this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2025
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So are they insinuating that Google App Store “popularity” ranking is actually paid product placement?
Do you REALLY think that Threads is one of the top 4 downloaded apps on Android? "EasyHomescreen" is number 5.
Here is my guess for top 5 downloaded Android apps:
I would be surprised if Facebook and X were up there but not that surprised.
My guess would be that none of the big, well known brands are in the top ten and that those are instead useful utilities that almost everybody uses but rarely talks about.
I'm trying to think of what useful utilities I've had that I had to download from the app store, which didn't come pre-installed. I don't think Material Files, JuiceSSH, Notally, Shazam, etc could be more popular than something mainstream like Instagram.
I wonder if there is a list somewhere. For example, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-downloaded_Google_Play_applications lists a lot of apps that come pre-installed, like Google Maps.
The reason why I was thinking it would utilities is that the big name brand social media stuff often pays to come pre-installed.
I wouldn't count that as top 10 downloaded either, but I see how they would count as top installed apps or top most popular.
Facebook isn't there because it now comes pre-installed on nearly every phone in existence, and is often baked so hard into the core OS that it's impossible to remove without flashing a custom ROM. If you're lucky you might be able to disable Meta slop without bricking core functions of the phone. Removal is usually impossible.
Oh dang. It hasn't been pre-installed on any of my phones, but I try to get close to the stock Android experience. Except now with Pixel stuff I'm not always sure what's stock and what's pixel specific.