Top Internet Apps That are in Active Use among Kenyans

By Virginia Nyambura

Kenyans online presence has continued to grow with the emergence and dominance of online applications that seem to have a solution to almost every query.

Kenya’s Communications Authority (CA) announced Internet penetration in Kenya as to have reached 112 percent in the quarter to September 2017. This translates to an estimation of 51.1 million Internet users in the country where we have about 45 million.

According to CA, Internet penetration in Kenya is currently around 112.7 percent with the number rising as Kenyans who have access to internet keeps on increasing.

There are 43.3 million internet users with 18 million subscribing to broadband.

Most Kenyans who download the applications use them not just for social purposes but to also engage in business. Today, businesses are relying largely on the online apps to communicate and reach out to clients.

With 43.3 million internet users, below is a list of the most downloaded applications that are actively used by Kenyans. The infographics released by Nendo, a digital consultancy based in Nairobi, focused on strategy, research, training, and solutions.

The list below shows Whats App as the leading downloaded application among Kenyans with Snap chat carrying the lowest downloads.

Snap Chat

With an estimated active use of 250,000 among Kenyans, Snap chat is a multimedia messaging app used around the globe. The application was released on September 2011and operates on android or ios. It is available in 22 languages.

Pinterest

Launched in March 2010, Pinterest is a web and mobile application company which operates a software system designed for discovery of information on the World Wide Web, mostly using images, GIFs and videos. Pinterest has 950,000 active users in Kenya according to Nendo

Twitter

Twitter with 1.5 million active downloads, is an online news and social networking service on which users post and interact with messages commonly referred to as “tweets”.

Linked In

LinkedIn which has an estimated active download of 1.8 million in Kenya, is a business and employment-oriented platform that operates through websites and mobile applications.

The app was launched on 5^th May 2003 and is mainly used for professional networking, .

Youtube

YouTube has 3 million active users in Kenya according to Nendo. Most Kenyans not only watch videos but also share content on the video sharing website headquartered in San Bruno, California.

Instagram

Instagram, with more than 4 million active users, is a social networking service that is owned by Facebook, Inc.

Users are able to share videos and photographs.

True Caller

True caller, which has more than 6 million active users, was developed by a Swedish company called True Software Scandinavia AB.

It finds contact details globally as long as a name or telephone number is input, and has an integrated caller ID service enabling it to achieve call-blocking functionality and social media integration which keeps the phonebook up-to-date with pictures and birthdays.

Facebook

Facebook which has 8.1 million active users in Kenya is an American online social platform founded by a company based in Menlo Park, California.

Its website was launched on February 4, 2004, and is mostly accredited to Mark Zuckerburg

WhatsApp

WhatsApp Messenger which tops in a number of active users in Kenya is owned by Facebook. WhatsApp is a freeware and cross-platform messaging and Voice over IP service owned.

It prides in over 12 million active users in Kenya and can be used on both android and ios devices.