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Top 20 Networking SDKs Used in Android Apps on Google Play
Last update: 23 Mar 2025 CET
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Top 20 Networking SDKs Used in Android Apps on Google Play

We at 42matters have identified the 20 most popular Networking SDKs leveraged by Android apps available on the Android app market.

Networking SDKs are developer tools that provide networking functionalities for mobile apps. They enable developers to build apps capable of communicating with servers or other devices over a network, without having to build these capabilities from scratch. Network SDKs typically facilitate network requests, response handling, authentication, and more.

This list is based on our analysis of the millions of mobile applications – and the 2,300+ SDKs they use – that constitute the vast inventory of the Google Play Store. The accompanying data provides readers with a glimpse into the rich mobile application insights generated by the 42matters technology. This data is also available via our APIs, file dumps, Explorer, and SDK Explorer.

The intended purpose of this article is to assist app builders in their search for the perfect Networking SDK to leverage in their app, as well as to give SDK developers insight into their biggest competitors and potential customers. This data collected by our technology may also serve as a useful tool for folks researching the wider mobile app market.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 85.73% have integrated OkHttp. This accounts for 80.03% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

The OkHttp SDK is Square’s meticulous HTTP client for Java and Kotlin.

Total Apps
1.06m
Google Play
App Share
85.73%
Google Play
Apps
981.15k
Games
74.03k
Total Downloads
956.38b
Google Play
Download Share
80.03%
Google Play
App Downloads
645.11b
Game Downloads
311.27b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use OkHttp.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 65.57% have integrated gson. This accounts for 74.94% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

gson is a Java library SDK that can be used to convert Java Objects into their JSON representation. It can also be used to convert a JSON string to an equivalent Java object.

Total Apps
807.11k
Google Play
App Share
65.57%
Google Play
Apps
747.10k
Games
60.01k
Total Downloads
895.51b
Google Play
Download Share
74.94%
Google Play
App Downloads
643.30b
Game Downloads
252.21b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use gson.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 28.75% have integrated Retrofit. This accounts for 20.87% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

Retrofit is an SDK that offers a type-safe HTTP client for Android and the JVM.

Total Apps
353.90k
Google Play
App Share
28.75%
Google Play
Apps
343.62k
Games
10.28k
Total Downloads
249.39b
Google Play
Download Share
20.87%
Google Play
App Downloads
204.35b
Game Downloads
45.04b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Retrofit.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 12.78% have integrated Volley. This accounts for 15.95% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

Volley is an HTTP library SDK that makes networking for Android apps easier and, most importantly, faster.

Total Apps
157.29k
Google Play
App Share
12.78%
Google Play
Apps
150.59k
Games
6.70k
Total Downloads
190.55b
Google Play
Download Share
15.95%
Google Play
App Downloads
153.06b
Game Downloads
37.49b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Volley.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 12.66% have integrated gRPC. This accounts for 15.22% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

gRPC is a modern open source, high-performance RPC framework SDK that can run in any environment. It can efficiently connect services in and across data centers with pluggable support for load balancing, tracing, health checking, and authentication.

Total Apps
155.88k
Google Play
App Share
12.66%
Google Play
Apps
148.06k
Games
7.83k
Total Downloads
181.86b
Google Play
Download Share
15.22%
Google Play
App Downloads
161.10b
Game Downloads
20.76b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use gRPC.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 5.47% have integrated Apache HttpComponents. This accounts for 7.33% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

The Apache HttpComponents project SDK is responsible for creating and maintaining a toolset of low level Java components focused on HTTP and associated protocols.

Total Apps
67.37k
Google Play
App Share
5.47%
Google Play
Apps
64.56k
Games
2.81k
Total Downloads
87.55b
Google Play
Download Share
7.33%
Google Play
App Downloads
73.06b
Game Downloads
14.49b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Apache HttpComponents.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 4.92% have integrated WebRTC. This accounts for 9.82% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

With WebRTC, you can add real-time communication capabilities to your mobile apps. It supports sending videos, voice, and generic data between peers, allowing developers to build powerful voice- and video-communication solutions.

