Most popular Windows and Mac apps in South Africa

Meta Platforms’ WhatsApp Messenger for Desktop is the most popular free app among Windows and Mac users in South Africa.

On the other hand, the most popular paid app for Windows is HEVC Video Extensions, while Mac users downloaded the paid OneShootRean app more than any other app on the App Store.

MyBroadband searched the Microsoft Store and Mac App Store for the most popular free and paid apps in South Africa.

The Windows list of free apps mainly comprises social media and entertainment apps, while the most popular free apps on Mac are more diverse.

Popular free entertainment apps on Windows include Netflix, which took the number two spot, Spotify Music, and iTunes.

The two music apps took the number five and ten spots, respectively.

In addition to WhatsApp, the list of the most popular free Windows apps includes social media platforms like TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram.

TikTok was the third-most popular free app on the Microsoft Store, while Facebook and Instagram placed fifth and seventh. Telegram features in eighth place.

Other apps that feature on the list include Microsoft Teams and Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Design, productivity, and communication programs were among the most popular free apps downloaded from the Mac App Store.

Image and Video editing apps Canva and CapCut are the second and third most popular free apps among Mac users.

Curiously, OneDrive — a cloud-based file hosting platform — is the fourth most popular free app on Mac.

Regarding the paid apps, Windows users downloaded HEVC Video Extensions more than any other app on the Microsoft Store.

The app lets Windows users play High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) videos in any video app on their PC.

Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom are the second and third most popular paid Windows apps, respectively.

Only one app — FL Studio Mobile — is common to the top ten lists for both operating systems.

The program enables users to create multi-track music projects that creators can export in WAV, MP3, and MIDI formats.

The most popular paid app on Mac is called OneShootRean. However, it is unclear what it does or is used for.

The same can be said for the second-most popular paid app on the operating system: KoSomeKe.

GrandPerspective, an open-source software program for analyzing disk space in a graphical treemap, was the third most popular paid app on Mac.

The most popular free and paid apps among Windows and Mac users in South Africa are listed in the table below.