There are apps for pretty much everything, from social media to trading and investment. Some apps have stood the test of time, while others disappear almost as quickly as they were added to the app store. However, it can be challenging to manage a ton of disparate apps, each offering a single or limited number of functions and features.
Enter the super app. Super apps are those that can be used for multiple different purposes, providing a single platform from which to game, socialize, invest, learn, and much more. A term originally coined in 2010, super apps are becoming especially popular in the Asian market, although they do still retain some popularity in the rest of the world.
Most people have multiple apps on their phone. For instance, Spotify; with its more than 640 million users and a variety of options, it’s close to something that can be called a musical super app. Or, say, the tg casino crypto app, which offers instant withdrawals and access to a varied selection of casino games. Its integration within the Telegram app offers a unique user experience that players on separate iGaming platforms don’t have.
Hence, it isn’t uncommon now for a smartphone user to have potentially dozens of apps on their phones.
Keeping track of apps, ensuring they’re updated and managing which apps should open automatically on startup can be a trial. So too can swapping between apps when you want to go from learning a new language to watching your favorite TV show. The super app combines all, or a lot, of these functions and features into one platform that is easier to manage and more streamlined.
WeChat is a very popular super app. It is especially dominant in the Chinese market and it offers users access to chat, payments, and much more. It supposedly inspired the idea behind Meta, but while Meta offers all of these features, it still doesn’t combine them in the same way as WeChat. WeChat’s popularity has led to it being used by 1.2 billion people.
Super apps have proven popular in the Asian market for several reasons. Firstly, Google was effectively banned back in 2010. WeChat can be compared to Google as the search engine offers everything from email to news publishing and even gaming.
Super apps offer access to features like payments and other basic banking facilities. An estimated 50% of the Southeast Asian market is currently unbanked, which means that these apps can offer a financial lifeline to the population.
Apps like AliPay have incorporated mini apps. Included in the list of mini apps are those offered by the government. More than 200 public services are offered in this way, providing a means for governments to communicate with their citizens and for members of the public to stay abreast of the latest developments.
Although popular in Asian markets, super apps have yet to see the same kind of uptake in the Western world. Western economies are more developed, which means users have access to advanced bank accounts, which typically include online banking and other apps. This negates the need for such features found in super apps. And anti-monopoly and competition laws have effectively prevented any organizations from being able to dominate the mobile market in this way.
