Mobile app data analytics provider Sensor Tower has released its latest report, "State of AI Apps Report 2025," analyzing the state of the mobile AI market. We have summarized some key points:
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In the first half of 2025, global generative AI apps (AI assistants + AI content generators) saw nearly 1.7 billion downloads, with in-app purchase (IAP) revenue close to $1.9 billion, representing a 67% half-on-half growth and a doubling of revenue.
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Asia (especially China and India) has become the main driver of download growth, with AI app downloads in Asia increasing by 80% in the first half of 2025, significantly higher than the global average.
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Generative AI apps are crossing verticals, now widely penetrating health, education, entertainment, finance, and other categories, making AI a "standard" feature for enhancing user experience.
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Leading AI assistants (such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, DeepSeek) are continuously adding new features like image generation and voice chat, strengthening user stickiness and differentiation.
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Emerging AI apps like DeepSeek have achieved rapid user expansion and surpassed download volumes in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
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Mainstream AI assistant users are still predominantly young males, but top products now have over 30% female users, with niche scenarios (such as entertainment, social, health) bringing in more diverse groups.
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User monthly active days continue to rise, with ChatGPT users globally averaging 13 active days per month, usage frequency approaching that of social platforms X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit.
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For AI apps to break out, they must deeply understand target user needs, accurately match features and scenarios, and improve user acquisition and conversion efficiency.
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In the past year, among ChatGPT conversation keywords, content related to "life and entertainment" rose from 22% to 35%, with health and shopping becoming the fastest-growing use case categories.
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Vertical applications face "disruption" pressure; unless they can deepen value with more refined AI capabilities (such as specialized recognition, vertical data integration), they are easily replaced by general AI. Education/translation/nutrition and dining apps should pay special attention to this challenge.
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Embedding "AI" in app names/descriptions can bring significant download growth, with a median increase of up to 4.1% within three months (more pronounced on iOS).
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App screenshots/keyword promotion of image generation features, cartoon images, and other fun scenarios have become mainstream, effectively attracting new users.
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In vertical tracks such as nutrition, translation, note-taking, and exam preparation, leading apps are introducing AI labels and capabilities on a large scale, intensifying competition.
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Innovation and iteration speed determines survival: continuously focus on new scenario expansion (image, voice, health, life), quickly test new needs, and avoid being replaced by mainstream AI assistants.
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Focus on niche vertical scenarios: build specialized/localized app solutions based on AI capabilities (e.g., customized AI nutrition tracking, medical, etc.) to form barriers.
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Make good use of ASO and advertising dividends: optimize app store strategies with "AI" terminology, highlight innovative features with product screenshots, and invest in niche channels for precise marketing.
Founder Park has extracted some highlights from the report. For the full report, see:
Note: Download and in-app purchase (IAP) revenue estimates in the report are compiled by the Sensor Tower Insights team based on its mobile app insights platform.
Data statistics cover January 1, 2014 to June 30, 2025, including download and IAP revenue estimates from the App Store and Google Play platforms.
Asia is the largest download market for AI applications, while the US market leads in AI app in-app purchase revenue
Since the launch of ChatGPT more than two years ago, enthusiasm for AI has continued to surge, and demand for mobile AI has grown rapidly.
According to the report, in the first half of 2025, global generative AI app downloads (covering AI assistants and AI content generators) approached 1.7 billion, with in-app purchase (IAP) revenue reaching nearly $1.9 billion. More notably, the half-on-half growth rates (HoH) for downloads and IAP revenue continue to climb. In the first half of 2025, downloads grew by 67% HoH, the fastest rate since the first half of 2023. IAP revenue showed a similarly strong trend, with consumer spending in the first half of 2025 doubling compared to the second half of 2024.
AI app downloads in Asia surge by 80%
After the launch of ChatGPT, English-speaking markets led by the US quickly became early adopters of generative AI apps, with North America initially accounting for about 20% of global downloads. However, as generative AI apps have become popular worldwide, North America's share of downloads dropped to 11% in the first half of 2025. Nevertheless, downloads in the region are still growing.
Asia is the largest download market for generative AI apps, with markets such as India and mainland China seeing particularly rapid growth. From the second half of 2024 to the first half of 2025, generative AI app downloads in Asia surged by 80%, significantly outpacing Europe (51%) and North America (39%) during the same period.
US market leads in AI app in-app purchase revenue, other regions show even stronger growth momentum
In the first half of 2025, generative AI app IAP revenue grew rapidly worldwide. North America led with $762 million in IAP revenue, with a HoH growth rate of 74%. Notably, ChatGPT dominates app revenue, ranking first in all major markets except mainland China, contributing 63% of total generative AI app revenue in the first half of 2025. This trend clearly reveals the huge monetization potential of generative AI apps globally. From the second half of 2024 to the first half of 2025, IAP revenue in Latin America (up 147% HoH), Asia (136%), the Middle East (131%), and Europe (121%) all doubled.
