There’s an app for just about anything you can imagine. But what if you could get everything done with just one app? That’s the promise behind so-called “super apps,” or apps that run mini-programs and offer multiple services in one.
Such apps aren’t new, but they’ve been in the spotlight recently thanks to the Department of Justice’s antitrust lawsuit against Apple and comments from X owner Elon Musk about his vision for the app formerly known as Twitter.
The idea behind super apps is simple: Use a single app to chat with friends, call a cab, buy movie tickets, go shopping and more. It’s essentially like its own miniature operating system but running inside one app instead of your entire phone. Examples of super apps include Tencent’s WeChat and Ant Group’s Alipay.
There’s a reason why those names (and the term super app in general) may be unfamiliar. It’s because super apps haven’t taken off in western markets like the US just yet, although Deloitte predicts that could start to change by 2025. Market research firm Gartner also estimates that more than 50% of the global population will use super apps on a daily basis by 2027.
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What is a super app?
The Apple App Store logo
Super apps like WeChat have been around for years, but the topic has felt especially relevant recently. The most recent instance stemmed from the Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit against Apple, which claims the iPhone maker is hampering the development of such apps.
“Apple created, strategically broadened, and aggressively enforced its App Store Guidelines to effectively block apps from hosting mini programs,” the complaint reads. “Apple’s conduct disincentivized investments in mini program development and caused US companies to abandon or limit support for the technology in the United States.”
Apple also recently updated its App Store guidelines to clarify that mini apps and mini games must be powered by the HTML5 web language, perhaps signaling that Apple is thinking about the nature of super apps on the iPhone following these accusations.
