iOS App Store 10th Anniversary: The Most Successful Games, Apps Of All Time

On July 10, 2008, the mobile device market changed forever.

Apple launched the first version of its iOS App Store on that day, allowing iPhone owners to download apps made by third-party developers for the first time. Prior to that, iPhone owners were limited to whatever apps Apple made.

Since then, apps have come to define the mobile market, generating huge amounts of money through charged downloads and in-app purchases. App Annie, a company that collects data about various app markets, released a comprehensive document that shows which apps have been downloaded the most and made the most money in the decade since.

App Annie’s data counted the top 10 apps and games of all time in separate categories, with distinct lists for all-time downloads and money spent all-time. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Facebook owns four of five most-downloaded apps of all time. Facebook had the top spot, with Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp rounding out the rest.

Only YouTube, which is owned by Google, was able to break Facebook’s monopoly on the top five. Facebook Messenger used to be contained within the Facebook app, but the social network made users download a separate app in 2014.

However, the list of apps that people have spent the most money on is radically different, as the aforementioned apps do not try to milk money out of their users. Netflix has generated the most money, followed by Spotify. The Chinese instant messaging app QQ is the only app to make it onto both lists.

Mobile gaming is now a hugely lucrative market, thanks in part to the iOS App Store. According to App Annie’s data, Activision’s Candy Crush Saga is the most-downloaded iOS game of all time. As of November, it had been downloaded nearly 3 billion times.

However, Candy Crush Saga is only second best when it comes to printing money. Clash of Clans from publisher Supercell hit the top spot on that list. Originally released in 2012, Clash of Clans is a mobile gaming behemoth. Supercell generated $2 billion in revenue in 2017 without releasing a new game, which is almost unheard of in the gaming industry.

In all, App Annie’s data found that apps are downloaded far more frequently than games, but games convince users to spend money more effectively. Games only counted for 31 percent of app downloads, but 75 percent of money spent on App Store products was spent on games, per App Annie.