App downloads declined again in 2025, but consumer spending soared to nearly $156B

In a surprising turn of events, the subscription economy has propelled mobile app revenues to new heights in 2025, even as the number of app downloads continued to fall for the fifth consecutive year, according to Appfigures' latest annual report. Global downloads across mobile applications and games from the App Store and Google Play reached an estimated 106.9 billion, marking a decrease of 2.7% compared to the previous year. Conversely, consumer spending on mobile apps soared by 21.6%, totaling an impressive $155.8 billion during the same period. This trend indicates that app developers, marketers, and publishers have effectively encouraged users to engage in in-app purchases and subscriptions, despite a downturn in new user downloads. The report highlighted a significant shift in the app economy, with mobile games no longer being the predominant source of revenue. In 2025, consumers spent $72.2 billion on mobile games, which accounted for approximately 46% of all mobile app spending. While this figure reflects a 10% increase year-over-year, spending on non-game apps saw an even more substantial rise of 33.9%, reaching $82.6 billion. While users may express dissatisfaction over the prevalence of in-app purchases and subscription models, these changes have created a more sustainable revenue stream for app developers. This shift has also nurtured a thriving ecosystem of businesses that support the mobile app industry. Notable examples include RevenueCat, a subscription management platform that raised $50 million in a Series C round, and Appcharge, a startup focused on enhancing mobile game monetization, which secured $58 million in a Series B funding round in August. Additionally, Liftoff Mobile, a company specializing in app marketing and monetization, recently filed for an IPO. Despite the rise in revenue, app downloads experienced another decline in 2025. After peaking at 135 billion during the pandemic in 2020, downloads have consistently decreased. The year's figure of 106.9 billion installs dropped from 109.8 billion in 2024, following a slowdown in growth between 2023 and 2024, which saw a 3.3% decline. Mobile game downloads faced a more pronounced drop, with 39.4 billion downloads recorded in 2025, reflecting an 8.6% decrease year-over-year. Non-game app downloads, however, remained largely stable, witnessing a modest increase of 1.1% to reach 67.4 billion. Focusing on the U.S. market, consumers spent an estimated $55.5 billion on mobile apps, which is an 18.1% increase from $47 billion in 2024. Downloads in the U.S. totaled 10 billion, down 4.2% from 10.4 billion the previous year. Notably, spending on non-game apps surged to $33.6 billion, a 26.8% increase year-over-year, while game-related expenditures rose to $21.9 billion, up just 6.8%. In terms of downloads, U.S. non-game apps accounted for approximately 7.1 billion downloads, while games were downloaded around 2.9 billion times.