There are nearly two million apps on the App Store.
Now, Apple has revealed the biggest downloads in the UK this year – and it shows iPhone users refuse TikTok in favor of commercial programs.
Some of the best stories of the year are fast fashion programs from China including Temu and Shein, along with Vinted’s “vintage market”.
They come before social media apps including TikTok and Trim‘s Threads, as well AI chatbot sensation ChatGPT, which released the app last year.
As 2024 draws to a close, Apple reveals the most downloaded apps and games of the year in the UK,” the tech giant said in a statement.
‘The App Store is the safest and best place for users to find and download apps and games.
‘App Store editors around the world recommend thousands of apps a year on the Today, Apps and Games pages to help users find the best apps, games, software events, original stories, collections, and more.
Launched in 2008, the App Store has been at the heart of many successful mobile app businesses, including the likes of Angry Birds, Uber and Deliveroo.
As 2024 draws to a close, Apple has revealed the most downloaded apps and games of the year in the UK.
Shein has become known for selling very affordable clothes, such as dresses costing as little as £3, and is popular with Gen Z shoppers.
Now it’s hard to imagine an iPhone without an app to install its home app – especially the big players Instagram, WhatsApp, TikTok and Snapchat, which didn’t exist when the first iPhone came out.
This year, the most downloaded free iPhone app is Temu: Shop Like a Billionaire, which has taken the social media by storm this year.
Temu, which was founded two years ago, offers the most affordable products that are shipped to consumers directly from China.
Next is another Chinese e-commerce site called Shein, recently valued at $60 billion due to its global success.
Shein has become famous for selling very cheap clothessuch as dresses for as little as £3, and are very popular with Gen Z shoppers.
Other notable names include Threads, a Meta social network designed to compete with Elon Musk’s X (Twitter), which was. it was launched last year.
As of November, Threads has 275 million monthly users, compared to X’s 368 million, according to Statista.
Next is the ‘loved market’ Vinted, followed by ChatGPT and TikTok in fifth and sixth place on the list, respectively.
Threads, a ‘text-based discussion app’ from Meta, looks a lot like Twitter, from the text to the profile picture and blue check mark.
Vinted is the fourth most downloaded iPhone app in the UK in 2024, Apple reveals (file image)
Unlike Temu and Shein, Vinted allows users to buy and sell new or used items, usually clothing, at low prices.
Founded in Lithuania in 2008, the platform is now worth £4.5billion with 65 million users in 21 countries, 16 million of which are in the UK.
Rounding out the top free apps on the iPhone list are Tesco Grocery & Clubcard, WhatsApp, Google and Microsoft Authenticator.
As for the most downloaded free games, Block Blast! – a block puzzle inspired by Tetris – is number one in the UK for the year, followed by MONOPOLY GO!.
In third place is the game platform Roblox, which allows users to create their own virtual worlds.
With no age restrictions, Roblox – which allows people to appear in game ‘avatars’ – has become very popular with young children.
But Experts have criticized this for taking young people to ‘grooming, pornography and violence’..
The list also includes Final Battle: Survival, Whiteout Survival, Township, Offline Games – No Wifi Games, My Perfect Hotel, Wordscapes and Subway Surfers.
Roblox is a free online gaming platform that allows users to create their own virtual worlds. Allows users to play games created by themselves or others (file image)
Minecraft: Play with Friends is the most downloaded iPhone game in the UK in 2024
Currently, the most paid iPhone apps are for people revising their driving test – Driving Theory Test 4 in 1 Kit and Official DVSA Theory Test Kit.
Also in the top 10 are Squeezy, a £2.99 app to encourage women to do pelvic floor exercises, and the £4.99 Official Life in the UK Test, which is taken as part of applications for British citizenship.
And the most paid game for iPhone is Minecraft: Play with Friends (£6.99), Guided Themes and charades! (£1.99) is Plague Inc (£0.99) a British game that asks players to ‘infect the world’ with a virus.
As for the iPad, the most popular free apps have been streaming apps – Disney+, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, BBC iPlayer and ITVX are all in the top 10.
The most paid app for iPads has been Procreate (£12.99), which allows artists to create sketches and photos, followed by offshoot Procreate Dreams (£19.99).
And the most popular game apps for the iPad are Roblox in the free category and Minecraft: Play with Friends (£6.99) in the paid category.
Also popular among iPad users is Among Us!, a free-to-play multiplayer game set in a setting where players must uncover the killers who try to put jobs at risk.
Apple’s App Store was launched in July 2008 – about 18 months after Steve Jobs launched the first iPhone.
Between us! is a free-to-play multiplayer action game set in an environment where players must uncover deadly criminals who are trying to put jobs in jeopardy.
The first iPhone was announced by Steve Jobs in January 2007 and released in the US on June 29, that year. It has a 3.5-inch diagonal screen, 16GB of storage and a 2-megapixel camera among its specifications.
It is now a large part of iPhone users, but surprisingly the first iPhone came without third-party software.
The project initially opposed the idea of allowing third-party development on iOS, ie software that users can purchase from third-party developers.
So when the iPhone first launched it didn’t have an App Store, and only came with pre-installed apps like Weather, Notes, Calendar and Photos.
However, Jobs eventually admitted that third-party software met strict standards and was all tested and approved by Apple.
