Pakistan emerges as 9th largest app market with 3.56bn downloads in 2024

October 06, 2025 (MLN): Pakistan's mobile app ecosystem experienced unprecedented growth in 2024, with users spending 79.1 billion hours on applications while local developers faced significant challenges

Pakistan has cemented its position as a major player in the global mobile app economy, recording 3.56bn app downloads in 2024 a robust 9.2% increase from the previous year.

This achievement positions the country as the ninth largest app market worldwide, outpacing regional competitors and demonstrating the nation's rapidly expanding digital footprint.

The most striking aspect of Pakistan's digital transformation wasn't just download volume, but user engagement intensity, as reported by Insights Data Darbar.

Pakistani mobile users spent a collective 79.1bn hours on applications throughout 2024, marking a 14.1% surge that exceeded every comparable emerging market in the region.

This engagement rate outstripped the Philippines (8.4%), Mexico (4%), Indonesia (3.4%), and Vietnam (2.6%), highlighting Pakistanis' deep integration with mobile technology.

This engagement boom coincided with substantial infrastructure expansion. Mobile broadband subscriptions grew 8.4% to reach 134.8 million users, while average monthly data consumption per user hit 8.4 GB nearly double the 4.9 GB consumed in 2020.

The smartphone manufacturing sector reinforced this growth trajectory, with locally assembled devices surging 47% to 31.38m units, satisfying 95% of national demand.

Meta and ByteDance maintained their stranglehold on Pakistan's most downloaded apps in 2024.

TikTok led the pack with 32.4m installs, followed by CapCut (27.1m), Facebook (24.3m), and WhatsApp (22.7m).

However, the communication landscape experienced a dramatic shift following Pakistan's ban on X (formerly Twitter) in February 2024.

Telegram emerged as the biggest beneficiary of the X ban, nearly tripling its user base from 4.4m to 12m downloads a staggering 170% increase.

VPN applications also saw explosive growth as users sought to circumvent restrictions, with Super VPN downloads jumping 149% to 19.1 million and Secure VPN growing 158% to 7.6m.

The e-commerce sector witnessed a seismic shift as Chinese newcomer Temu disrupted Pakistan's established order. In its debut year, Temu captured 8m downloads, overtaking long-time market leader Daraz, which recorded 7.7m downloads.

This changing of the guard signals intensifying competition in Pakistan's e-commerce space and growing consumer appetite for international shopping platforms.

Pakistan's digital payment ecosystem continued its upward trajectory in 2024. JazzCash achieved 19.67m monthly active transacting users the highest ever recorded for any Pakistani application while Easypaisa led the segment in downloads with 12.1m.

This robust adoption underscores the country's accelerating shift toward cashless transactions and digital financial inclusion.

The streaming industry demonstrated market maturation, with platforms prioritizing monetization over pure user acquisition.

Tamasha exemplified this strategic pivot: while its downloads declined 13.4% to 10.2m, monthly active users surged 61% to 17.1m.

Most significantly, paid subscriptions exploded 367% to reach 1.35m users, demonstrating successful conversion from free to premium tiers.

Despite consumer-side growth, Pakistan's developer community confronted severe challenges in 2024.

Active developers dropped 26% to just 1,400 individuals, while Android app releases plummeted 55% to 1,700 titles.

Game development fell 31%, with only 756 titles released, while iOS development remained the only stable segment at 784 apps. In total, Pakistani developers released 2,500 apps and games throughout the year.

Industry analysts attribute this contraction to tightening registration and approval criteria by major app stores, coupled with developers increasingly registering accounts abroad due to payment processing difficulties and taxation challenges.

Despite these obstacles, top locally-developed apps maintained strong performance, with Easypaisa (12m downloads), Time Warp Scan (11.7m), and My Zong (10.7m) leading domestically-created applications.

Pakistan's 2024 performance distinguished it across South Asia and comparable emerging markets.

The country's 9.2% download growth exceeded Indonesia (8.6%), the Philippines (1.2%), Mexico (1.2%), Egypt (-1.7%), and Vietnam (-13.6%). In engagement growth, Pakistan dominated the region at 14.1%, surpassing all comparable markets.

Globally, the mobile app industry continued expanding with 136bn downloads and $150bn in consumer spending, with Pakistan capturing an increasing share of this digital economy.

Pakistan's 2024 app market performance reveals a maturing digital ecosystem characterized by strong consumer adoption but developer ecosystem challenges.

The convergence of expanding mobile infrastructure, growing smartphone penetration, and increasing data consumption creates favorable conditions for continued growth.

However, addressing developer ecosystem constraints particularly payment processing, taxation frameworks, and app store compliance will be critical for Pakistan to fully capitalize on its digital momentum and transition from consumer market to innovation hub.

The complete State of Apps Pakistan 2024 report offers comprehensive breakdowns across all major categories and detailed insights into emerging trends shaping the country's digital economy.

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