A recent report showed that there were more than 11.1 billion downloads that were made in the Google Play Store for the first quarter of 2016.
The report, which was revealed by App Store optimization company Sensor Tower, also said that the top three apps that had the most number of downloads from the Google Play Store were all social media apps. These apps are Facebook Messenger (number 1), Facebook (number 2) and Snapchat (number 3).
Facebook-owned Instagram and WhatsApp also made it to the top 20 most downloaded apps in the Play Store, landing on the 7th and on the 12th spots, respectively.
Based on the total number of downloaded apps in the report, the number increased by as much as 6.7 percent as compared to the same quarter in 2015.
In terms of growth, the apps category that had the highest growth during the first quarter was photography, which enjoyed a 20 percent increase according to the report.
Even notable is how the gaming apps beat the tools installation category by a wide margin of 4 against 1 when it comes to downloads. The number of gaming apps in the Play Store is five times the number of apps that are tools related. During the first quarter, the number of games-related apps gained an increase of 1 percent, as revealed by the report.
Here are the top 20 apps that were downloaded the most in the Play Store.
1. Facebook Messenger
2. Facebook
3. Snapchat
4. Candy Crush Jelly Saga
5. Pandora
6. Color Switch
7. Instagram
8. Piano Tiles 2
9. Netflix
10. YouTube Music
11. Google Photos
12. WhatsApp
13. Spotify
14. Super-Bright LED Flashlight
15. Kik
16. Wish
17. Subway Surfers
18. 360 Security
19. Pinterest
20. musical.ly
There are now more than 2 million apps in the Play Store, which is quite impressive given the fact that it started with only 30,000 apps for the users to choose from. Around six years ago, it used to be known as the Android Market. In 2012, Google Play was officially launched and was touted as the home for the best apps, games and digital entertainment.
Early in April, the team of Android revealed in a blog post that all of the icons in the entire family of Play apps are being updated in order to achieve a consistent look.
"You'll start to see the new Google Play icons across devices and online in the coming weeks," wrote Jonathan Chung, Visual Design Lead at Google Play. "We hope you'll continue enjoying the Play family of products - now with a new look."
