We Examined the ‘Super App’ Concept on the Rise in the World

As users a Our expectations from the mobile application do not change much. We can feel like Let’s see and share photos on Instagram, take a look at the agenda on Twitter, let our mobile banking application perform the EFT process properly, Getir handles our grocery shopping is enough.

But although we may feel that way individually, every mobile app is starting to offer us more and more you have noticed. Behind this, the rise in recent years ‘Super App’ have concept. Come and show us that Instagram will never be the same again. What is SuperApp, Let’s see why it is on the rise and which apps are on their way to becoming Super Apps…

Super App is not a new concept after all.

Super App was first introduced in 2010. Used by BlackBerry founder Mike Lazaridis an expression. At that time, it was spoken as an idea rather than a technology concept with examples.

Lazaridis used this concept. Users can do many things at the same time and can work integrated with third-party applications. It was described as a closed ecosystem of applications. In other words, mini applications that work integrated for multiple services will be together in a super app, or single super app would host multiple services at the same time. Thus, users would do all their work in a single application and would not have to navigate between applications.

Super App idea on the rise with WeChat in China

If you do a small search on Super App, you will find the name that comes up the most. WeChat you see it is. This is because WeChat is the first and largest example of a super app.

WeChat, originally As a messaging and calling application similar to WhatsApp made available. However, the super app policy followed over the years has made the app the number one application in China and turned it into a platform where billions of dollars of trade revolve.

Developers have been allowed to develop mini-apps that can be used within WeChat, and over time only More than three million applications that can be used by entering WeChat, offering services in every area you can think of included in the platform.

So besides talking with friends over WeChat read newsrenting a car, dining or apply for a passport became possible. This made WeChat an example of a successful super app.

China’s number one app, WeChat, is so common that it’s something you buy from a vendor while walking down the street. You can even pay for the ‘street flavor’ in seconds by scanning a QR code via WeChat. you can. In short, this super app is used everywhere in China and in all aspects of life.

Reaching more and more users in Asia, super apps are also on the rise in Africa. The reason is ‘cheap and low-end phones’

Although super apps started out in Asia, in recent years Many local super apps are on the rise in Africa too. The biggest reason for this is the intensity of low-level phone use across Africa.

Unable to provide a seamless experience to the user on low end phonesNaturally, users have turned to super apps that solve everything with a single application. There are many super apps that are popular across Africa, and with these apps, it’s possible to do a lot of things in one place.

a similar situation valid in many Middle Eastern countries. is expressed. More and more applications are being developed in the field of super app, which is directed by local technology companies.

What does this have to do with Instagram and Twitter?

We talked roughly about the applications that were developed as a super app or that have turned into a super app over the years with the innovations. Well all this What does it have to do with apps like Instagram, Twitter, TikTok?

In fact, the answer to this question is hidden in our daily social media experience. You must have come across it, the ‘Make Instagram Instagram again’ campaign was launched in the past weeks. In this campaign, which includes many Instagram celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, Instagram is increasingly Criticized for being similar to TikTok, It was reminded that it is a photo application.

Similar situations have recently been discussed for applications such as Twitter and TikTok. For example, we always heard the same voices when Twitter added voice chat rooms feature or TikTok included shopping features. ”What’s going on with these apps?”

The answer is simple; They are on their way to becoming a super app. When news first broke that Elon Musk would buy Twitter, He mentioned that he wanted to make Twitter a super app. e.g. Adam Mosseri, who sits at the top of Instagram, clearly stated in a statement he made almost a year ago that ‘Instagram is no longer a photo sharing application’… Many innovations, from the development of search features in the application to the store and shopping features, supported these statements.

So even though we, as users, don’t understand the math behind it and think it worsens our experience, teams of all major apps continue to incorporate more and more features into their apps to become a super app. Even though we say we don’t like it at the beginning, accepting all innovations over time we are using.

It should also be noted that major applications such as Instagram, Twitter and TikTok are not yet fully ‘super apps’. However, the policy they follow clearly shows us that this is their goal.

It actually sounds quite logical, so why are we bothered by these innovations and keep ‘wanting the old Instagram’?

Despite all the practicality it provides, why are users on Instagram? More features coming all the timen and it may not be so easy to figure out that you don’t like the application turning into something completely different. But it is understandable…

Because with every innovation, our behavior about using the application also needs to change. Sometimes a feature we love gets left behind and we don’t like it. Sometimes, due to new features coming, there is no longer a platform that only exists to ‘look, watch or listen’. that we are more passive consumers we can feel. After all, taking a photo of a cat and sharing it is not the same as producing reels…

But in the end, most of the time we adopt these features and let it become our new normal after a while. For example, reels sounded meaningless at first, we couldn’t get used to it. But statistics show that now Reels are one of the places where people spend the most time on Instagram.

We’re talking Instagram here as the most popular example, but a similar logic applies to all apps. Twitter’s journey as a ‘microblog’ At the end, all the changes he went through received similar comments from his users…

Why are applications such as Instagram and Twitter so insistent on turning into a super app, even though users say they don’t want it?

The examples we have given so far regarding super apps are to make life easier for users that he did nothing else. After all, it doesn’t sound bad to be able to order food from the same application, read a few news without having to switch to any other application, suddenly remember the thing we need and then shop and pay bills from the same application.

E application developers are obviously doing this for our benefit… Isn’t it? Of course not… Screen time by improving user experience boosting for a particular application is of course one of the goals of the developers of that application. Super apps are also mutually beneficial in this sense, as they increase this screen time and usage rates, it’s true. However, this is not the only reason.

In recent years, companies that have grown based on advertising revenues such as Meta on collecting and using data We know the hardships they went through. With each passing day, more and more obstacles appear in front of them. Collecting and using data from third-party apps and websites is becoming increasingly impossible for tech giants.

Apple has severely limited its ability to collect and use data for third-party apps from their devices. Confidentiality and security awareness and with sanctions from countries This deepening issue pushed Google to produce similar policies for Android. However, this has made it very difficult for companies like Meta.

what about already What if they could use the data they collected from users who took every step on a single application for that single application?

This is one of the facts that make technology giants so insistent on super apps. On the one hand, the opportunity to collect unlimited data from millions of people using that application all day long with a single application permission, on the other hand, the opportunity to use this data for seamlessly integrated applications and advertisements…

What other apps are taking steps to become super apps these days?

In this respect Trendyol and Bring We can present it as a current example.

Getir has started to turn into a super app with the steps it has taken in the last months. Getir, which started out as an application where we could create grocery orders, then allowed us to place food orders. Then we looked With many innovations such as Getirİş, GetirArac From job postings to car rentals, there are too many service areas at the same time.

Trendyol followed a similar line. Trendyol, which was an e-commerce platform where we could shop first, then turned into a platform where we could also place grocery and food orders. With in-app features like Trendyol Wallet Payment improvements have also been made. In addition, steps have been taken for a platform where time will be spent and content will be consumed at the same time with the video content and collections within the application. It is possible to encounter similar scenarios in financial technology applications. We wouldn’t be wrong if we say that their numbers will increase in the future.

Sources: The Wall Street Journal, World Economic Forum, The Verge, Forbes