2022 has been a year filled with shocks and excitement. The many ups and downs it endured made it a year that many in the tech industry would not forget.
Despite this, the year has seen the release and launch of many top-notch products and apps for us to use by startups looking to offer solutions that make life easier for smartphone users.
Startups in the country provided Nigerians with various mobile solutions spanning crypto, fintech, Edtech, location-sharing, Healthtech, and Food, among others. These apps offer unique functionalities, garnered attention, and recorded downloads within the year.
This article presents our top 5 Nigerian apps released this year. based on public reception given by download volumes, ratings and user reviews on the Google Play Store. While many apps were released in 2022, these five have specific functionality, are popular in the mainstream and social media, and have many downloads and positive reviews.
Read also: From Bundle to Abeg, Here are the Top 5 Nigerian Apps Released in 2020
Pillow app
Developed and offered by Pillow Fund, Pillow was launched in February 2022 to facilitate and make savings and investing easy by allowing users to save in dollar-based digital assets. Pillow also allows users to earn up to 14% interest on their savings.
Only requiring a phone number, email and a few other KYC steps, Pillow encourages people to save in cryptocurrencies backed by USD from the convenience of a mobile app. Users receive a 14% annual interest return for whatever deposits they make.
The startup, sponsoring Wizkid’s show in Lagos this December, had one of its highest raises in October. The Singapore-based startup announced it raised $18 million in Series A financing co-led by Accel and Quona Capital, with participation from Elevation Capital and Jump Capital.
The app has more than 75,000 users in over 60 countries. It supports seven digital assets — Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Axie Infinity and USD-backed stablecoins USDC and USDT. Since its release, it has gathered over 100,000 downloads on Google Play Store and scores a 3.4/5 stars rating.
Read also: PILLOW FUND: The only app you need to grow your savings is live in Nigeria
Jazzy’s Burger
As I said earlier, amidst the many lows this year, some people actually entered “the kitchen and cooked.”
Don Jazzy, the founder and CEO of Marvin Records, is one of the many brilliant entrepreneurs in this group. The Don, who has a long list of achievements as a businessman and producer, entered the culinary industry this year with his new endeavour, Jazzy’s Burger.
Although food platforms have become popular among Nigerians, and many food businesses are beginning to use this technology to promote their services, nobody could have seen this coming from Don Baba Jay himself.
Since its release, the app has gathered reviews indicating how well it has performed in providing the services it promised to its users. But among the many things we learned from a recent review, we observed that the platform is not for the “weak in the pocket.”
Signing up is easy. You get an OTP to verify your details after you provide your name, email address, and phone number. You have to provide a password as well, so it is evident that security is important too.
Many Nigerian celebrities and social media influencers helped to promote Jazzy’s Burger. The burgers became a giveaway item for many followers, increasing its popularity on social media.
Having launched less than two months ago, on 28 October, it has garnered over 5,000 downloads and is rated 4.7/5 on the Google Play Store.
Read also: We reviewed Don Jazzy’s new food app, Jazzy’s Burger and here is what we think
Pocket App
Pocket App by PiggyVest, formerly known as the Abeg app, began as a platform for sending and receiving money only but now does more. The rebranding of the app to Pocket featured a major lift that included additional features that support seamless payments and online commerce service.
It was officially launched in July 2022 as a social commerce platform and payment app aimed at helping savers and business owners. The app size is 20MB and requires at least an Android 5.0 OS.
The platform, which PiggyVest’s parent company, PiggyTech, now owns, hopes to help its users manage their finances while providing a more creative way to add more value to their users’ lives.
Having been re-introduced as Pocket to suit the many new features that it added, the app continues to boast one of the highest ratings and favourable reviews from users. Pocket is rated 4.5/5 and has had over a million downloads.
CWAY HOME
CWAY home was launched in March this year and was designed to fast-track the online purchase of CWAY products and swift home deliveries.
On social media platforms such as Twitter, the app has attracted a lot of user involvement since its release. With products like its well-known water dispenser and consumables, it continues to assist homes in meeting their fundamental needs.
The platform developed and offered by the CWAY Group is rated 4.6/5 stars on Google Play Store with 20 reviews. Although launched in March, it has had over 5,000 downloads.
Trakka
In a country where people can be confused while trying to get details of what they spent their money on in a particular period, Trakka is helping them do that easily in the most simple ways.
Developed by Finstaq technologies and launching in May, the application makes financial management effortless with budgeting and expense tracking. Since going public, the startup has recorded 30,000+ transactions and has over 3000+ downloads on Google Play Store.
Trakka is available on both the IOS App and Google Play stores. To sign up with the app, users are required to give their names and email addresses. Trakka allows only one bank account to be synced for free and charges a fee of 500 Naira each month to link more bank accounts.
Technext Newsletter
Get the best of Africa’s daily tech to your inbox – first thing every morning.
Join the community now!
