TikTok topped the list of most downloaded non-game apps worldwide for May, according to a recent report by analytics platform Sensor Tower.
The video sharing app was downloaded about 112 million times in May. About one-fifth of these downloads were from India – one of its largest markets. The U.S. took the second spot with a little over nine per cent of the downloads coming from the country. Globally, the number of downloads increased two-fold year-over-year from May 2019, as per the report.
In Google’s Play Store downloads, the app took the top position followed by Facebook’s popular messaging app, WhatsApp and the newly sought-after video conferencing app, Zoom. While in Apple’s App Store downloads, Zoom took the top spot, with TikTok in second place, followed by YouTube.
There was an increase in the number of downloads during the month of May compared with April, when the app had 107 million downloads worldwide. However, in India the number of downloads shrunk by about a million in May compared with the previous month.
The app developed by ByteDance, a Chinese internet technology company, has a 4.4 rating on the Play Store, and a 3.4 rating on the App Store with over 21 million reviews combined, on June 08.
Lately, on multiple occasions, questions have been raised regarding the content posted on the TikTok platform, including a tussle involving creators on TikTok and YouTube. A recent incident involving a video promoting violence against women posted by Faizal Siddiqui, led to his account being suspended.
TikTok India in an Instagram post on May 19, said “Over the last few days, we have acted on several pieces of content that violated our policies. We have taken actions including taking down content, suspending accounts of the concerned users, and/or are working with law enforcement agencies, as appropriate.”
The Hindu had earlier reported that the app’s rating had dropped to 1.2 on the Play Store, in connection with some of these issues. This drop had resulted in Google’s intervention, bringing the app rating back up.
In April, the app was also briefly removed from both the App Store, and the Play Store after an order was issued by the Madras High Court to ban the app.
