This list of mobile app distribution platforms includes digital distribution platforms, or marketplace 'app stores', intended to provide mobile applications, aka 'apps' to mobile devices. For information on each mobile platform and its market share, see the mobile operating system and smartphone articles. A comparison of the development capabilities of each mobile platform can be found in the article on mobile app development. For cross-platform development, see the mobile development framework. The mobile app article contains other general information.

Mobile app platforms

Native platforms

These application marketplaces, or 'm' are native to the major mobile operating systems. Anyway, the relative store APK can often be installed in other compatible systems without rooting a device, as it happens for Huawei AppGallery and stock Android.

There are 17 native mobile app distribution platforms currently on this list.

app store namedate establishedstatusowneravailable appsdownload countinstalled basedevice platformallows individual developers to publishcut for developer per saledeveloper fees (per year)development tools (SDK)free of charge IDE?
Amazon Appstore for Android22 Mar 2011closedAmazon.com, Inc.591,818 (2025 estimate)unknownunknownAndroid OS (customised), Android, BlackBerry 10yes70%free (previously: US$90)Amazon Mobile App SDKyes
Apple App Store (iOS / iPadOS)10 Jul 2008liveApple Inc.1,640,000 (approx., 2025)unknownunknowniOS iPadOSyes60–70%US$99iOS SDK, Xcodeyes
BlackBerry World1 Apr 2009closedBlackBerry Limited223,601 (26 Oct 2013)3 billion (May 2012)75 million (Jan 2012)BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry Tablet OS, BlackBerry 10 OSclosed for new app submission70%freeBlackBerry 10 native SDK (with full POSIX and Qt support), HTML5 Qt4 SDK, Android (via BlackBerry Android Tools SDK), Adobe AIR SDK, BlackBerry OS SDKyes
Download Fun / Catalog20 Sep 2003closedDanger, Inc. / MicrosoftunknownunknownunknownDanger OSyes40%freeDanger OS SDKyes
Firefox Marketplace6 Sep 2013closedMozilla Foundation5,957 (Mar 2014)unknownunknownFirefox OSyes70%unknownunknownyes
Google Play (formerly Android Market)22 Oct 2008liveGoogle, LLC1,800,000 (approx., Apr–May 2025; post-purge)50 billion (historical: Jul 2013)over 2 billion (historical: May 2017)Androidyes70%One-time registration fee: US$25Android SDK, Android Studioyes
HP App Catalog6 Jun 2009closedPalm, Inc. / Hewlett-Packard10,002 (Dec 2011)108 million (Aug 2011)2.6 million (Jul 2010)webOSyes70%freeEnyoyes
Huawei AppGallery2011liveHuawei Technologies Co., Ltd.300,000 (HarmonyOS apps; reported November 2025)432 billion (Q4 2022 - historical downloads figure)1 billion (Huawei ecosystem / device numbers reported by Huawei; see notes)HarmonyOS, (formerly) Android, Huawei EMUIyes100% for first 2 years, then 70%-90% flexiblefreeHarmonyOS SDK, DevEco Studio, (formerly) Android SDK, HMS Core, HMS Toolkityes (Huawei Quick App IDE and DevEco Studio).
Microsoft Store (formerly Windows Store)26 Oct 2012closedMicrosoft Corp.669,000 (historical figure, 2015) (reported Sep 2015)no recent public total (no authoritative global app-count published since 2015)410 million (historical figure for Windows PC device base — Sep 2015 estimate)Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows 10 Mobile, Windows Phoneyes70% - raised to 80% if developer sales exceeds US$25,000 in a yearindividuals: US$19, or free for student; companies: US$99. One registration fee for both Windows Phone Store and Windows Store (historical).Visual Studio (various versions), Windows App Studio (historical)yes
Nokia Download!2006replaced with the Ovi StoreNokia OyjunknownunknownunknownSymbian (S60), Series 40unknownunknownunknownunknown
Nokia Store (formerly Ovi Store)26 May 2009closed, replaced with the Opera Mobile StoreNokia Oyj120,000 (Aug 2012)17 million/day (Oct 2012)~885 millionmultiple Symbian, MeeGo, Maemo, S40, Nokia X software platformyes70%€1Qt 4 SDK, Nokia Web Tools, Nokia SDK for Javayes
OpenStore for Ubuntu TouchSep 2014liveUBports (a democracy)many most Linux software applications will run on Ubuntu Touchunknownunknownopen-source mobile phonesyes (anything packaged in the Ubuntu package database should run)—N/afreeLinuxyes
PureOS Software CenterNov 2017 ? [citation needed]livePurism supported by The Debian Project (a democracy)quite many most Linux software applications will run on PureOSunknownunknownopen-source mobile phonesyes(anything packaged in the Debian package database should run)0freeLinuxyes
Samsung Galaxy Store (formerly Samsung Galaxy Apps)Sep 2009liveSamsung Electronicsunknownunknownover 1 billion(Oct 2020 - device / service related metric)Android, Tizen, Windows Mobile, Badaunknownunknownunknownunknown
Snap Store9 Dec 2014liveCanonical LimitedunknownunknownunknownLinux distributionsyes—N/afreeSnapcraftunknown
Ubuntu Software Centre aka Ubuntu App Store17 Oct 2013closed, replaced by Snap StoreCanonical Limited2,650+ (Dec 2015, incl. web apps & scopes)unknownunknownUbuntu Touchyes—N/afreeUbuntu SDKyes
Windows Phone Store (formerly Windows Phone Marketplace)21 Oct 2010closed, merged with the Windows StoreMicrosoft Corp.400,000+(Mar 2015)9 billion (Mar 2015)100 million (Jun 2015)Windows Phoneyes70%individuals: US$19, or free for student; companies: US$99 / unlimited paid apps, and 100 free apps submissions.Windows Phone Developer Tools, includes specialty versions of Microsoft Visual Studio, Expression Blendyes
date establishedstatusowneravailable appsdownload countinstalled basedevice platformallows individual developers to publishcut for developer per saledeveloper fees (per year)development tools (SDK)free of charge IDE?

