Telegram is a freeware, cross-platform, cloud-based instant messaging (IM) system. The service also provides end-to-end encrypted video calling, VoIP, file sharing and several other features. It was launched for iOS on 14 August 2013 and Android in October 2013. The servers of Telegram are distributed worldwide to decrease frequent data load with five data centers in different regions, while the operational center is based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Various client apps are available for desktop and mobile platforms including official apps for Android, iOS, Windows, macOS and Linux (although registration requires an iOS or Android device and a working phone number). There are also two official Telegram web twin apps – WebK and WebZ – and numerous unofficial clients that make use of Telegram's protocol. All of Telegram's official components are open source, with the exception of the server which is closed-sourced and proprietary.

Telegram provides end-to-end encrypted voice and video calls and optional end-to-end encrypted "secret" chats. Cloud chats and groups are encrypted between the app and the server, so that ISPs and other third-parties on the network can't access data, but the Telegram server can. Users can send text and voice messages, make voice and video calls, and share an unlimited number of images, documents (2 GB per file), user locations, animated stickers, contacts, and audio files. In January 2021, Telegram surpassed 500 million monthly active users. It was the most downloaded app worldwide in January 2021 with 1 billion downloads globally as of late August 2021.

WhatsApp Messenger, or simply WhatsApp, is an American freeware, cross-platform centralized instant messaging (IM) and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to send text messages and voice messages, make voice and video calls, and share images, documents, user locations, and other content. WhatsApp's client application runs on mobile devices but is also accessible from desktop computers, as long as the user's mobile device remains connected to the Internet while they use the desktop app. The service requires a cellular mobile telephone number to sign up.

Skype Technologies S.A.R.L (also known as Skype Software S.A.R.L, Skype Communications S.A.R.L, Skype Inc., and Skype Limited) is a Luxembourger telecommunications company headquartered in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, whose chief business is the manufacturing and marketing of the video chat and instant messaging computer software program Skype, and various Internet telephony services associated with it. Microsoft purchased the company in 2011, and it has since then operated as their wholly owned subsidiary; as of 2016, it is operating as part of Microsoft's Office Product Group. 
Skype, a voice over IP (VoIP) service, was first released in 2003 as a way to make free computer-to-computer calls, or reduced-rate calls from a computer to telephones. Support for paid services such as calling landline/mobile phones from Skype (formerly called SkypeOut), allowing landline/mobile phones to call Skype (formerly called SkypeIn and now Skype Number), and voice messaging generates the majority of Skype's revenue.

Messenger is an instant messaging app and platform developed by Meta Platforms. Originally developed as Facebook Chat in 2008, the company revamped its messaging service in 2010, and subsequently released standalone iOS and Android apps in August 2011 and standalone Facebook Portal hardware for Messenger-based calling in 2018. Later on, Facebook launched a dedicated website interface known as Messenger.com, and separated the messaging functionality from the main Facebook app, allowing users to use the web interface or download one of the standalone apps. In April 2020, Facebook officially released Messenger for Desktop, which is supported on Windows 10 and macOS and distributed on Microsoft Store and App Store respectively.

Messenger Kids is a messaging app and platform released by Facebook, Inc. (now Meta Platforms) in December 2017. The platform is designed for a young audience as a safer alternative to the Messenger platform. Users can register with their first and last names instead of phone numbers. It was initially launched for iPad tablets with the iOS operating system in the United States only, though later support for iPhone and Android devices was added and it was rolled out in Canada, Peru, and Mexico.

Parents have oversight and control, with requirements about identity verification and approval of contacts. There are no in-app purchases nor advertisements, and thus also no data collection for advertising purposes, children's accounts are not visible in search on Facebook, and the child's account does not automatically migrate to a full Facebook account once the child turns 13 years old (the minimum age for Facebook registration). It features augmented reality filters and lenses, along with games and educational content.

