Embodiments of the present invention disclose a method, an apparatus, and a system for registering a terminal application. In the embodiments of the present invention, a download address information recommending request that is sent by a first terminal and carries a terminal identifier of a second terminal is received; and recommended download address information is returned to the first terminal, where the recommended download address information includes a terminal application download address and authentication information used for performing registration, so that the first terminal sends, to the second terminal, a recommending message carrying the recommended download address information, so as to make the second terminal register according to the terminal application download address and the authentication information used for performing registration. In this solution, less time is consumed and a registration success rate is high, which helps to improve an application activating rate for a user.