Not long ago, mobiles were simple, used just for phone calls and text messages. Back in the day, some of them offered extra features, such as internet connection or games. Now, smartphones offer much more than that. They offer different kinds of apps that make people’s lives much easier.
Today we all use at least one app in our daily routine, whether chatting with friends, booking plane tickets, watching movies, or shopping online.
Not only that, but mobile apps have also become very important for businesses. While some time ago, businesses worked perfectly in physical spaces and didn’t need an online presence, today; they are increasingly getting into the app game.
However, there are a lot of mobile app categories.
Here are 7 most popular mobile app categories:
- Social media apps
- Gaming apps
- Lifestyle apps
- Educational apps
- Utility apps
- News apps
- Business apps
1. Social Media Apps
Social media apps are one of the most popular mobile app categories available. We use them in our everyday life to build our social networks. They are a great way to stay connected with friends and relatives and stay up to date on what’s happening in the world.
You might even be surprised at how many people use these apps daily. If you’re not familiar with them, here are the most popular ones:
Facebook: One of the most popular social media platforms globally, with over 2 billion monthly active users worldwide. It allows you to share photos, videos, text messages, and more. You can also use it to message your friends or post status updates about what matters most to you right now.
Instagram: This is an image-based social network where users can post photos and videos for others to see. It allows users to create accounts based on specific interests, such as food or travel. Each account can then share its posts via photo or video uploads from their devices, which might be a smartphone or tablet.
2. Gaming Apps
Gaming and entertainment apps are one of the most obvious mobile app categories. The competition in this category of apps is very high. These apps nowadays are the target of app developers since they are the most popular category and remain the leader in audience reach.
While in the past, people played games like Snake, Sudoku, and Chess on their keyboard phones, now mobile gaming has evolved in huge steps. Today’s mobile gaming is beyond what it once was. There are many games for different kinds of people, like arcade games, brain training games, sports games, etc. Some games are played solo, and some others with a group of friends online. People get addicted to games, making this category the most profitable among mobile app categories.
Here are some of the most famous mobile app games:
- Angry Birds
- Fortnite
- Minecraft
- Grand theft auto
- FIFA
3. Lifestyle Apps
Lifestyle apps are the most popular mobile app categories among users, according to a recent study.
The top category of lifestyle apps includes date apps, fitness, health, food and drink, style, beauty, fashion, and personal care. These categories relate to one’s physical well-being or social status. For example, a fitness app may be useful to people trying to lose weight or gain muscle mass. However, the most popular apps in this category are dating apps. The times when dating online was taboo has passed; now, people use dating apps to find a partner that will match their requirements and what they are looking for.
The lifestyle apps category also includes listening to music and watching movies.
Here are some examples of lifestyle apps:
- Trip Advisor
- Tinder
- Uber
- Spotify
4. Educational Apps
The purpose of this mobile app category is fairly straightforward. People use these apps to self-educate and inform. Educational apps became much more popular during the pandemic when lockdowns were implemented, and remote education replaced normal education. E-learning became the new normal for schools and university studies.
When it comes to educational apps, there are a lot of different apps from where people can learn new skills, like, for example, learning a new language.
Here are some examples of educational apps:
- Duolingo
- Buzzfeed
- Google Classroom
5. Utility Apps
Utility apps are very simple and straightforward in their function. They don’t get bogged down with complicated functionality or features you need to learn before using them. Instead, utility apps usually have one or two features that make them useful for their users, and if those features are well-designed and easy to use, users will be more likely to use them regularly.
Utility apps are perfect for small businesses because they don’t require any special knowledge for your employees or customers. You just install them on your phone or computer and start using them without any training. And since they don’t require much time or effort from users themselves, these types of apps can become very popular among people who aren’t tech-savvy at all, like kids!
Here are some examples of utility apps:
- Calculator
- Weather
- Calendar
- Notepad
- Translate
6. News Apps
News apps are also one of the most popular mobile app categories since newspapers are barely a thing anymore. Most people get news and information online through social media or news apps.
Additionally, news apps are easy to use and direct people to read the daily news or their interests. There are many news apps in the app store where you can read news from different sources. Also, many media companies provide their readers with an app.
Here are some examples of news apps:
- Google News
- Apple News
- Buzzfeed
- BBC News
- CNN
7. Business Apps
These apps provide a way for businesses to connect with their customers, keep track of expenses, manage inventory and production, and more.
Business apps are easy to use, no matter what kind of business you have. People of all backgrounds can use them with minimal training.
Business apps are also customizable to fit your needs and budget. So, you can create different versions of your app depending on how much money you want to spend on it and what features you want to include in each version.
Here are some business app examples we at Eagle IT created for our clients:
- Homesearch
- SmartTool
- SmartRapport
Conclusion
It’s no secret that the mobile app market is crowded and there are a lot of mobile app categories on the market today; we just narrowed it down to the most popular ones.
Moreover, if you want to build an app or get more traffic on your current app, check out these popular mobile app categories to see which one might fit your needs.
