Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat? This app has overtaken TikTok as most downloaded

Meta's owned mobile application Instagram broke TikTok's record of being the most downloaded worldwide in 2023 as per data from Sensor Tower Corporation, The New York Post reported.

Instagram saw 20% more downloads of the app then in the prior year hitting 768 million, while TikTok only changed 4% in downloads amounting to 733 million. 

The change in the positions shows the increased pressure TikTok has been facing from the US regulators about the national security concerns, with some of the congressmen worrying that TikTok could be a threat to the US security.

According to Abraham Yousef, who is the Senior Insights Manager at Sensor Tower, the popularity of the app is due to the combination of Reels feature and the rest of the traditional social media functions. Instagram rolled out the Reels function in 2020 similar to the style of TikTok which is also to grab the Gen Z audience.

Instagram and TikTok were locked in a battle for supremacy in 2021 and 2022, eventually ascending Instagram to the position of replacing TikTok as the number one social media platform in 2023. 

Insta’s monthly active users hit 1.47 billion at the end of September 2023 and 13 million came on board in the last quarter of this year. However, TikTok also had a drop, losing 12 million users and the year ended with 1.12 billion another active users.

Meanwhile, TikTok has a less extensive user base but its users interact with the platform intensively for a total period of 95 minutes in the fourth quarter of 2023. It won't just beat the engagement time of Instagram, X, and Snapchat, it surpasses it.