Indians surge to Aaj Tak app for news, to Zoom for work conferences

In these uncertain times as the country fights coronavirus pandemic, Indians are increasingly turning to the Aaj Tak app to get their news. The app downloads for Aaj Tak, which is part of the India Today Group, have surged and the app has jumped 56 places in the list of most downloaded apps in the week starting March 22.

This is compared to the app’s position in the week starting March 15, data shared by App Annie, a firm that tracks app usage, revealed.

Apart from Aaj Tak, video conferencing app Zoom and video sharing app TikTok has also seen a big increase in their downloads in India.

Zoom, which has become synonymous with a virtual business meeting nowadays, has seen a jump of 54 places while TikTok, according to App Annie, is the most downloaded app in the social media category.

In a company blog, which talks of the overall state of app use in the last month or so, Lexi Sydow of App Annie notes that Coronavirus is changing the way people use apps. As businesses enforce working from home, conferences are postponed, flights are canceled, schools are closed, storefronts and restaurants shut their doors and people are quarantined inside, the world is turning to mobile to stay connected, she writes.

Apps that allow business meetings, mobile games, food and grocery shopping apps, entertainment and social media apps, and news apps have gained as more and more people spend time in their houses due to lockdown. It is estimated that currently nearly half of the world’s population is under some sort of lockdown as governments across the world try to contain novel coronavirus and covid-19, a disease caused by this virus, and minimize the death toll.