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.
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.
See also
Cloud gaming Mobile application management Mobile content management system Mobile device management List of mobile device management software Mobile security Over-the-air update
References
Device platform references