If we come down to sheer numbers alone then Android has a significant lead over iOS, its closest rival which comes in as the second most popular mobile platform out there. A few months back it was formally announced that over one billion devices around the world are now powered by Android. Google’s own apps have passed major milestones on Android but Facebook is first non-Google app to have achieved over one billion downloads on the mobile platform.
It was really a question of when this would happen and not if it would happen. One can understand why Google’s apps are popular on Android devices, and given Facebook’s massive user base, it was only fair to presume that if any other app was able to pull this off, it would be from the world’s largest social network.
Facebook itself has over one billion users around the world that access the social network through various platforms, including mobile. Previously the apps that have been able to achieve this milestone are Google Maps, YouTube and Gmail. Facebook’s app is the fourth in this list.
It will be interesting to see which app crosses this major milestone next. Some expect that it would be the Facebook Messenger app that’s already crossed 500 million installs. Given that Facebook is now forcing users to download the Messenger app, the numbers may go up rapidly. WhatsApp is also following close behind with half a billion downloads as yet on Android. Let us wait and see which app wins this race.