Google Search, Facebook, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and YouTube were named as the apps that have the highest impact on mobile networks in Alcatel-Lucent’s ‘Mobile Apps Report’.

Covering sample networks across the world, the research is pitched by the infrastructure vendor as helping app developers to gain an appreciation of the costs they pass onto operators and consumers and to learn how to improve the efficiency of their products.

The research found that some apps that aren’t ranked very highly in terms of usage appear high up in the rankings due to the way they are designed. Messaging app Kik and music service Pandora fall into this category.

These companies could learn from the work done by big-name apps. Facebook for Android, for example, has been optimised to reduce overall signalling load on some networks by 5-10 per cent.

There are also some globally popular apps that have a low impact on networks, including Google Maps, Dropbox, weather apps, Zynga gaming apps and messaging apps Nimbuzz and Palringo.

In terms of data volume, iTunes, Instagram, Pinterest, Apple Maps and Pandora could all be better optimised in terms of their data use, according to the research.

Apps that have a higher per user delivery cost, meaning their impact could quickly increase if they become more popular, were also flagged. These include messaging apps Tango, Nimbuzz, Palringo, Kik, Skype, along with Microsoft’s Office 365, Netflix, Pandora and Pinterest.

Geography also has an impact on which apps have the greatest network impact, according to Alcatel-Lucent.

In the Middle East, consumers use certain social apps to such an extent that they feature high-up in the overall list, while not being used on other sample networks.

Another example of regional variation are developing markets where consumers tend not to view videos on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, meaning these titles have less of an impact on networks in these markets.