TikTok just hit a critical milestone only Facebook has been able to achieve

• TikTok has been downloaded three billion times around the globe.
• Facebook and its WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger are the only other non-game apps to hit that mark.
• TikTok reaching that milestone proves Facebook isn't the only app people don't want to live without.

TikTok has been downloaded more than three billion times around the world.

That's a milestone that only Facebook and its cohort of apps have reached, showing the social media giant isn't the only app people can't live without.

According to new Sensor Tower data, TikTok is the fifth non-game app to ever surpass the three billion install mark. The only other apps to have gathered more than three billion downloads since January 2014 are Facebook and its WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram.

Facebook, however, still has more monthly active users around the globe - TikTok's reported 732 million MAUs fall short of Facebook's 2.85 billion.

The popular video-sharing TikTok app has soared in popularity since it launched in 2016, breeding a new enclave of social media influencers and its unique brand of digital culture. People really started using the app more during the pandemic as many sought entertainment while shut inside their homes.

Its success has even prompted its competitors to come out with their own TikTok-like features. Instagram launched Reels in August 2020, rolling out the short-form video format for users that now appears in the app's Feed and Explore pages.