Notes

  • Google Play — App figures reported by app intelligence firms in 2025 indicate a substantial reduction in listed Play Store apps (from ~3.4M at the start of 2024 to ~1.8M in 2025) following tightened policy enforcement and purges. For details see TechCrunch / The Verge coverage.
  • Huawei AppGallery — commonly reported HMS / AppGallery figures (220k+ HMS apps; ~580M MAU) are from Huawei / industry reporting in 2022; Huawei's HarmonyOS native app totals (HarmonyOS NEXT) and developer counts have been advanced in Huawei's 2024–2025 messaging (see Harmony Developers report).

Third-party platforms

Third-party platforms are software distribution platforms which are used as alternatives to operating system native distribution platforms. Independent operating systems are software collections that use their own software distribution, customised user interface (UI), software development kit (SDK) and application programming interface (API) (except billing API which is related only to the application store).

There are 18 third-party mobile app distribution platforms currently on this list.

app store platform namedate establishedstatusowneravailable appsdownload countinstall basedevice platformcut for developer per saledeveloper fees (per year)developer consoledevelopment platform(s) (SDK)
Appcircle App Distribution2021liveAppcircle IncunknownunknownunknownAndroid and iOS0freeYes—N/a
Appland2011liveAppland130,00025 million (Mar 2016)5 million (Mar 2016)Android and iOSup to 70%freeunknownunknown
Applivery App DistributionFeb 2017liveApplivery Mobility Management2,000,000+ (Dec 2020)unknownunknownAndroid and iOS0freeYesAndroid SDK, iOS SDK
Aptoide17 Nov 2009liveAptoide1,100,000 (Oct 2020)17.5 billion (Oct 2020)120 million (Oct 2020)Android and iOSup to 75%freeunknownAndroid SDK, Java ME
Cafe BazaarApr 2011liveHezardastan Technologies160,000 (May 2019)unknown40 million (May 2019)Androidup to 70%freeunknownunknown
CydiaFeb 2008livesaurikunknownunknown30 millioniOS—N/afreeunknowniOS SDK, Xcode
F-Droid29 Sep 2010liveF-Droid Limited4,002248 million (Mar 2015)unknownAndroid—N/afreeunknownAndroid SDK
GetJar2004liveGetJar, Accel Partners849,036 (Mar 2015)3 billion (Mar 2015)200 million usersmultiple Android, BlackBerry OS, Flash Lite, Java, iOS, Palm OS, Symbian, Windows Phone—N/afreeunknownunknown
Handango2000closedPocketGear190,000 (MMM 20YY)unknownunknownmultiple Android, BlackBerry OS, Palm OS, PSP, Symbian, Windows Mobile≈42%free—N/aunknown
Handmark2000closedHandmarkunknownunknownunknownmultiple Android, BlackBerry OS, iOS, Java, Palm OS, Symbian, Windows Mobileunknownunknownunknownunknown
MiKandi29 Nov 2009closedMiKandiunknownunknown80000 (Dec 2009)Androidunknownunknownunknownunknown
Opera Mobile StoreMar 2011closedOpera Software300,000 (Nov 2014)45 million per month (Dec 2012)unknownmultiple Android, Java, Symbian, BlackBerry OS, Windows Mobile, iOS70%: Android, Symbian, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile; 50%: JavafreeunknownAndroid SDK, Java ME, S60, BlackBerry SDK, Windows Phone Developer Tools
OnsideMar 2025liveOnsideunknownunknownunknownIOS0-10%freeYesPayment SDK
Pocket Gear1999closedPocketGear140,000 (Jun 2010)unknownunknownmultiple Android, BlackBerry OS, Java, Palm OS, Symbian, Windows Mobile≈55%freeunknown—N/a
Rootpk2022liveRootpk700,000+ (Sep 2022)unknownunknownAndroid90%freeYes—N/a
RuStore2022liveVK (company), MinTsifry Of Russia21,000+ (Oct 2022)unknownunknownAndroidunknownfreeunknown—N/a
Updraft App Distribution2014live/ .unknown350,000+ in 202215,000 Users in 2022Android and iOS0freeYesiOS SDK, Android SDK
Uptodown App StoreNov 2011liveUptodown Technologies2,500,000 (Mar 2021)450 million per month (Nov 2021)unknownAndroid80%freeYes—N/a
date establishedstatusowneravailable appsdownload countinstall basedevice platformcut for developer per saledeveloper fees (per year)developer consoledevelopment platform(s) (SDK)

See also

Device platform references