WhatsApp’s controversial new policy change has brought a lot of changes in the instant messaging area. Apps like Telegram, Signal have gained a lot. In recent data posted by Sensor Tower, Telegram has dethroned TikTok to become the most downloaded non-gaming app of January 2021.
How Telegram Became Most Downloaded App?
In January, Telegram saw an exponential surge in its demand. The app was downloaded 63 million times on the App Store and Play Store. Compare to last year, these numbers are huge. It is 3.8 times its downloads in Jan of 2020. Thanks to a negative campaign against Whatsapp.
As per Sensor Tower Report, Geographically, India contributed the maximum to this amazing growth of Telegram. 24% of total Jan downloads came from India. Indonesia contributed 10% to the total downloads of Telegram.
Telegram has achieved some remarkable feats in the last month. Overall, It crossed half a billion download marks in Jan 2021. The demand for telegram was so high that it added 25 million users between Jan 10 to Jan 12 of 2021. Asian continent contributed maximum in it’s latest popularity.
Telegram CEO criticized Facebook-owned Whatsapp for not respecting the privacy of its Users. This year, Telegram is planning to bring lots of new features to attract more users. Monetization is one of those features that may help the platform to grow further.
Positions of Other Apps and Top Grossing Apps
Tiktok who was the most downloaded app of December as well as of 2020, gave tough competition to Telegram. With approximately 62 million downloads, TikTok stands strong at the number 2 position.
Signal secured third place in most downloaded non-gaming apps of January 2021. The signal is one of the most secured apps under the instant messaging app category. It gives first priority to the privacy and security of the users.

Signal popularity skyrocketed after Elon Musk’s tweet. Signal was surprised with a spike. The company was not ready for this many users. Signal faced so many difficulties in handling the users. First, the company could not send the verification code for first-time registration. Second, the Signal platform was not capable of handling that many users. Users faced delays in transferring messages. For few days, Signal services were almost down in group chat. They installed more servers and updated the current software to handle the traffic.
Facebook and WhatsApp secured 4th and 5th positions respectively related to the most downloaded none gaming app of Jan 2021.
Platform wise, Telegram and Signal secured 1st and 2nd position on Play Store, whereas Tiktok, YouTube topped the chart on App Store with 1st and 2nd rank respectively in Jan 2021.
In the category of top-grossing non-gaming apps of Jan 2021, Tiktok is dictating. It earned a revenue of $128 million that is 3.8 times of Jan 2020 revenue. Piccoma, YouTube, Tinder, and Tencent Video occupy the remaining 4 places in the category of top-grossing apps of Jan 2021.