Top mobile app publishers right now: overall, fintech, games, music, and travel
Looking for the top mobile app publishers? I have just 2 words for you: big tech!
There are a lot of popular apps on Google Play and the App Store, and every week some new ones pop up on the growth charts. But the publishers that stick are typically the publishers that you’ve heard of. Think Google, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft,
They’re huge.
But of course, you also have the challengers. Right now we’re seeing companies like Temu (shopping) and Uber and Supercell (gaming), along with TikTok (of course) and Netflix and Voodoo (more gaming, mostly) and a bunch of others.
Here’s a mid 2024 snapshot of the top mobile app publishers.
While many won’t slide out of the top lists from week to week some of the others will drop out or pop up, thanks to changing spend levels, new app launches, marketing bursts, and peaks or valleys in virality.
Top 15 mobile app publishers: overall
Based on Apptopia data, here are the top 15 mobile publishers on each major mobile platform in the United States by downloads over the last 90 days.
Note: Meta presents itself as Meta, WhatsApp, and Instagram (which now includes Threads). I’ve combined them all together for a more realistic presentation of where Meta should sit with its big tech competitors. Note that Threads has now become a significant contributor to Meta’s downloads. I’ve also combined ByteDance and TikTok, which also appear separately.
A big difference from the last time I looked at this in 2023: Temu and Shein (ROADGET) were not nearly as prominent: fast fashion and cheap good are definitely a thing right now.
| iOS | Android |
| Meta (Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Threads) | Meta (Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Threads) |
| ByteDance (including TikTok) | Microsoft |
| Microsoft | ByteDance (including TikTok) |
| Amazon | Temu |
| Temu | SayGames |
| Uber | CrazyLabs |
| ROADGET (Shein) | SayGames |
| Supercell | Supersonic |
| Disney | Amazon |
| Netflix | Casual Azure Games |
| Block | Telegram |
| DoorDash | Voodoo |
| SayGames | Zego Studio |
| Voodoo | Disney |
It bears saying again: Threads has been amazing with now over 175 million users. This is huge scale that is approaching the network Mark Zuckerberg created Threads to compete with, X (former Twitter).
It’s also clear that gaming, commerce, streaming video (especially on iOS), and social are some of the most significant categories in the app stores. And both DoorDash and Uber are leaders in a fight among giants for the on-demand category. In streaming, we see Netflix and Disney hit the top most downloaded list.
Top 15 fintech app publishers
When you go from all apps overall to a specific category of apps, branded apps from a single company that typically has only one or a few apps start to appear higher in the rankings.
In 2024, Google stays tops with apps like Google Wallet. But we also see Shopify (commerce), insurance companies like State Farm, and traditional banks like Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase appear on the list.
And, of course, we have all the new and relatively new fintech challengers: PayPal, Chime, Zelle, Credit Karma, and more.
| iOS | Android |
| Block | Block |
| Shopify | Ton Apps (crypto, DeFi) |
| PayPal | PayPal |
| Venmo | Chime |
| Zelle | Venmo |
| Capital One | Zelle |
| ADP | Capital One |
| Progressive Insurance | ADP Ince |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co | ONE Finance |
| ADP | Progressive Insurance |
| Chime | JPMorgan Chase |
| Credit Karma | State Farm Insurance |
| State Farm Insurance | Credit Karma |
| Rocket Money | Bank of America |
As I mentioned last year, you don’t see Apple here on the iOS side. That is simply because the Apple Wallet app is pre-installed on iOS and therefore no-one needs to install it.
My guess: it’s likely that Apple Wallet would be at the top of the list on iOS if it were measured equally, even though it’s not an exclusively financial wallet, as Apple is investing heavily in adding features and functionality to its wallet app.
Top 15 mobile game publishers
There’s been a big shift in 2024 with SayGames surging to the top on Android with apps like Race Master 3D and My Perfect Hotel.
Longtime massive publisher Supercell has done the same on the iOS side.
