BeReal USA iOS downloads vs. Insta vs. TikTok vs. Facebook vs. YouTube

Digital
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BeReal: the new kid on the social media block. Surging in search volume, getting plenty of news but where is it in the popularity stakes against the big boys?

For a quick ‘monthly downloads’ analysis, I used Similarweb’s app download monitoring, looking at the U.S market and specifically at iOS devices.

What will be interesting is when April’s data is available because when we look at BeReal’s U.S iOS app downloads, we can see a significant rise to 172,522 downloads in March 2022:

BeReal iOS US app downloads 2021-2022
BeReal iOS US app downloads 2021-2022

So where is this against some of the big social media beasts? Let’s take a look.

Instagram U.S iOS app downloads 2021-2022

In the same date range (April 2021 to March 2022), Instagram has 1.1m-1.5m U.S iOS app downloads per month. So pretty static, as you’d imagine with a popular, well established social network.

Instagram iOS US app downloads 2021 - 2022
Instagram iOS US app downloads 2021-2022 (source: Similarweb)

TikTok U.S iOS app downloads 2021-2022

Then on to TikTok; certainly the social media beast of note in recent months and years. According to Sensor Tower, TikTok was the top app by worldwide downloads in Q1 2022, surpassing Instagram for the top spot. Similarweb saw a huge spike in U.S iOS app downloads in September/October 2021 and reports approximately 1m downloads per month.

TikTok_iOS_US_app_downloads 2021-2022
TikTok iOS US app downloads 2021-2022 (source: Similarweb)

YouTube U.S iOS app downloads 2021-2022

YouTube is the authority for online video and with it’s positioning in the Alphabet Inc. product repertoire. Averaging 1.75m-2.4m app downloads per day, this is currently about 10 times what was reported in March 2022 for BeReal:

YouTube iOS US app downloads 2021-2022
YouTube iOS US app downloads 2021-2022 (source: Similarweb)

Facebook U.S iOS app downloads 2021-2022

Finally, the social media giant Facebook still consistently outperforms others in the U.S in terms of iOS app downloads. Coming out of COVID-19, U.S iOS app downloads have stabilised at the 1.8-2.5m per month:

Facebook iOS US app downloads 2021-2022
Facebook iOS US app downloads 2021-2022 (source: Similarweb)

Take Homes

  • BeReal’s well publicised virality is there to be seen in the App Store rankings and download metrics charts such as Similarweb.
  • The next coming months in 2022 will be a good watch in terms of download growth at a U.S and worldwide level; we’d predict a massive spike
  • There is always room for mass adoption and overnight success in social media; it’s what the modern social media user demands.

Duncan Colman

Director & Founder of Spike. I have over 10 years client side marketing experience, which gave me the inspiration to set our agency up to be a driving force in class leading, strategic marketing. I have a real passion for organic search, a constantly changing discipline within digital that when harnessed creates huge commercial gains.