touched the shores, the situation worsened. A lot of businesses closed down, many suffer huge losses but some survived too. In one of our previous blogs, we had discussed about how some of the mobile apps shot up their revenues significantly during the lock down period. We had also listed out the reasons for why this happened. We had also talked about how any app-based business prepares itself for contingencies like these. Those blogs, however, were from a very global perspective. Here is the list of 20 trending mobile applications that people used during the covid-19 lock down.

In our recent blogs, we will talk about the US market in specific. The reasons about why that happened will remain quite obvious but the same shall be touched upon as well.

Food

One of the most not so surprising entries. One major reason for this was that the US never observed a complete shutdown of the business. This was also another reason for the spread of the pandemic but nevertheless, businesses flourished well. Online food ordering was a big hit during this pandemic. When going out for food was not possible, Quick Serve Restaurants (QSR) made huge business with the idea of food delivery and online money transfer.

However, the citizens were well aware of the safety protocols to follow and the social distancing to be maintained. Thus, the bigger brands flourished- thanks to the trust that they have gained over the years of being in service. Some of the mobile apps which saw a sudden surge in their popularity and revenue include the following

DoorDash

Doordash saw a spike of roughly 30% in the daily orders immediately after the strict lock down was lifted. If one has a look at the internet, it will not be surprising to see so many Door-dash related memes because it became literally everybody’s best friend.

Uber-Eats

Much similar to DoorDash, UberEats is pretty much a very strong competitor to the former. With uber’s extensive connectivity and network at its disposal, UberEats saw a significant surge in its orders too. The analytics reported that in the initial days, the mobile app saw an increase of over 50% in the number of app visits, re-installs or downloads. Soon, the conversion started and till the date of this article going public, the number had reached to roughly an increase of about 37% in the client base.

Grubhub

Grubhub comes third in the list and closely behind UberEats with an increase of about 13% in its daily orders. However, the latest estimates suggest that Grub-hub has been catching up soon and may overtake UberEats in the number of daily orders by the end of this quarter.

Little Caesars

A pizza chain and a really surprising entrant given that Dominos and Pizza Hut are its main rivals. However, Little Caesars saw an astounding 63% increase in its sales overtime during the lock down. This could be because of their pricing and also the super personalized services that they offer-thanks to the local hiring that these guys do.

Social Apps

This category of the trending mobile apps during the lock down shouldn’t really come as a surprise. Social apps are largest trending mobile apps during lock down, reason being people who are not social also were surfing the social apps. The lock down, however, saw a sudden surge in the activity levels. For instance, Facebook alone was responsible for an increase of over 50% in the screen time per user.

Let us look at some of the obvious apps which saw an increase in usage and a few facts and figures in support.

Facebook

Do, we really need to say something here! Facebook was flooded with jokes about the lock down, discussions on masks, groups protesting against the use of masks, multiple dad-groups popping up discussing dad jokes, memes, entertainment, videos and everything.

The platform saw a significant spike especially after the Black Lives matter campaign which had clearly shaken the globe for the atrocity committed.

Multiple online vigils were set up, multiple live webinar sessions were done and a lot of information was exchanged. One could say that Facebook literally became a group knowledge-sharing platform.

Instagram

The major spike in the Instagram traffic came in the form of people experimenting with DIY across the food and personal care. So, there were videos of people cooking something, there were equally beautiful images of cooked food too. The influencers and bloggers’ community got especially active telling the world about their day. While the travel bloggers could not really go out, they kept sharing throwback pictures of their travel to keep their audience engaged.

Instagram, which saw an average of 1.5 posts per person earlier, saw it increase to 2.4 posts per person. There were numerous live sessions being done, mental health became an exceedingly important topic being discussed. Then, with the recent TikTok ban in India, Instagram launched its Reels feature which saw an increasing growing partition from not just Indians but everyone across the globe.

Snapchat

If we talk of numbers then Snapchat didn’t see as much increase percentage-wise but if we talk in absolute terms, then the number stood at 83.4 million already so a 4.3% increase meant a lot. With people barely going out and mostly confined indoors, Snapchat saw an increase of roughly 33% in its daily interactions making it 13th on the list of top 20 trending mobile applications during the lockdown.

TikTok

Though the mobile app has been facing some serious issues and is negotiating a buyout with Microsoft, yet it saw some of its major peak usages. This was until the privacy issues came up and ByteDance, the parent firm saw a major hit to it. However, during its heydays, Tiktok saw a whopping 73% increase in its engagement with multiple videos being put up every second. Prior to the talks about its acquisition by Microsoft and rumours of Data security, TikTok had clocked about 50% growth in its ad-based revenue.