Generative AI app market rankings for the first half of 2025
Sensor Tower compiled generative AI app market rankings for the first half of 2025, showing download volumes, in-app purchase revenue, and monthly active users by region and country, along with corresponding growth trends. The statistics are from iOS and Google Play platforms.
Download volume and download growth rankings
In-app purchase revenue and growth rankings
Monthly active users and growth rankings
ChatGPT user stickiness rapidly increases, health and shopping are its fastest-growing application scenarios
The report found that consumer acceptance of AI assistants continues to rise. ChatGPT's user engagement across all platforms is steadily increasing.
AI assistant user profile: young males still dominate
Although the audience base for generative AI apps is expanding, the user group still clearly skews young and male. Even for highly popular apps like ChatGPT (one of only 15 non-preinstalled apps with over 500 million monthly active users globally), the main user group is concentrated here. In the US market, nearly 70% of ChatGPT users are male, with 64% under the age of 35. Analysis of generative AI app user profiles reveals a diverse audience structure. While most AI assistants, such as DeepSeek, Claude, and Grok, still have predominantly male users, top apps like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Google Gemini have successfully broadened their user base, achieving a relatively balanced gender distribution, with female users accounting for over 30%. Meanwhile, entertainment-focused AI apps like PolyBuzz and Character AI have attracted young female users with their unique positioning. This trend indicates that as AI features and application scenarios become more diverse, the user base is also becoming more segmented and diversified.
ChatGPT user stickiness rapidly increases, usage frequency rivals X and Reddit
According to the report, ChatGPT's user stickiness is rapidly increasing, with an average of 13 usage days per month, on par with popular social platforms X and Reddit. In contrast, Threads, launched around the same time, has stabilized at 9-10 usage days per month. Nevertheless, Google remains the "gold standard" for mobile users seeking information. Data from June 2025 shows users use Google more than 18 days per month. This indicates that in terms of sustained and high-frequency use, ChatGPT (and AI assistants more broadly) have not yet fully replaced traditional search engines like Google.
ChatGPT weekend usage surges
Typically, work-oriented apps like Microsoft Teams and Slack see a significant drop in mobile and web usage on weekends. In the first half of 2024, ChatGPT also showed a similar pattern, with higher usage on weekdays, though the fluctuations were less dramatic. However, by the first half of 2025, this trend had significantly weakened for ChatGPT on mobile, with usage patterns becoming more similar to Google. This suggests that ChatGPT is no longer limited to work scenarios and is increasingly becoming a core tool for users to access information both during and outside of work hours.
Over one-third of ChatGPT conversation keywords are for life and entertainment
Over the past year, ChatGPT's usage scenarios have shifted significantly, expanding rapidly from a purely work and education tool to life and entertainment. Data shows that the proportion of conversation keywords related to life and entertainment has risen from 22% in Q2 2024 to nearly 35% in Q2 2025. Nevertheless, work and education keywords remain the core value of ChatGPT. In Q2 2025, these keywords still accounted for nearly 60% of the total. Although their growth rate is lower than that of life and entertainment, the total volume continues to grow, indicating that ChatGPT's importance in work and study scenarios has not diminished.
Health and shopping become ChatGPT's fastest-growing application scenarios
Analysis of ChatGPT conversation keyword data in the US market reveals that consumer demand for ChatGPT is becoming increasingly diverse, covering shopping, meal preparation, fun facts, and pop culture, among other areas. AI usage scenarios have already far surpassed the work and education sectors.
From Q2 2024 to Q2 2025, nine of the top ten fastest-growing categories by conversation keyword share belonged to life and entertainment, with health and wellness showing particularly strong growth. This trend not only indicates that ChatGPT's user base has significantly broadened, but also reflects that consumers are more adept at applying the tool to diverse scenarios.
Conversely, the categories with the largest declines in conversation keyword share were mainly programming assistance, language learning and translation, and writing and editing.
Although these remain ChatGPT's core application scenarios, their relative decline in share suggests that users are actively exploring new and creative ways to use AI for broader information and assistance.