Snapchat is an American multimedia messaging app developed by Snap Inc., originally Snapchat Inc. One of the principal features of Snapchat is that pictures and messages are usually only available for a short time before they become inaccessible to their recipients. The app has evolved from originally focusing on person-to-person photo sharing to presently featuring users' "Stories" of 24 hours of chronological content, along with "Discover," letting brands show ad-supported short-form content. It also allows users to keep photos in the "my eyes only" which lets them keep their photos in a password-protected space.

Snapchat was created by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown, former students at Stanford University. As of March 2020, Snapchat had 229 million daily active users. On average more than 4 billion Snaps are sent each day. Snapchat is known to be popular among the younger generations, particularly those below the age of 16, leading to many privacy concerns for parents.

Facebook is an American online social media and social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, its name comes from the face book directories often given to American university students. 

Facebook can be accessed from devices with Internet connectivity, such as personal computers, tablets and smartphones. After registering, users can create a profile revealing information about themselves. They can post text, photos and multimedia which is shared with any other users that have agreed to be their "friend", or, with a different privacy setting, with any reader. Users can also use various embedded apps, join common-interest groups, buy and sell items or services on Marketplace, and receive notifications of their Facebook friends' activities and activities of Facebook pages they follow. Facebook claimed that it had 2.80 billion monthly active users as of December 2020, and it was the most downloaded mobile app of the 2010s globally.

Instagram (commonly abbreviated to IG or Insta) is an American photo and video sharing social networking service owned by Facebook, created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger and originally launched on iOS in October 2010. The Android version was released in April 2012, followed by a feature-limited desktop interface in November 2012, a Fire OS app in June 2014, and an app for Windows 10 in October 2016. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can be shared publicly or with pre-approved followers. Users can browse other users' content by tags and locations and view trending content. Users can like photos and follow other users to add their content to a feed, a function that seems to be discontinued as of September 2020.

Instagram was originally distinguished by only allowing content to be framed in a square (1:1) aspect ratio with 640 pixels to match the display width of the iPhone at the time. In 2015, these restrictions were eased with an increase to 1080 pixels. The service also added messaging features, the ability to include multiple images or videos in a single post, and a Stories feature—similar to its main opposition Snapchat—which allows users to post photos and videos to a sequential feed, with each post accessible by others for 24 hours each. As of January 2019, the Stories feature is used by 500 million users daily.

After its launch in 2010, Instagram rapidly gained popularity, with one million registered users in two months, 10 million in a year, and 1 billion as of June 2018. In April 2012, Facebook acquired the service for approximately US$1 billion in cash and stock. As of October 2015, over 40 billion photos had been uploaded. Although praised for its influence, Instagram has been the subject of criticism, most notably for policy and interface changes, allegations of censorship, and illegal or improper content uploaded by users.

As of January 2021, the most followed person is footballer Cristiano Ronaldo with over 253 millionfollowers. As of January 14, 2019, the most-liked photo on Instagram is a picture of an egg, posted by the account @world_record_egg, created with the sole purpose of surpassing the previous record of 18 million likes on a Kylie Jenner post. The picture currently has over 54 million likes. Instagram became the 4th most downloaded mobile app of the 2010s.

TikTok, known in China as Douyin (Chinese: 抖音; pinyin: Dǒuyīn), is a video-sharing social networking service owned by Chinese company ByteDance. The social media platform is used to make a variety of short-form videos, from genres like dance, comedy, and education, that have a duration from three seconds to one minute (three minutes for some users). TikTok is an international version of Douyin, which was originally released in the Chinese market in September 2016. Later, TikTok was launched in 2017 for iOS and Android in most markets outside of mainland China; however, it only became available worldwide after merging with another Chinese social media service, Musical.ly, on August 2, 2018.

YouTube Kids is an American video app and website for kids developed by YouTube, a subsidiary of Google. The app provides a version of the service oriented towards children, with curated selections of content, parental control features, and filtering of videos deemed inappropriate viewing for children aged under 13, 9 or 5 depending on the age grouping chosen.

