According to a study by analysts at Sensor Tower, a research group that compiles lists of iOS and Android apps by downloads per month, Telegram became the most downloaded non-gaming app in the world in January 2021. Pavel Durov's messenger was installed more than 63 million times, which is 3.8 times more than during the same time last year.

The greatest activity in downloading Telegram was shown by users from India (24% of the total) and Indonesia (10%). The app is the fourth popular one on iOS, but on Android, it became an undisputed leader. Therefore, Telegram took first place in the world in terms of the number of downloads.

Sensor Tower’s list of the most downloaded apps in January 2021
Sensor Tower’s list of the most downloaded apps in January 2021

On January 20, 2021, the messaging service recorded more than 90 million new users. By the end of the month, this figure exceeded 100 million.

TikTok is the second most downloaded app in the world with about 62 million installations. Most of the users that downloaded it come from China (17%) and the United States (10%). The Signal messenger occupies the third place, but its number of downloads is not disclosed.

The growth of Telegram and Signal has been influenced by recent changes in WhatsApp's privacy policy. Facebook plans to update its privacy policy that will let the Facebook-owned messenger exchange data with the rest of the services of the Zuckerberg corporation.

New Telegram Update Lets You Transfer Chats from WhatsApp
Transferring chats from other messengers is available in Telegram for iOS and Android, starting from version 7.4.

Even though the actual exchange of data has taken place in the past, this caused a disturbance on social media, and WhatsApp users began to migrate to Signal in large numbers.

Regardless, Facebook and WhatsApp are still among the top 5 most downloaded apps, according to Sensor Tower.