2018 Top Cryptocurrency Apps: Winners and Losers

Cryptocurrencies have exploded over the last 18 months. In this case study, we are going to visually showcase the top cryptocurrency apps you can use to gain access to this exciting market.

There is a slight twice however in this case study. Whereas other online reviews have discussed at length the features of each platform to rank and file the apps.

We at Tradingsim have taken a decidedly different approach by measuring “off” app indicators including reviews, ease of installation and social shares to gauge the value of each product.

Before we dive into the top apps, let’s first ground ourselves on the current state of popularity and interest in the space.

Chapter 1: Google Trends Interest in “Cryptocurrency App”

As a technician of the market, I can’t help but notice the 100 rating from Google trends essentially called the top of the Bitcoin market at the end of 2017, right before the sell off. If you are in the business of timing the market, you will want to keep a close eye on a near 100 rating in the future. If you see a 100 rating alert hit your inbox, it’s likely time to sell and enjoy some of those profits.

Another interesting point is the number of searches from the Netherlands and Australia were greater than the United States.

This is surprising, because the U.S. holds second place for total bitcoin trade volume and is only surpassed by Japan (57% of all bitcoin trade volume), which brings me to my last point.

Japan is not listed in the results because search engine market share is evenly distributed in Asia-Pacific.

Now, to this point we have established there is a global interest in cryptocurrency apps but what are the top apps? Also, where can you find all the crypto apps fairly ranked and assessed on the web?

Well look no further, our in-depth data study in finance apps led us to shift our focus to the emerging marketplace of cryptocurrency apps.l

To this aim, we created our own scoring system on a logarithmic scale to compare our findings by reviewing the apps social power, install score, total number of reviews and Google Play ratings.

Chapter 2: The Top 10 Crypto Apps

So what are the top crypto apps?  We used our custom scoring system comprised of the aforementioned 4 primary factors.  See below.

As you can see the one and two spots are super tight, all things considered. To see our methodology, scroll to the bottom of the case study.

I am a firm believer in there being only one winner in the top spot; however, life does have some gray.

Now, if you are a person that strongly values public opinion and reviews like my wife, then Coinbase is likely your number 1 selection. At the end of the day, both Blockchain and Coinbase are amazing companies that have serious staying power, so you can’t go wrong either way.

Why do you think Blockchain and Coinbase apps are ranked so highly versus the other applications?

On the surface the other apps have decent ratings from users, but when you peel back the onion, the social and install scores are lacking.

But is this a big enough differentiator?

The obvious separator for Blockchain and Coinbase is you can place real trades through these applications.

All the other apps are ticker trackers and news alert services. While these are great for the dissemination of information, the true value add comes in the fact that Blockchain and Coinbase create exchanges for people to trade their cryptocurrencies.

This is a huge value add, that has a significant barrier to entry for new and upcoming companies. This add value at it’s core is the main driver for the brand awareness associated with Blockchain and Coinbase.

These companies are truly the trailblazers in the cryptocurrency space bringing together investors and technology to create an entirely new financial system.

The 3 Most Installed Cryptocurrency Apps

These cryptoapps have been installed 4x more than any others:

• Blockchain
• Coinbase
• Blockfolio

Again, no shocker here. If a company has brand awareness, significant capitalization and a strong track record then they will rise to the top.

Chapter 3: The 4 Most Socially Powerful Cryptocurrency Apps

You’ll quickly notice the top 4 apps have about 20x more social power than any other apps.  Their social power is derived from their number of followers on Facebook (45%), Twitter (35%), and LinkedIn (20%).

The one standout in this group from a social perspective is Cointelegraph. Cointelegraph has been covering everything related to block chain and the cryptocurrency market since 2013.

Beyond looking for apps focused on tickers and trading cryptocurrencies, Cointelegraph is definitely worth a visit.

Cointelegraph provides in-depth articles and amazing visuals to tell the story of the cryptocurrency market from multiple angles. It is a no-brainer why their stories are shared across social platforms.

Chapter 4: Coinbase Reviewed 10x More Than Any Other App

If you have heard of Coinbase, then you will know what a truly amazing app it is.  However, it goes beyond Coinbase having an amazing product. Coinbase also has a sound growth strategy rooted in 4 main areas of focus.

Coinbase has gone to extreme lengths to ensure the security of its exchange and thus building a level of trust with the retail market that propels organic growth.

See just how important this app is in terms of numbers of reviews on both the iOS App Store and the Google Play App Store.

Why is numbers of reviews an important metric?  It indicates the level of engagement, downloads, interest, and usage.

2018: An Opportunity for Crypto App Growth

In conclusion, we found the 3 most notable cryptocurrency app leaders are: Coinbase, Blockchain, and Blockfolio.

These 3 apps are the most dominant and have a first-mover advantage in a relatively new space.

With the advent of cryptocurrencies there is an opportunity for app developers to create innovative apps for a global marketplace.

Depending on the type of app you’re looking for will help determine the most suitable app for you: whether it is for trading, news, or storing cryptocurrencies.

Chapter 6: Methodology/Study Details

Our study began by researching the top apps in both the Google Play and iOS app stores.  As we manually collected a list of the most downloaded, most reviewed, and highest rated apps, we also manually collected additional data points, like number of social followers.

Overall Score is a customer ranking metric defined by 4 factors on a normalized exponential scale of 1 to 100.  We equally weighted four factors in this study:

• Total Number of Downloads (provided only by the Google Play App Store)
• Rating on the Google Play App Store (the iOS App Store only provides “4+”)
• Total Number of Reviews
• Social Power

Social Power is a custom ranking metric created with a disproportional weighting of numbers of followers from each social network: Facebook (45%), Twitter (35%), LinkedIn (20%)

We have taken an unbiased view of all the app data we reviewed. However, any data analysis and presentation can be skewed towards factors that make a great app based on anyone’s perspective.  We have done our best to appropriately weight different ranking factors to provide an objective analysis in this case study.

Fair Use

We grant permission to repost the images and data found on this page. When doing so, we ask you kindly attribute by linking to tradingsim.com and this page so your readers can learn more about the project and its methodology.