ChatGPT usage patterns increasingly resemble search engines
ChatGPT is showing enormous potential to disrupt traditional search. In recent years, its user engagement metrics have soared, rivaling top search engine and browser apps. Data shows that in the first half of 2025, ChatGPT users averaged 7.8 sessions per day, up 37% from 2024, slightly surpassing the average for leading search engine and browser apps. Although ChatGPT still lags slightly in daily usage time, the gap is narrowing significantly: during the same period, users averaged 16 minutes of daily usage, up 58% from 2024. The rapid growth in both session count and daily usage time strongly demonstrates that ChatGPT is gradually becoming the preferred tool for consumers to access information.
"AI+" becomes standard in vertical application fields, note-taking and nutrition apps frequently mention AI
The report finds that AI's influence in the mobile app ecosystem now far exceeds chatbots. Currently, the term "AI" appears over 100,000 times in app descriptions on iOS and Google Play platforms.
In the first half of 2025, apps integrated with AI features reached 7.5 billion downloads, accounting for about 10% of all app downloads during the same period. Compared to the same period last year, downloads of these AI-enhanced apps grew by a significant 52%.
From a more granular perspective, some subcategories are becoming the core drivers of this rapid growth. For example, in health and wellness, downloads of nutrition and medical tracking apps mentioning AI are surging.
AI features are becoming standard in nutrition apps
In the nutrition app sector, AI-driven calorie scanners are rapidly becoming a must-have feature. Meanwhile, other app subcategories are facing fierce competition from AI assistants like ChatGPT and DeepSeek. For example, exam preparation and translation are common ChatGPT scenarios. Therefore, related vertical apps must actively develop and integrate more competitive AI features to surpass what AI assistants offer, or risk being replaced.
"Vertical App + AI features" is the key to competitiveness
All mobile verticals are continuously launching new AI features. The report ranks the number of apps adding AI features in the first half of 2025. Aside from AI-native apps, photo editing, learning support, video editing, and nutrition apps are introducing more AI features.
Additionally, adding terms like "AI" or "LLM" to app names or descriptions has led to significant short-term download growth, though performance varies by app type.
For example, job search, education, and life/service apps saw sustained download growth for three months after adding AI terms, while the boost for health and wellness apps was shorter-lived. Notably, in dating apps, adding AI-related terms seemed to have a negative effect. This reflects users' inherent skepticism toward AI technology when seeking genuine human interaction.
Note-taking and nutrition app names in app stores frequently include "AI"
The report's analysis of different subcategories found that on iOS, more than a quarter of top apps in several categories explicitly include "AI" in their names.
Notably, in the photo editing category, 6 of the top 10 apps (and 37 of the top 100) include "AI" in their names.
Meanwhile, competition in translation, note-taking, and nutrition subcategories is intensifying, with emerging apps integrating AI technology on a large scale. On iOS, over 20% of the top 100 apps in these categories mention "AI" in their names, and even more have integrated AI features without explicit labeling.
Which verticals are being disrupted by AI?
As general AI apps like ChatGPT continue to expand their features, some leading vertical apps face potential replacement risks. These general tools are being used in innovative ways that may directly substitute for certain specific app scenarios. However, preliminary analysis shows that AI's impact on mobile app subcategories is differentiated. Some apps still maintain strong growth in key mobile performance indicators (KPIs). To survive and thrive in this wave of change, these specialized apps must proactively innovate and differentiate themselves from general AI chatbots. This means deeply integrating AI features tailored to the nuanced needs and precise scenarios of target audiences. For example, nutrition apps can develop high-precision AI meal logging based on photo recognition, offering specialized solutions that general AI cannot easily match, thereby consolidating their market advantage.
Leading AI apps are all promoting image generation and voice modes
The report, by analyzing the main new features promoted by several leading AI apps, found that many top apps are emphasizing their image generation and voice mode features.
AI assistants focus on cartoon-style image generation features
Leading AI assistants are making image generation a core strategy for attracting new users. Many apps are highlighting their diverse image styles, especially cartoon and animation styles. These fun and widely appealing features provide an effective entry point for new users, encouraging them to actively explore and experience the image generation capabilities built into AI assistants.
ChatGPT and Gemini compete in image generation
As leading AI assistants like ChatGPT and Google Gemini increasingly focus on image generation, their app store keyword strategies have also shifted to prioritize rankings for AI image-related searches.
Data shows that in Q2 2025, in the US iOS App Store, ChatGPT and Google Gemini consistently held the top two spots for the search term "ai image." By the end of the quarter, both apps ranked in the top 15 for "ai image generator," fully demonstrating their strong competitive intent in the image generation field.
At the same time, promotional descriptions for image generation search features have significantly boosted downloads for ChatGPT and Gemini.
Downloads from image-related searches for ChatGPT and Google Gemini have shown steady growth.
Although this portion of downloads is still a small part of the total, these downloads from precise searches have become an additional source of benefit in the overall ASO strategies of both apps.
