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WhatsApp's new terms of service have resulted in an exodus of users moving to alternative, "more secure" messaging services. While there a bunch to choose from, Telegram and Signal seem to be the most popular of all. Shortly after the former added 25 million users in 72 hours, the latter has crossed the 50-million mark on the Google Play Store.
Google Podcasts reaches 50 million downloads on Android, so someone is clearly using it
Podcasts only became a viable product over the last year
Google Podcasts may not be superior to many third-party podcast players out there, but it's free and readily available on any device and lets you pick up your listening session on a smart home speaker via voice. That alone might be worth a lot to many people, and it seems that Google Podcasts resonates with at least 50 million users — that's the milestone the app just reached on the Play Store.
Fitbit hits 50 million installs on the Play Store
This doesn't mean there are only 50 million Fitbit devices out there, though
Fitbit offers some of the most popular fitness trackers, and many people use the brand name to describe any health band. With that recognition, four iterations of the Charge on the market, and some ventures into the smartwatch space with the Versa and the Ionic, you should think that the company already got millions of devices into customers' hands. The Play Store listing seems to confirm as much — the Fitbit app has just reached 50 million installs over the weekend.
Android TV milestone: YouTube reaches 50 million installs on the platform
Hinting at how many users have tried Android TV over the years
Unlike the mobile Android operating system, Android TV isn't a subject Google often gloats about. Every year or so, we get a small hint about the platform's popularity, but no monthly active users or total sales units have been shared recently, or ever. This lack of marketing has lead many to think Android TV is close to abandoned, when in fact Google has been actively pushing the platform to vendors more than end users. In March, the company announced 160+ TV providers were using its OS. Now, we're getting another hint: YouTube for Android TV has just passed 50 million installs.
Google Meet passes 50 million downloads, boosted by coronavirus
People are turning to Google's solution now that it's free
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, most people are stuck at home and looking for ways to keep in touch with each other. Zoom has been a popular solution for a while, both for companies and individuals. However, with Google's offering becoming free earlier this month, it's now passed 50 million installs on the Play Store.
Mere days after Google Fit crossed a major download milestone (and took its sweet time doing it), another more popular Google app has accomplished the same feat in less than half the time. Google Lens, the visual search engine that lets users summon information about the world around them by taking photos or screenshots, has officially joined the 50-million downloads club.
While other apps recently celebrated download numbers surpassing billions, Android Auto only reached the milestone of 50 million installs on the Play Store yesterday. That's still an impressive number for an app that only works with a limited amount of car entertainment systems and that doesn't come pre-installed on most Android phones, unlike the 'big' Google apps such as Gmail, Search, or Calendar.
It may seem far in the past now, but the craze surrounding Prisma was extraordinary. It became available on the Play Store to everyone in late July 2016, around a year and four months ago. Now the photo-editing app has reached 50 million installs on the Play Store, which is no small feat.
We've covered Google's photo-editing app, Snapseed, plenty of times here. It's one of the best photo manipulation apps available for Android, especially considering it's completely free. If you needed more proof that the app is awesome, maybe the app's 50 million downloads will convince you.
Most of the apps that pass 50 million downloads on the Play Store are ones from major companies, but not this time. The newest app to join the 50 million club is PPSSPP, the popular open-source emulator for the Sony PlayStation Portable.
Facebook released a lite version of its Messenger application near the end of last year. As with most Lite apps, it's designed to be used in growing markets, where cellular data may be a limited resource. It's less than 10MB, works on Android 2.3 or higher, and has all of the essential features of the full app.