Total Apps
60.53k
Google Play
App Share
4.92%
Google Play
Apps
60.29k
Games
243
Total Downloads
117.34b
Google Play
Download Share
9.82%
Google Play
App Downloads
114.61b
Game Downloads
2.74b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use WebRTC.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 4.55% have integrated Socket.io. This accounts for <1% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

Socket.IO is an SDK that enables real-time, bidirectional and event-based communication. It works on every platform, browser or device, focusing equally on reliability and speed.

Total Apps
56.06k
Google Play
App Share
4.55%
Google Play
Apps
55.81k
Games
256
Total Downloads
10.99b
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
10.17b
Game Downloads
827.36m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Socket.io.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 4.55% have integrated Engine.IO. This accounts for <1% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

The Engine.IO SDK is the implementation of a transport-based, cross-browser/cross-device, bi-directional communication layer for Socket.IO.

Total Apps
56.05k
Google Play
App Share
4.55%
Google Play
Apps
55.80k
Games
260
Total Downloads
10.94b
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
10.08b
Game Downloads
859.89m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Engine.IO.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 2.92% have integrated Ktor. This accounts for 9.10% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

Total Apps
35.92k
Google Play
App Share
2.92%
Google Play
Apps
29.90k
Games
6.03k
Total Downloads
108.70b
Google Play
Download Share
9.10%
Google Play
App Downloads
43.76b
Game Downloads
64.94b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Ktor.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 2.06% have integrated HttpClient by Msebera. This accounts for 3.68% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

HttpClient by Msebera is an SDK that helps you build repackaged, upstream versions of HttpClient and its depdendencies (HttpMime, HttpCore, HttpClient-Cache) for versions 3 to 23 of the Android API.

Total Apps
25.40k
Google Play
App Share
2.06%
Google Play
Apps
21.66k
Games
3.74k
Total Downloads
44.00b
Google Play
Download Share
3.68%
Google Play
App Downloads
26.38b
Game Downloads
17.62b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use HttpClient by Msebera.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 1.78% have integrated Simple Framework. This accounts for 1.54% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

Simple Framework is an SDK that brings simplicity, scalability, and performance to server side Java. The primary focus of the project is to provide a truly embeddable Java based HTTP and WebSocket engine capable of handling enormous loads.

Total Apps
21.96k
Google Play
App Share
1.78%
Google Play
Apps
21.72k
Games
239
Total Downloads
18.38b
Google Play
Download Share
1.54%
Google Play
App Downloads
16.53b
Game Downloads
1.86b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Simple Framework.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, 1.74% have integrated Android Asynchronous Http Client. This accounts for 2.64% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

Android Asynchronous Http Client is an asynchronous, callback-based Http client SDK for Android apps. It was built on top of Apache’s HttpClient libraries.

Total Apps
21.40k
Google Play
App Share
1.74%
Google Play
Apps
17.33k
Games
4.07k
Total Downloads
31.53b
Google Play
Download Share
2.64%
Google Play
App Downloads
14.57b
Game Downloads
16.95b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Android Asynchronous Http Client.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, <1% have integrated Alibaba Fastjson. This accounts for 3.03% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

Fastjson is a Java library SDK that can be used to convert Java objects into their JSON representation. It can also be used to convert a JSON string to an equivalent Java object.

Total Apps
11.15k
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
10.06k
Games
1.09k
Total Downloads
36.22b
Google Play
Download Share
3.03%
Google Play
App Downloads
32.47b
Game Downloads
3.74b

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Alibaba Fastjson.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, <1% have integrated AndroidAsync. This accounts for <1% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

AndroidAsync is a low level network protocol library SDK. It has an asynchronous socket, http(s) (client+server) and websocket library for Android.

Total Apps
10.42k
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
10.35k
Games
68
Total Downloads
5.70b
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
5.29b
Game Downloads
407.72m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use AndroidAsync.

16th

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, <1% have integrated Android Asynchronous Networking and Image Loading. This accounts for <1% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

Ion is an android library SDK for asynchronous networking and image loading.

