Top players have app charts locked

Most of the top 10 most-used apps of the first half of this year are Google-owned and come pre-installed on Android devices.

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Facebook-owned applications and apps that come pre-installed on smartphones are the most used, compared to popular apps that are downloaded and not used after a while.

Data from research done by app intelligence company SurveyMonkey Intelligence reveals the 30 most downloaded apps of the first half of this year compared to the 30 most used apps from January to June.

The company gathers detailed metrics on thousands of apps in the iOS and Android app stores.

Facebook, Apple and Google own the top 12 most used apps. In the top 12 most downloaded list, there are seven apps that are not owned by the three tech companies: Snapchat, Color Switch, Pandora, Netflix, Spotify, Slither.io and Piano Tiles 2.

This shows the three tech companies have "mobile on lock", says Robbie Allan, growth product manager at SurveyMonkey Intelligence.

"Fully 40% of the most-used apps come pre-loaded on the operating system, highlighting the importance of Android and iOS to Google and Apple, and giving some insight into Facebook's ongoing desire to control this deeper layer of the stack," says Allan.

The most downloaded apps January - June 2016 vs the most used:

Allan says the data is US-only at this point, but the company hopes to have international data available in the future.

The data reveals Facebook Messenger was the most downloaded app in the last six months, with nearly 60 million downloads. It is also the third most used, with over 120 million monthly active users.

Messenger's popularity stems from the social network forcing users to download the app to continue receiving messages from friends within its mobile app.

The social network's other apps, Instagram and its main app, are among the top 10 most used and downloaded.

Google now pre-installs YouTube, Google Maps, the Play Store, Google Search, Chrome and Gmail on all Android devices, while Apple pre-installs Safari, the App Store and Apple Music on all iPhones.

These apps account for nearly all of the top 12 most-used apps because they are readily available to use.

There are no games in the most-used apps, while there are several in the most downloaded chart. These include Slither.io, Color Switch, Candy Crush Jelly Saga, Subway Surfers, Clash of Clans and Piano Tiles 2.

"This highlights the relatively low retention and hits-driven nature of mobile games," says Allan.

He notes consumers definitely like to spend their time playing games on their mobile devices, but no individual game is dominant.

However, this report excludes the Pokémon Go app because it was released in July.

Time will tell if the app, which was downloaded more than Tinder and exceeded Twitter's US daily active user base, will become one of the most-used smartphone apps.

For developers, it is important to look at where apps fall on both charts.

"Downloads and usage are both important app metrics, and neither one should be considered without considering the other," says Allan, explaining that a lot of app downloads will not do much good if the app usage rate is low, and vice versa.

He says getting to the top of the most downloaded chart is hard and it is nearly impossible to get to the top of most used, if developers are not from Facebook, Apple, or Google.

"Breaking in is extremely expensive to do via advertising, and even if you do crack the top 10, it doesn't guarantee app usage or retention success."

He says developers should instead focus on building an app that is useful, shareable and has broad appeal.

"Just under half of the most-downloaded apps do not appear on the most-used apps list," says Allan.

"This suggests these apps are either new entrants still building a user base, or they simply can't retain the users that they acquire. In most cases, the problem is probably retention."