Books & References

A surprise entrant to the list of trending mobile apps during the lock down but the US did see a surge in people being religious. Multiple Bible apps saw a surge in their downloads. While about 6 different types of Bible apps featured in the top 50 list, the Free Bible App was the ruler in the domain. 

The Free Bible App

A surprising entry in the list but the Free Bible App is actually amongst the top 5 of the trending mobile apps during the lock down. Another surprising fact about this is that the new installs were done mostly by people in the age group of 16 to 24, i.e. not the kind of age group which is considered spiritually inclined on an average.

Amazon Kindle

Well where would one go if one has to read books online- Amazon Kindle. After all, the app which provides access to almost all the possible books that have been converted to an online version of themselves. 

BravoNovel & Knots 3D

These are two more apps which we would want to include in the list of the trending mobile apps during the lockdown. Though, not much data is available on how much surge these say, yet BravoNovel and Knots 3D were being discussed almost everywhere on the internet.

While BravoNovel is a different version of Amazon Kindle so to say, Knots 3D is a really addictive game where you have to untie the knots.

Recreation

Surprisingly Netflix did not top the charts when it came to recreation and Amazon prime Videos did not even feature in the top 10 in the domain. However, apps which dealt with emojis and/or meme creation saw a surge.

Another set of mobile apps which became especially popular were the ones offering digital detox or the promise of mindfulness. 

Digital Detox: Focus and Fight Addiction

Well, pretty counter intuitive to the social media apps of the world, the digital detox app helps people put their phone away by giving them a virtual incentive. The app offers a gradual plan to follow to reduce the dependency on the mobile. The thing is, this app came out as a surprise entrant in the list because it simply shot up. The increase was over 200% but before you get overwhelmed, the number of downloads currently stands at 13 million.

Netflix

We really do not have much to say about this one since the lock down phase was all about “Netflix and chill”

iFunny

This app was built pretty recently so as to give the users the option to create their own stickers. iFunny has been doing rounds of the interactive/recreational circles for a while and saw considerable downloads, roughly 100,000 within the first week of its launch.

Healthcare and Self development Apps

With most gyms shut down and restrictions on going out, not many people were able to stick to their workout regime. However, as much as the Americans love a good workout, it was only obvious that they turned to apps for assistance. With the surge in healthcare applications, there is an astounding surge in self development mobile apps.

• Calorie Counter
• WW (Weight Watchers Reimagined)

Calorie Counter and WW were two major apps that saw the maximum number of installs. While Calorie counter saw an increase of roughly 25% in its downloads and 47% in its engagement, WW saw about 34% increase in the downloads. The engagement didn’t see a lot of increase and was only about 6% up from the usual. This could also have been due to the fact that Calorie counter was offering most of the features that Weight Watchers had.

But, that is just an assumption that we are taking. It might not necessarily be true.

Productivity Apps

Needless to say, with the work from the home culture at its peak, the productivity apps saw a significant spike in their downloads too. Some of them were downloaded because of the need to hunt for jobs too, for instance, Indeed and LinkedIn were such apps which were installed by people who were looking for a switch or to network with the relevant people. Let us look at some of the major trending productivity mobiles apps.

Slack

Estimates suggest that Slack saw a 23% higher download number over its usual average and the app usage hours increased to roughly 2.3 hours per user as compared to the earlier average of 45 minutes

Indeed

We do not really have much to add here given how indeed is the app for finding jobs. With the corona crisis and the impending recession hitting the markets, a lot of people lost their jobs and had to take to some or the other job search apps. Indeed ranks 19th in the list of top 20 trending mobile apps during the lock down period.

LinkedIn

Be it blowing the professional trumpet, engaging with the network or finding jobs that would suit your profile or help you proceed in your career, LinkedIn has become the preferred network. Needless to say, it saw a spike in its engagement too, sadly though it was mostly for job seekers. To cater to these, LinkedIn even started its “Open for work” initiative whereby people could mark themselves like that. This helped recruiters to reach out to the immediately available candidates faster.

MobileIron Email+

MobileIron Email+ is essentially an app that can enable all the office mails right at one place.Targeted at android users in general, this app provides a platform to install all the mailboxes, right at one place! Needless to say that with the remote working becoming a norm, this one saw a huge surge in its downloads

Conclusion

So, this was our list of trending mobile apps during the lock down. We have tried to cover the most important ones here as per the categories mentioned. Needless to say, the apps that fulfilled the most basic of the necessities survived and the apps which turned themselves around or were following a model offering companionship saw a spike in their usage.

Having said that, hope this blog gave you some good insights into the world of trending mobile apps.