Amid WhatsApp Privacy Row, Telegram stands the most downloaded app in January 2021

Telegram has become the most downloaded non-gaming app worldwide for January 2021. It has more than 63 million installs, 3.8 times its downloads in January 2020. According to Sensor Tower, the countries with the most Telegram installs were India at 24% and Indonesia at 10%. The messenger app also attained the top position in the overall downloads (non-game) on Google Play Store. The company ranked at 9th position in December 2020. Further, it also entered the list of top 10 most downloaded (non-game) apps on App Store, directly gaining the 4th position.

TikTok stood the second most installed non-gaming app worldwide last month. It had close to 62 million installs with most downloads from Douyin in China at 17% and the US at 10%. Signal, Facebook, and WhatsApp rounded out the top five most installed non-gaming apps worldwide for the month.

The boost to Telegram downloads

Since the WhatsApp policy update, Signal and Telegram have seen a massive shift of userbase. In fact, several Indians, too, have moved to Signal and Telegram after WhatsApp started asking users to accept a controversial new privacy policy. In fact, the ultimatum of February 8, to accept the terms or leave WhatsApp didn't go well with Indian consumers. And although WhatsApp has postponed the date for accepting the privacy policy, users have at large shifted to Telegram and Signal. (Well, more to the former, according to the recent stats.) Currently, the app has over 500 million active users.

In case of any discrepancies, Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram has shared his insights and answered all questions on user data privacy.

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