Apple and Google crowd out the competition with default apps

The majority of apps people use on their phones in the US come preinstalled by either Apple or Google. That’s the takeaway from a Comscore study that ranked the popularity of preinstalled iOS and Android apps, such as Apple’s Messages, alongside apps made by other developers. The first-of-its-kind report was commissioned by Facebook, one of Apple’s loudest critics. The timing, as Facebook likely intentioned, is apt: Apple and Google are increasingly under scrutiny for how they favor their own services over competitors like Spotify. US lawmakers are currently reviewing a new set of bills designed to curb the power of Big Tech, including legislation that could potentially bar Apple and Google from giving their services the upper hand against rivals. Apple said the report's survey methodology was "seriously flawed in a number of ways" and contradictory to Comscore's April 2021 rankings on app usage. However, those rankings did not attempt to factor in the usage of all preinstalled apps like the Facebook-commissioned study did.