The apps with the highest levels of user engagement are “predominantly social and communication apps”, independent app store GetJar said.

Based on data gathered from its primarily Android-focused operations, the company said that the top two apps in North America, Asia Pacific and Western Europe are Facebook and WhatsApp Messenger.

There are some regional differences. For example Twitter is a top-10 app in North America and Western Europe, but not Asia Pacific. And while Instagram is in the top 20 for North America and Asia Pacific, it does not feature for Western Europe.

GetJar said that games have a high level of user engagement after social, communications and browser apps, although there was not a game in the top 20 for Asia Pacific.

In terms of regions, 40 percent of visits to GetJar were characterised as “other”. This includes Africa, with the company noting that “the reason Africa was wrapped in other regions was due to its size: "it was quite small outside of South Africa”.

Nearly 30 percent of visits came from North America, followed by 23 percent from Asia Pacific (not including India) and 7 percent from Western Europe.

In terms of Android devices, the single most popular was the Samsung/Google Galaxy Nexus, which accounted for 57 percent of visits.

Nine of the top 10 were manufactured by Samsung, with a single unit present from Sony Ericsson.