What Is an Everything App? Complete Guide to Super Apps
While they may not have taken off in North America yet, apps like WeChat, Line, and KakaoTalk have millions (or even billions) of users across Asia who rely on them for everything from groceries to stock portfolio management.
So what is an everything app exactly, and how can your business use these apps to your advantage? Let’s get into it.
Bonus: Read the step-by-step social media strategy guide with pro tips on how to grow your social media presence.
What is an everything app?
An everything app (also sometimes known as a “super app“) is a mobile app that handles a broad range of digital needs, including messaging, social networking, ecommerce, delivery services, and even financial services like online banking. It’s essentially a one-stop shop in app form.
Everything apps are very popular across Asia. WeChat, a platform popular in China, had 1.3 billion monthly active users as of June 2023. People use this super app for text and voice messaging, video calls, gaming, mobile payments, and more.
In 2022, Line reported 89 million monthly active users, approximately 70％ of Japan’s population. Line sees slightly more female users than WeChat (55% compared to WeChat’s 47.7%).
Source: Line Business Guide 2022
Source: Hootsuite 2022 Digital Trends Report
How does an everything or super app work?
Imagine logging in to a single app to make dinner plans with a friend, check the weather forecast, book a cab ride to and from the restaurant, and send your friend money for your share of the dinner bill after the fact.
An everything app gathers multiple services in one place so users can access everything they need to manage their life in a single app.
After a user logs into a super app, the app’s dashboard will present several options. In WeChat, for example, these include:
* Instant messaging in multiple formats (text, voice, video calls)
* Moments, a social feed where users can post images, text, and short videos
* News, a curated newsfeed that allows users to subscribe to different outlets
* Travel Service, a ride-sharing mini-program within the app
* Pay, which more than 250 million WeChat users rely on to pay for everything from groceries to utility bills
WeChat can be used in different modes, such as Easy (designed for easier readability, with larger fonts and bigger buttons) or Guardian (intended to protect users under 14 years old by removing some features).
What are everything apps used for?
Messaging
Super apps such as WeChat, KakaoTalk, and Line all started as messaging apps. While they’ve all grown to include various other features, messaging is at the heart of these super apps.
WeChat, which is used by over one billion users in China, allows users to send and receive messages and other media, make voice calls, and video chat. 78% of 16 to 64-year-olds in the country rely on WeChat to stay connected with their friends and family.
Source: Hootsuite
In South Korea, KakaoTalk is the leading messaging app, with 47.8 million monthly active users at the end of 2022. 97.5% of South Koreans rely on KakaoTalk for messaging, with Instagram a distant second at 29.5%.
Source: KakaoTalk
The Line Messaging app launched in Japan in 2011 after a devastating earthquake and tsunami. The goal was to create a reliable means of communication during emergencies. Fast-forward a few years, and Line has grown into a super app with over 86 million monthly active users in Japan.
Source: Line
Payments and banking
Another major function of super apps is banking and online payments. These apps use a digital wallet system to make day-to-day transactions easy.
Line Pay “blur[s] the line between online and offline” with their mobile wallet system, which can be used for in-app and in-person payments. Users sign up with a credit card, so these accounts don’t require banking details.
WeChat Pay can either be used with a credit card or linked to a user’s bank account. There’s even a Red Packets feature that allows users to send digital cash gifts for special occasions or holidays, such as Lunar New Year.
Source: WeChat
KakaoTalk’s payment app, Kakao Pay, allows users to send money transfers and pay bills. South Korean residents can also sign up for Kakao Bank to manage investments, request loans, and purchase insurance.
Social media and microblogging
What would an everything app be without a social media component? WeChat Moments, Line Timeline, and KakaoTalk all include various timeline features that allow users to post photos, videos, text updates, and more.
Depending on the app, this feature might be reminiscent of popular social media apps like Facebook or TikTok.
Source: WeChat Blog
Source: Hootsuite
News
Super app users turn to WeChat, KakaoTalk, Line, and others to stay in the know. These platforms have a high degree of control over what users see, especially in countries where other news outlets are unavailable due to existing Internet censorship policies.
Shopping
Everything apps integrate their shopping and payments services to make it easy for users to make purchases directly in the app. This way, users can buy anything from groceries to luxury bags.
Source: KakaoTalk
Travel
Most super apps include car or taxi booking services, like Line Taxi or Kakao T.
Grab, a popular everything app in Singapore, started out as a ride-hailing app and has since grown to include food delivery, e-commerce, and more.
Source: Grab
How to use an everything app for business
Connect with customers
Everything apps offer a direct line of communication with your customers. You can use these apps for sales and customer support. According to Line, people are highly likely to interact with the business accounts that they follow.
Source: Line Business Guide
Don’t speak the language? No problem! Apps like WeChat, Line, and KakaoTalk can be used in other languages, such as English.
If you’re a Hootsuite enterprise customer, you can manage WeChat messages through Sparkcentral and Line messages through Streamchat.
Offer a membership or loyalty program
Incentivize users to follow your everything app account by offering coupons, promotions, or a loyalty program where users can accumulate points and access rewards.
Take advantage of ads
Super apps have access to an incredible amount of data about their users. Advertisers can target audiences by interest, age range, gender, region, and even operating system (OS).
Ready to start using everything apps for your business? Check out the Hootsuite blog for our guides to using WeChat, Line, and KakaoTalk for business.
FAQs about everything apps
What are super apps used for?
Super apps are used for a range of digital needs, including messaging, social networking, ecommerce, delivery services, and even online banking.
Are there any super apps in the USA?
There are no super apps or everything apps in the USA at the moment. Big players like Meta and X have expressed interest in creating a WeChat-like super app but have yet to launch a super app product in North America.
Why are there no super apps in the west?
There are no super apps in the west right now. There are a few reasons for this: concerns about slow app-loading times, indications that American customers are not interested in a mobile wallet app ecosystem, and challenges with antitrust and anticompetition laws, especially in the US.
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