First released on February 15, 2015, as an Android and iOS mobile app, the app has since been released for LG, Samsung, and Sony smart TVs, as well as for Android TV. On May 27, 2020, it became available on Apple TV. As of September 2019, the app is available in 69 countries, including Hong Kong. YouTube launched a web-based version of YouTube Kids on August 30, 2019.

LinkedIn is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job seekers to post their CVs and employers to post jobs. As of 2015, most of the company's revenue came from selling access to information about its members to recruiters and sales professionals. Since December 2016, it has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft. As of September 2021, LinkedIn has 774+ million registered members from over 200 countries and territories.

LinkedIn allows members (both workers and employers) to create profiles and "connect" with each other in an online social network which may represent real-world professional relationships. Members can invite anyone (whether an existing member or not) to become a "connection". LinkedIn can also be used to organize offline events, join groups, write articles, publish job postings, post photos and videos, and more.

YouTube Music is a music streaming service developed by YouTube, a subsidiary of Google. It provides a tailored interface for the service, oriented towards music streaming, allowing users to browse through songs and music videos on YouTube based on genres, playlists, and recommendations.

The service also offers a premium tier, which enables ad-free playback audio-only background playback and downloading songs for offline playback. These subscription benefits are also offered to subscribers of Google Play Music and YouTube Premium. The service superseded Google Play Music as Google's main brand for music streaming on December 1, 2020.

Visual Studio Code is a source-code editor made by Microsoft for Windows, Linux and macOS. Features include support for debugging, syntax highlighting, intelligent code completion, snippets, code refactoring, and embedded Git. Users can change the theme, keyboard shortcuts, preferences, and install extensions that add additional functionality.

Visual Studio Code was first announced on April 29, 2015, by Microsoft at the 2015 Build conference. A preview build was released shortly thereafter.

On November 18, 2015, the source of Visual Studio Code was released under the MIT License, and made available on GitHub. Extension support was also announced. On April 14, 2016, Visual Studio Code graduated from the public preview stage and was released to the Web. Microsoft has released most of Visual Studio Code's source code on GitHub under the permissive MIT License, while the releases by Microsoft are proprietary freeware.

In the Stack Overflow 2021 Developer Survey, Visual Studio Code was ranked the most popular developer environment tool, with 70% of 82,000 respondents reporting that they use it.

The Xbox app is an app for Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows 11, Android, and iOS. It acts as a companion app for Xbox video game consoles, providing access to Xbox Live community features, remote control, as well as second screen functionality (formerly branded as SmartGlass) with selected games, applications, and content.

On Windows 10, the app additionally serves as a launcher for PC games installed on a device (including games obtained from Microsoft Store, Bethesda.net, Steam, GOG.com, Epic Games Store, Humble Bundle, Battle.net, Origin and Ubisoft Connect), provided access to the system's screen recording functions, and streaming of games from an Xbox One console on a local network.

Zoom Meetings (commonly shortened to Zoom, and stylized as zoom) is a proprietary video teleconferencing software program developed by Zoom Video Communications. The free plan allows up to 100 concurrent participants, with a 40-minute time restriction. Users have the option to upgrade by subscribing to a paid plan. The highest plan supports up to 1,000 concurrent participants for meetings lasting up to 30 hours.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a major increase in the use of Zoom for remote work, distance education, and online social relations. The increase led to Zoom being the 5th most downloaded mobile app worldwide in 2020 at 477 million downloads.

Spotify is a Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is the world's largest music streaming service provider, with over 381 million monthly active users, including 172 million paying subscribers, as of September 2021. Spotify is listed (through a Luxembourg City-domiciled holding company, Spotify Technology S.A.) on the New York Stock Exchange in the form of American depositary receipts.

Spotify offers digital copyright restricted recorded music and podcasts, including more than 70 million songs, from record labels and media companies. As a freemium service, basic features are free with advertisements and limited control, while additional features, such as offline listening and commercial-free listening, are offered via paid subscriptions. Spotify is currently available in 180+ countries as of October 2021. Users can search for music based on artist, album, or genre, and can create, edit, and share playlists.