Bubble chart ranking the top 25 global apps by addictiveness (DAU/MAU) and stickiness (Month-1 retention).

A scatter plot where the x-axis measures 'More addictive DAU/MAU' and the y-axis measures 'More sticky Month-1 retention'. WhatsApp is in the top right corner with the highest scores, while apps like CapCut and Netflix are lower on both axes. Bubble sizes represent monthly active users.

SENSOR TOWER . WORLDWIDE . IOS + ANDROID Top 25 apps in the world by addictiveness and stickiness The 25 most-used apps on Earth, by how addictive they are - the share of monthly users who open them on a given day - versus how sticky they are - the share of new users still around a month later. 90% HABIT + RETAINED WhatsApp 2.7B - 2.4B Instagram 2.5B - 1.7B 80% Chrome 3.3B - 2.5B Messenger 1.3B - 600M Gmail 2.5B - 992M ChatGPT 1B - 439M YouTube 2.9B - 2B Facebook 2.3B - 1.4B Google 3.3B - 2.2B 70% Amazon 661M - 201M Snapchat 645M - 395M Telegram 1.3B - 552M Shopee 542M - 242M WA Business 604M - 390M Drive 784M - 176M Pinterest 677M - 209M Spotify 777M - 353M TikTok 2.1B - 1.2B Photos 1B - 307M 60% Netflix 667M - 139M Maps 2.4B - 715M Messages 1.6B - 675M Calendar 1.2B - 277M 50% CapCut 781M - 123M Wellbeing 578M - 98M TRY & FORGET 40% 20% 40% 60% 80% More addictive . DAU / MAU -> Bubble size = monthly active users; colour = the brand. Each label shows the app, then its MAU . DAU. Gold ring = 1B+ monthly users. Tap a bubble for detail. WHY THESE TWO AXES DAU / MAU is the industry's standard proxy for habit strength: of everyone who uses an app in a month, how many open it on a single day. At WhatsApp's 87%, almost every monthly user is in the app every day - that is what "addictive" looks like in the data. Month-1 retention (M1) is the share of brand-new installs still active a month after they joined - measured across their whole first month, not whether they happen to open the app on one specific day. It strips out one-time curiosity and captures durable stickiness: not whether people try you, but whether they stay. Apps drifting toward the top-right are the rare ones people both can't put down and don't abandon. Source. Figures derived from Sensor Tower estimates of worldwide DAU, MAU and Month-1 retention (iOS + Android) across the 25 highest-MAU apps. These are modeled, panel-based estimates rather than official, company-reported numbers - read the exact values as approximate and the relative positions as the signal.