Other top games publishers include Supersonic, Playrix, Voodoo, and Homa Games, while Aviagames has jumped into the conversation with hits in the bingo, solitaire, tiles, and matching areas.
| iOS | Android |
| Supercell | SayGames |
| Disney | Supersonic |
| SayGames | Casual Azur Games |
| Voodoo | Voodoo |
| Scopely | Zero Studio |
| Hungry Studio | Disney |
| Playrix | Homa Games |
| Roblox | Scopely |
| Supersonic | Outfit 7 |
| Activision | Roblox |
| ABI Games Studio | Supercell |
| Aviagames | CrazyLabs |
| Homa Games | Hungry Studio |
| FirstFun | ABI Games Studio |
| Century Games | Playgendary |
Voodoo is still massive on both iOS and Android, with titles like Helix Jump, Paper.io, Deliver It 3D, and — of course — hot games like Tall Man Run and Going Balls.
It’s worth noting that Disney is just about the only old-school massive corporation that shows up on this list. Arguably Take-Two has almost gained that status. It is, after all, the third-largest publicly traded game company after Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts, worth about $13 billion. And it was founded 30 years ago, in 1992.
But other than that, almost all of the companies are relatively young: children of the digital age. (See also: the top 50 mobile games of 2024)
Top 15 mobile app publishers: music
You don’t usually see Apple on any top music apps downloads list for iOS, mostly because Apple Music literally comes with every single iPhone, iPad, and MacBook that Apple sells. But it’s on the list now at Apptopia, and it — interestingly! — comes in below Google and Amazon.
The tech giants Google and Amazon come in just above Spotify, but Spotify does beat Apple Music on Android.
| iOS | Android |
| Amazon | Amazon |
| Apple | Spotify |
| Spotify | Hitchhike Tech |
| MWM | Apple |
| Musi | Easybrain |
| JoyTunes | Pocket FM |
| BandLab | Pandora |
| Pandora | SoundCloud |
| Skywork | MWM |
| Bose | Harman Consumer |
| SiriusXM | Simply |
| TouchTunes | SiriusXM |
| Harman Consumer | BandLab |
| Audiomack | Apple |
Regular top list publishers such as SirisXM, AudioMack, Pocket FM, and Pandora show up on the top lists, while there are some relative newcomers such as BandLab, Skywork, and TouchTunes.
Top 15 travel app publishers
Google’s at the top, and it’s easy to know why. There’s Maps, of course, but there’s also Google Translate (important for some trips!) and Google Earth.
Wondering about NBC Universal? Think theme park maps/ticketing/information/purchasing apps. Similarly, while HomeAway may not ring a bell, it’s the core app for vacation rental company VRBO.
| iOS | Android |
| Microsoft | Disney |
| Uber | NBC Universal (Universal Studios) |
| Disney | Airbnb |
| Airbnb | Expedia |
| Lyft | United Airlines |
| NBC Universal (Universal Studios) | VRBO |
| Expedia | Booking.com |
| East End Technologies (flight tracker app) | American Airlines |
| Waze | Delta Airlines |
| HomeAway (VRBO) | Mobile Heroes (flight tracker app) |
| American Airlines | U-Haul International |
| Delta Airlines | Southwest Airlines |
| Southwest Airlines | Frontier Airlines |
| US Customs and Border Protection | US Customs and Border Protection |
Some surprise apps include flight tracker apps from East End Technologies and Mobile Heroes. But a real surprise is the US Customs and Border Protection, with apps for mobile passports, global entry programs, and border wait times.
Top app publishers and the power laws of mobile
It’s important to remember that power laws apply to the top mobile app publisher lists. The top player in a category might generate as many app installs or game downloads as the next 5 combined.
The top 3 generally will have more app installs than the next 12.
And it’s hard to get to the top.
The rewards for winning are great, but the challenge is immense, with most categories besides gaming being dominated by one or more members of the very small community of big tech companies … generally Google, Meta/Facebook, or Apple, with Amazon showing up as well. For some reason, gaming — though it follows its own internal power laws — is not dominated by the typical big tech companies.
Gaming has developed its own giants, led by Take-Two, Voodoo, and Supersonic, and challenged by Disney and others.
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