According to a report from The New York Post, Instagram, owned by Meta, surpassed TikTok to become the most downloaded mobile application worldwide in 2023, as indicated by data from Sensor Tower Corporation.
Instagram witnessed a 20% increase in app downloads compared to the previous year, reaching 768 million installations, whereas TikTok experienced only a 4% change, amounting to 733 million downloads.
The shift in rankings underscores the mounting pressure TikTok faces from U.S. regulators concerning national security concerns. Some lawmakers have expressed apprehensions about TikTok posing a potential threat to U.S. security.
Abraham Yousef, Senior Insights Manager at Sensor Tower, attributes the app’s popularity to the incorporation of the Reels feature alongside traditional social media functions. Instagram introduced the Reels function in 2020, mirroring the style of TikTok, thus appealing to the Gen Z audience.
Instagram and TikTok engaged in a fierce rivalry throughout 2021 and 2022, culminating in Instagram surpassing TikTok as the leading social media platform in 2023.
As of September 2023, Instagram boasted 1.47 billion monthly active users, with an additional 13 million users joining in the last quarter of the year. Conversely, TikTok experienced a decline, losing 12 million users, and ending the year with 1.12 billion active users.
Despite having a smaller user base, TikTok’s users exhibit intensive engagement with the platform, spending a total of 95 minutes on it in the fourth quarter of 2023. This engagement surpasses not only Instagram but also other platforms like X and Snapchat.
