UAE residents favourite app revealed; some spend up to 12 hours a day on it
The most recent report disclosed which mobile applications gained maximum attention from UAE residents throughout 2024 with TikTok leading the list.
Sensor Tower’s State of Mobile 2025 report found TikTok to be the UAE’s top app with daily usage averaging about two hours per resident.
The Chinese-owned app TikTok received 7.63 billion hours of usage time from 11.2 million UAE residents in 2024 which resulted in an average of 2 hours per person each day. Residents of UAE collectively spent about 700 hours on the social media platform last year.
Long hours on TikTok
Haleema Saud dedicates three to four hours daily to TikTok during weekdays along with six hours on her smartphone.
She enjoys spending 12 hours on the phone and eight hours on TikTok in a relaxed day while watching videos about cooking and baking as well as content related to Islam and computer engineering.
Among UAE residents who dedicate substantial time to social media apps is Saud.
A law proposed in the US to ban TikTok brought the app into global news because of data spying concerns about American citizens. President Trump signed an executive order which delayed the short-video app ban for 75 days.
Residents in UAE use Dubai-based Telegram app for an average of one hour each day making it the second most popular app according to the report.
WhatsApp Business along with MX Player and Phone by Google remain popular applications in the nation alongside Google Maps, PLAYit and Gmail.
Social media platforms and apps took up the majority of UAE residents' online time while AI chatbots and software utilities followed by media and entertainment services and online shopping occupied the rest.
Top downloaded apps
The UAE saw TikTok as the leading downloaded social media application last year with Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp Messenger and Telegram trailing behind.
TikTok held the second-highest download position in the UAE during the past year behind VPN Proxy Master.
The most downloaded finance app was buy-now-pay-later solution Tabby which led the pack ahead of digital wallet Taptap Send and others including C3Pay, Mashreq Egypt, ADCB Hayyak and ADCB.
The Chinese e-commerce application Temu achieved the highest downloads among shopping apps in the UAE and 15 other major markets throughout 2024 because consumers needed affordable shopping options to cope with inflation, high interest rates and economic uncertainty.
The report observed that consumers are now seeking platforms that enable multi-sector shopping.
Temu connects shoppers with manufacturers through its direct-from-factory pricing strategy model. The platform maintains competitive pricing and operational efficiency by removing intermediary steps.
The top five shopping apps downloaded last year included Trendyol, Shein, Noon and Amazon.
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