India’s Aarogya Setu contact tracing app has been the top downloaded app in the health and fitness category on both Android and iPhones ever since it launched, according to a report by app analytics firm, App Annie. The app has ranked number one in the category daily between April 2 and June 23, the firm said in a blog post.
“The app has also maintained a position in the top 10 for overall rankings by daily downloads in India on iPhone and top 20 for overall rankings by daily downloads on Google Play,” the post says.
The firm also noted that most contact tracing apps from governments have been doing well during the pandemic. “The COVID-19 Contact App in Japan, Corona-Warn-App in Germany, StopCovid France in France, Immuni App in Italy, COVIDSafe in Australia, Aarogya Setu in India and TraceTogether in Singapore ranked #1 within their respective app store categories (either Medical or Health and Fitness) by daily iPhone downloads every day since their launches,” the post adds.
India’s contact tracing app has also been amongst the top 10 most downloaded mobile apps since its launch, according to Amitabh Kant, chief executive officer (CEO) of government think tank, Niti Aayog. According to a tweet from the official Aarogya Setu handle on Twitter, the app had been downloaded over 12 crore times by June 7.
App Annie says that like most publishers, governments will also have to depend on “mobile first forms” of user acquisition, which includes App Store Optimization and paid ads. They will also have to leverage local networks like doctors’ offices and public health distribution systems to drive the adoption for such apps.
India’s Aarogya Setu app has been widely touted as the most successful contact tracing app in the world. But the app has also been questioned for possible privacy violations by security experts and hackers. The government has denied any such violations and even open sourced the code for the app as a way to mollify such speculations.