Total Apps
7.16k
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
7.13k
Games
32
Total Downloads
2.00b
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
1.76b
Game Downloads
241.49m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Android Asynchronous Networking and Image Loading.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, <1% have integrated Store by NYTimes. This accounts for <1% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

Total Apps
4.11k
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
4.07k
Games
38
Total Downloads
4.20b
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
4.09b
Game Downloads
110.28m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Store by NYTimes.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, <1% have integrated Smack. This accounts for <1% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

Smack is an Open Source XMPP client library for instant messaging and presence. This SDK is a pure Java library and can be embedded into your applications to create anything from a full XMPP client to simple XMPP integrations, such as sending notification messages and presence-enabling devices.

Total Apps
2.82k
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
2.80k
Games
26
Total Downloads
4.66b
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
4.57b
Game Downloads
95.43m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Smack.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, <1% have integrated JXMPP. This accounts for <1% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

JXMPP is an open source Java base library SDK for XMPP. It provides often-used functionalities needed to build an XMPP stack.

Total Apps
2.27k
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
2.26k
Games
9
Total Downloads
2.49b
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
2.48b
Game Downloads
4.10m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use JXMPP.

Among all apps utilizing networking SDKs, <1% have integrated Tinder Scarlet. This accounts for <1% of app downloads within the networking SDK category.

Total Apps
2.06k
Google Play
App Share
<1%
Google Play
Apps
2.04k
Games
21
Total Downloads
1.56b
Google Play
Download Share
<1%
Google Play
App Downloads
1.47b
Game Downloads
91.68m

Use the 42matters SDK Explorer to find all apps that use Tinder Scarlet.

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    Analyze installation and removal trends for SDKs. Discover which apps have removed or integrated specific SDKs in a given timeframe.

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    See which app categories or genres are most likely to use specific SDKs. Detect SDK market share per category.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How does 42matters collect this data?'

We’ve developed a number of machine learning algorithms that scan millions of mobile and connected TV (CTV) applications on a regular basis. In addition, we collect ground truth app performance intelligence and use this data to build statistical models that estimate the performance of apps for which we do not have ground truth data.

What SDK data does 42matters collect?'

We track over 2,300 of the most popular SDKs integrated in iOS and Android apps. We collect a variety of SDK insights (title, platform, ID, category, and developer website); performance metrics (the number of apps that have installed each SDK, installation and removal trends, and app downloads); market share statistics (including market share per app category); and more!

How can I access 42matters’ SDK data?'

The most direct way is to use our SDK Explorer, which is a visual, web-based research platform that enables you to peruse all 2,300+ SDKs that we track. It’s great for market research, lead generation, competitor analysis, etc. However, more technically-inclined folks might prefer our APIs and File Dumps, which enable you to query info for specific apps or SDKs. You can also use our other research platform (the Explorer) to view integrated SDKs by app.

Can I use 42matters’ solutions to generate app publisher leads?'

Absolutely! We actually wrote about this on our blog. We focused on ad network SDKs, but the examples are applicable to most SDK types. To summarize, you can use the Explorer’s advanced filtering capabilities to home in on best-fit app publishers, leverage the SDK Explorer to see which apps use your competitors’ SDKs, and use our APIs and file dumps to build custom lead generation processes.

What data does 42matters provide on mobile apps?'

A ton! We track 17+ million apps across Google Play, the Apple App Store, Amazon Appstore, Tencent Appstore, and Huawei AppGallery. Our solutions provide access to app details (developer insights, metadata, ASO keywords, contact information, etc.); performance metrics (downloads, MAUs, ratings, reviews, top chart rankings, etc.); technical insights (integrated SDKs, permissions, required capabilities, etc.); content details (categories, genres, IAB categories, content ratings, etc.); compliance information (app-ads.txt, privacy policies, store status, etc.) and much, much more!

Can I use 42matters’ solutions to find SDKs for my app?'

Definitely. The SDK Explorer enables you to sort SDKs by category, identify similar SDKs, analyze SDK reliability, and more. In addition, you can use the Explorer to monitor your competitors, including which SDKs they add and remove, their current tech stacks, and SDK changelogs. This means you use our solutions not only to find the right SDK for a particular purpose, but also which SDKs you might need to keep up with your rivals.