Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
- The SpaceX Starlink app was the most-downloaded free app in Ukraine on Sunday, Sensor Tower said.
- It had about 21,000 downloads worldwide Sunday on iOS and Android, mainly from Ukraine, the analytics firm said.
- SpaceX CEO Elon Musk sent Starlink terminals to Ukraine upon request by a government official.
Downloads of the SpaceX Starlink app surged in Ukraine after CEO Elon Musk sent shipments of the company’s satellite internet terminals to the country, data shows.
Across Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play store, Starlink was the most-downloaded free app on Sunday, with about 21,000 downloads that day, Sensor Tower, an analytics firm, told Insider. Most downloads came from Ukraine, the firm added.
On Sunday, the Starlink app hit the top spot among free iPhone apps on Ukraine’s App Store, Sensor Tower said. It went on to spend part of Monday in the top spot before ending the day in second place behind Air Alarm, which alerts users to air raids.
Musk sent Starlink terminals to Ukraine after Mykhailo Fedorov, the country’s vice prime minister, requested on February 26 that he do so. At the time, the Russian invasion was disrupting the country’s internet services.
Musk said later that Starlink had been activated in Ukraine, and promised that more terminals were on the way.
On March 1, Fedorov tweeted a photo that appeared to show a truckload of Starlink terminals, saying they had arrived in Ukraine. Last week, Fedorov said another shipment of Starlink terminals have arrived.
Since the arrival of the first shipment of Starlink terminals two weeks ago, the Starlink app has been installed about 76,000 times in Ukraine — up 280% from the preceding two-week period, according to Sensor Tower.
Musk has voiced his support for Ukraine in the ongoing war.
In a bizarre tweet Monday, he even challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin to single combat. “Stakes are Ukraine,” Musk tweeted in Cyrillic script and English. He tagged the official Twitter account for the Russian presidency in a follow-up tweet, writing in Russian: “Do you agree to this fight?”
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