All of Apple’s stats for the App Store downloads in 2015 are out, and one particular entrant is simultaneously very interesting and not at all surprising. The most downloaded free app of 2015 on the iPad was actually only available for nine months: it was Netflix.
Netflix topped the Apple App Store’s most downloaded list for free apps on the iPad, while Facebook’s Messenger was most popular on the iPhone. On both devices, Minecraft: Pocket Edition was the most popular paid app, at $10.99 regardless of screen size. Unsurprisingly, the top grossing app — where users spent the most money on in-app purchases — was Clash of Clans.
Netflix’s inclusion — especially when competitors Presto and Stan and Foxtel Go didn’t make the top five, either on iPad or iPhone — is an endorsement for Netflix’s number one place in the hearts and minds of Australians. According to Roy Morgan Research, in June this year Netflix had over a million subscribers in over 400,000 households across the country — then 10 times the number boasted by its chief rivals. Stan in early December said it had more than 500,000 subscribers and 1.2 million viewers overall.
Apple wasn’t able to supply information on the overall winners — paid or free — for either the iPhone, iPad or overall, but the strong number one placing of the Netflix app, only available for three quarters of the time of the four other top-placed apps in the iPad list, shows that Australians are embracing the company’s single monthly price, all-you-can-view streaming movies and TV strategy. Given a full year, we’re confident it’d be number one overall:
.@csimps0n @leslienassar It’s as if for years the nation was craving a legal way to pay for & watch content on their choice of device.
— Luke Stockwell (@jedistocky) December 9, 2015
Australian-developed fitness app ZOVA was Apple’s top pick for app of the year on both Apple TV and Apple Watch; iPhone app of the year was Enlight and on the iPad it was The Robot Factory. Australian content featured prominently; Tame Impala’s Currents was album of the year and Mad Max: Fury Road was movie of the year. Crossy Road, the endless hopper from Hipster Whale in Victoria, was the second most popular iPad app. Here are Apple’s Best Of 2015 lists in full:
Top iPhone Apps
Paid
- Minecraft: Pocket Edition
- Heads Up!
- TripView – Sydney & Melbourne
- Facetune
- Afterlight
Free
- Messenger
- Dubsmash
- Uber
- WhatsApp Messenger
- Spotify Music
Grossing
- Clash of Clans
- Game of War – Fire Age
- Candy Crush Saga
- Heart of Vegas: Play Free Casino Slots!
- Slotomania Casino – Las Vegas Free Slot Machine Games – Bet, Spin & Win
Top iPad Apps
Paid
- Minecraft: Pocket Edition
- Five Nights at Freddy’s 2
- Terraria
- Five Nights at Freddy’s
- Goat Simulator
Free
- Netflix
- Crossy Road – Endless Arcade Hopper
- Candy Crush Soda Saga
- Skype for iPad
- Messenger
Grossing
- Clash of Clans
- Heart of Vegas: Play Free Casino Slots!
- Game of War – Fire Age
- Candy Crush Saga
- Candy Crush Soda Saga
Top Songs: iTunes
- Uptown Funk (feat. Bruno Mars), Mark Ronson
- Cheerleader, Omi
- See You Again (feat. Charlie Puth), Wiz Khalifa
- Take Me to Church, Hozier
- FourFiveSeconds, Rhianna, Kanye West & Paul McCartney
- Love Me Like You Do, Ellie Goulding
- Shut Up and Dance, WALK THE MOON
- Lean On (feat. MØ & DJ Snake), Major Lazer
- Hello, Adele
- Hold Back the River, James Bay
Top Albums: iTunes
- 25, Adele
- 1989, Taylor Swift
- x, Ed Sheeran
- Purpose, Justin Bieber
- In the Lonely Hour, Sam Smith
- Title, Meghan Trainor
- Fifty Shades of Grey (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), Various Artists
- Hozier, Hozier
- Compton, Dr. Dre
- 1000 Forms of Fear, Sia
Top Songs: Apple Music Plays
- How Deep is Your Life, Calvin Harris & Disciples
- Downtown (feat. Eric Nally, Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee & Grandmaster Caz), Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
- What Do You Mean?, Justin Bieber
- Wildest Dreams, Taylor Swift
- Hotline Bling, Drake
- Locked Away (feat. Adam Levine), R. City
- Like I’m Gonna Lose You (feat. John Legend), Meghan Trainor
- Peanut Butter Jelly, Galantis
- Sugar (feat. Francesco Yates), Robin Schulz
- You Know You Like It, DJ Snake & AlunaGeorge
Movies – Top Sellers
- Inside Out
- Kingsman: The Secret Service
- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
- Big Hero 6
- Star Wars: The Digital Movie Collection
- Fifty Shades of Grey
- Pitch Perfect 2
- American Sniper
- Gone Girl
- Jurassic World
TV Shows – Top Sellers
- Game of Thrones
- Suits
- The Walking Dead
- Pretty Little Liars
- Keeping Up With the Kardashians
- House of Cards
- Grey’s Anatomy
- Nashville
- Homeland
- True Detective
Top Podcasts
- Conversations with Richard Fidler
- Hamish & Andy
- Stuff You Should Know
- Serial
- The Joe Rogan Experience
- This American Life
- TEDTalks
- Freakonomics Radio
- Dr Karl on triplej
- BBC World Service: Documentaries