This article is an ongoing attempt to document Zimbabwean mobile apps with the most downloads in the Android store.
The list by its nature is not comprehensive & we encourage anyone with additions to comment below to make the list of Zimbabwe’s most downloaded Android apps as comprehensive as possible.
- Shona Bible Free (100 000)
- Ecocash (50 000)
- Zim dancehall app (10 000)
- Telone Directory (10 000)
- Star FM Zimbabwe (10 000)
- Provisional Theory (10 000)
- Anglican Shona Hymns (10 000)
- Provisional Test (10 000)
- Shona Dictionary (10 000)
- Zimbabwe Constitution (10 000)
- Zimbabwe News (10 000)
- Shona Bible (Bhaibheri) (10 000)
- Zimbabwe Newspapers (10 000)
- 3D Zimbabwe Flag (10 000)
- Ndeipi Messenger (10 000)
- Duramazwi (10 000)
- Ecocash (Data app) (10 000)
- MyEconet (10 000)
- Econet Wifi Zone (10 000)
- ZRP Most wanted (5 000)
- Simple Bible Ndebele (5 000)
- Radio Zimbabwe app (5 000)
- Mitupo – Totems Zimbabwe (5 000)
- Road Angels List (5 000)
- Shona Bible (5 000)
- Zimbabwe Yellow Pages (5 000)
- Telecash (5 000)
- CV People jobs (5 000)
- Traffic Caculator (1 000)
- Econet Roaming (1 000)
- ZiDrive (1 000)
- CBZ Touch (1 000)
- AFM in Zimbabwe Hymns (1 000)
- Ndebele Audio Phrase Book (1 000)
- Gtaxi (1 000)
- Daily News Live (1 000)
- Soccer 24 Zimbabwe (1 000)
- Pregnancy prayer app (1000)
- Barclays Zimbabwe (1 000)
- Classifieds (1 000)
- ZimStocks (1 000)
- Shona Keyboard Plugin (1 000)
- Zimbabwe TV Channel Info (1 000)
- Zimdancehall.com app (1 000)
- Bible smith Ndebele (1 000)
- The Herald (1 000)
- MyZol (1000)
- Radio Zimbabwe (1000)
- Harare Zimbabwe map (500)
- Chris Connect (100)
- Chii? Shona Language app (500)
- MobiLedge (500)
- Zimbabwe Radio Stations (500)
- ZimbrLingua (500)
- Kumusika (500)
- Ecoshopper (500)
- Maxspot Finder (500)
- 263 Africa Events (100)
- Ndebele Travel Companion (100)
- Kwese Now (100)
- 30 Seconds (100)
- Property Zimbabwe (100)
- AFM in Zimbabwe (100)
- 263 Africa Events (100)
- Ndebele Radio (100)
- ZimDate (100)
- Zilyfe Classifieds (100)
- PayNow Topup (100)
- Zivo app (100)
- NatiV’s Vaka Manzwi (50)
- Vasbox app (50)
- ZiLyfe Tourist (50)
- Cross Network Events app (10)
- Funsa app (5)
The list was compiled by Greg Kawere the CEO of Zivo Learning a language technology startup that develops language learning & translation tools.
Comments
26 responses
Hi, you left out 263 Africa Events with close to 500 downloads
Could you look into these apps
+KingsChat
+Ceflix
Antonyms App has 500 downloads.
where is Antonyms App has 502 downloads
AntonymsAapp has more than 100 downloads and yet most the application on the list were not developed by Zimbabweans or in Zimbabwe.
LOL kablz
Masiya vaya vechi dhendifaya che shiri. Twiggle kana ndisina kurashika
On twiggle I tried to find their android app but have’t found it.
I heard they had 10 million downloads in the Nokia store, but since nokia was bought by Microsoft its now in the microsoft app store.
problem with microsoft/windows store you cant see the number of downloads so thats why the list is kinda limited to android apps for now
Coming next is the profiles of Zimbabwean developers with the most downloaded apps
100 000- 500 000
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tinashe.sdah&hl=en
Hi guys thanks for the statistics but it would be more appreciative if you can compile a list of android app that are downloaded not just zim apps but world wide apps that are downloaded by zimbabweans so that us as developers know what most zimbabweans find fascinating on app store
That’s a difficult one but a good challenge we’d love to take on. Thanks.
Google Play store has this facility through its top apps platform. The lists of most downloaded free apps, top grossing apps, among others, are dynamically curated according to country. Google opted to use this model because various apps are restricted in various countries. One way to verify this auto-curation is by comparing apps data in various countries. It’s also important to note one to give Google permission to use location for Goggle play to render curated apps data.
What is your source ? CBZ Touch is grossly underreported.
Just look for the CBZ touch app in the android store, you will see the figures from Google that are publicly available. Google provides a lover & upper limit so I just used the lower limit for all apps i.e https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mode.cbz.ui (1 000 – 5 000) so i just used 1 000 figure.
So since i did this for all apps in the list the margin of error is constant in all apps listed so comparatively the list should be accurate
It’s not a margin of error fyi. It doesn’t hurt to have just put the range as shown on Google Play.
Interesting to note that vernacular language apps are the most popular! Take that! Some time ago some people said its useless to have local languages being preserved or put online but look whose laughing now! Go vernacular!
Vernacular language apps will really only be of use to people who speak and think in those languages. The sad thing is that they did not evolve with languages from the rest of the world. Take shona for instance. This language does not have its own words for modern items like “word processor”, “phone”, “computer” and the like. The other amazing thing is that shona people denote a plural by placing the letters “ma” before an object’s name as in “mabananas”. Therefore, when a shona wants to buy 5 bananas on the road, he asks for “5 “mabananas”.
I think it would have been fair to list apps with the same downloads by their ranking. Some slightly higher ranked apps are at the bottom of the 10,000 download listing. Good compilation though!!
By the way, some of the links to the apps are going through facebook first. I’m not sure if that was your intention.
Both anglica shona hymns are missing from the list
I have been thinking, are apps really relevant to the Zimbabwean ecosystem. Can one build a business around an app in Zimbabwe. Are there enough smartphones. Maybe people need to have web & mobile apps or maybe even a desktop software to make it work.
ZiDrive by ZiMagic (a local developer based in Southerton, Harare) has just over 4,000 downloads…
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=zimagic.smi.zidrive
Chihuta Bird Game Fastest Dowloaded App with 5000 dowmloads in less that 2 weeks.. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cyberelftechnologies.chihutagame&hl=en
Road Rules App
Where is Netone Support, Medical & Health Dirrectory App, Classifieds App Zimbabwe
Will add one from us as well 🙂
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.beatbarrow.beatbarrow