TikTok became the world’s most downloaded mobile app in 2020, displacing Facebook Messenger, said digital analytics company App Annie.
The Chinese platform, focused on video content, is the only app in the top five global downloads that does not belong to Facebook.
Meanwhile, TikTok owner ByteDance ranks #1 for downloads in its home country with its Chinese video app Douyin.
Facebook-owned apps have topped the App Annie survey since it began in 2018.
However, despite still dominating the list, Mark Zuckerberg’s company lost the top spot to the short-video-sharing platform launched by ByteDance.
The social media giant accounted for the rest of the list’s top five with its flagship app Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger, respectively.
TikTok experienced continuing popularity in North America despite former President Donald Trump trying to ban it in the United States.
Last year, Trump’s administration said that TikTok posed a national security risk, claiming that the Chinese government had access to its users’ data.
However, the company repeatedly denied his allegations.
As part of a potential deal to solve the issue, parent company ByteDance would sell part of its US business to local tech giant Oracle and retailer Walmart.
The plan received tentative approval from Trump but was never approved by Chinese authorities.
Trump’s executive order was withdrawn in January this year after Joe Biden became president of the United States.
In addition to overcoming the legal challenge in the United States, where it has more than 100 million monthly users, the company has implemented other strategies to attract users.
Last week, the media reported that TikTok was testing a new vanishing clips feature very similar to those previously released by Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat.
TikTok Stories will work like other apps’ similar features, allowing users to view content posted by accounts they follow for 24 hours before they are removed.
The TikTok feature would come after the famous WhatsApp messaging app launched a function that allows users to post statuses that disappear after being seen.
The other apps ranked by numbers of downloads on App Annie’s list were Snapchat (6), Telegram (7), Likee (8), Pinterest (9), and Twitter (10).
