Apple reveals the most downloaded apps and games of the year - with iPhone users shunning TikTok in favour of bargain shopping apps

There are nearly two million apps on App Store.

Now, Apple has revealed the most downloaded ones in the UK this year – and it seems iPhone users are shunning TikTok in favour of bargain shopping apps. 

Among the year's success stories are fast fashion apps from China including Temu and Shein, along with the trendy 'preloved marketplace' Vinted. 

They come ahead of social media apps including TikTok and Meta's Threads, as well as AI chatbot sensation ChatGPT, which released an app last year. 

As 2024 comes to a close, Apple is unveiling the most downloaded apps and games of the year in the UK,' the tech giant said in a statement. 

'The App Store is the safest and best place for users to discover and download apps and games. 

'App Store editors around the world recommend tens of thousands of apps annually across the Today, Apps and Games tabs to help users discover the best apps, games, in-app events, original stories, collections, and more. 

Launched in 2008, App Store has since been at the heart of the creation of a large number of hugely successful mobile app businesses, including the likes of Angry Birds, Uber and Deliveroo.

It is now hard to image the iPhone without a bevvy of apps plastering its home screen – especially big players Instagram, WhatsApp, TikTok and Snapchat, none of which existed when the first iPhone came out.

This year, the most most-downloaded free iPhone app is Temu: Shop Like a Billionaire, which has pushed averts extensively across social media this year. 

Temu, founded a little over two years ago, offers heavily discounted consumer goods mostly shipped to consumers directly from China. 

Next up is another Chinese e-commerce site called Shein, recently valued at a staggering $60 billion due to its global success. 

Shein has become known for selling ultra-cheap clothes, such as dresses for as little as £3, and is especially popular with Gen Z consumers. 

Other familiar names are Threads, Meta's social media platform designed to rival Elon Musk's X (Twitter), which was launched last year. 

As of November, Threads has 275 million monthly active users, compared with X which has 368 million, according to Statista.  

Next is 'preloved marketplace' Vinted, followed by ChatGPT and TikTok in fifth and sixth place on the list, respectively. 

Unlike Temu and Shein, Vinted lets users buy and sell new or secondhand items, typically clothes, at low prices.

Founded in Lithuania in 2008, the platform is now valued at £4.5billion with 65 million users across 21 countries, 16 million of whom are in the UK. 

Rounding out the top free apps for iPhone list is Tesco Grocery & Clubcard, WhatsApp, Google and Microsoft Authenticator. 

As for the most downloaded free games, Block Blast! – a Tetris-inspired block puzzle – is number one in the UK for the year, followed by MONOPOLY GO!.

In third place is the controversial online gaming Roblox platform, which lets users build their own virtual worlds. 

With no set age restrictions, Roblox – which lets people appear in-game 'avatars' – has become extremely popular for young kids. 

But experts have criticised it for exposing youngsters to 'grooming, pornography and violent content'. 

Also on this list is Last War:Survival, Whiteout Survival, Township, Offline Games - No Wifi Games, My Perfect Hotel, Wordscapes and Subway Surfers. 

Meanwhile, the top paid iPhone apps are for people revising their driving theory test – Driving Theory Test 4 in 1 Kit and Official DVSA Theory Test Kit. 

Also in this top 10 are Squeezy, a £2.99 app encouraging women to do pelvic floor exercises, and the £4.99 Official Life in the UK Test, which is taken as part of applications for British citizenship. 

And the most popular paid iPhone games are Minecraft: Play with Friends (£6.99), charades-inspired Heads Up! (£1.99) and Plague Inc (£0.99) the British game that invites players to 'infect the world' with a deadly pathogen. 

As for iPad, the most popular free apps have largely been streaming apps – Disney+, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, BBC iPlayer and ITVX are all in the top 10. 

The most-popular paid app for iPads has been Procreate (£12.99), which lets artists create sketches and illustrations, followed by offshoot Procreate Dreams (£19.99). 

And the most popular gaming apps for iPad are Roblox in the free category and Minecraft: Play with Friends (£6.99) in the paid category. 

Also still popular for iPad users is Among Us!, the free multiplayer social deduction game set in space where players have to uncover murderous saboteurs who attempt to jeopardise a mission. 

Apple's App Store was launched in July 2008 – about 18 months after Steve Jobs launched the very first iPhone. 

They're now a dominant part of the iPhone user experience, but incredibly the first iPhone came without third-party apps. 

Jobs was originally opposed to the idea of allowing third-party development on iOS, meaning apps that users could buy from outside developers.

So when the iPhone first launched it had no App Store, and only came with preinstalled apps like Weather, Notes, Calendar and Photos. 

However, Jobs finally relented on the proviso that third-party apps met strict standards and were all tested and approved by Apple.