TikTok, Binance, Shopee among the most popular apps in SEA: report

As people become more familiar with shopping, investing, and consuming content on their mobile phones, mobile-first markets have been on their phones for nearly a third of their waking hours, according to Data.ai’s (formerly App Annie) State of Mobile 2022 report.

Indonesians spent more than five hours per day on mobile apps in 2021, noted the report. While India saw the most downloads among emerging markets, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia took the lead in Southeast Asia.

We look at the top apps in social, finance, and shopping segments in the region in terms of downloads and monthly active users.

The usual social suspects

TikTok took the lead in per-user engagement among social apps globally, commanding the most time spent in 2021. It was also one of the top five most downloaded apps in all Southeast Asian markets, except in Hong Kong. The app was the standout winner in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand by downloads.

Meta apps Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp Messenger kept their hold in these markets.

With interest in metaverse springing, avatar social app Zepeto grew 160% year-on-year in downloads, noted the report.

Crypto takes the cake

Fast and simple movement of money and financial flexibility seem to be the two winning formulas for the success of finance apps, according to the report.

In Southeast Asia, Indonesia has seen the largest growth of these apps over the past four years – up 185% – the report noted. With cryptocurrency gaining traction, Binance has been a hit among users in the region, becoming one of the top five most-downloaded finance apps in Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The higher downloads could mean that Binance will also see an increase in monthly active users in these markets in the coming months.

Several other crypto apps such as Crypto.com, Bitkub, Coinhako, and MetaMask made it to the list.

Shop till you drop

Time spent on shopping apps rose by 18% year on year globally, with fast fashion and social shopping gaining traction, noted the report.

Indonesia and Singapore saw some of the fastest growth among countries in the region, clocking 46% and 45% year-on-year growth in online shopping, respectively.