Generative AI apps have experienced explosive growth in the first half of 2025, with downloads reaching 1.7 billion and in-app revenue doubling to $1.87 billion. This marks a significant jump from 1 billion downloads and $932 million in revenue during the second half of 2024, according to a new Sensor Tower report.
Asia led the surge in downloads, capturing 42.6% of the global market share. Countries like India and China saw an 80% increase in downloads, far outpacing Europe’s 51% and North America’s 39%. Latin America recorded the fastest growth in in-app purchases, while North America still holds 40% of total revenue from these apps.
ChatGPT dominated in-app revenue worldwide, except in China where DeepSeek quickly became the most downloaded app after its launch. ChatGPT users spent an average of 16 minutes daily on the app in the first half of 2025, showing strong engagement comparable to Google’s 18.2 minutes. More than one-third of ChatGPT’s prompts during Q2 2025 related to lifestyle and entertainment, including health advice, shopping tips, finance, and meal planning.
Gen AI apps doubled their revenue, grew to 1.7B downloads in first half of 2025 | TechCrunch https://t.co/89OtLiewZU
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Sensor Tower also found that AI-related apps were downloaded 7.5 billion times during the first half of 2025, making up 10% of all app downloads. Other top AI apps include Character AI, PolyBuzz, and Perplexity. The term “AI” appeared over 100,000 times in app store descriptions, reflecting growing marketing efforts.
However, Sensor Tower noted that adding “AI” to an app’s name often results in only a short-term boost in downloads, suggesting quality and user experience remain key for sustained growth. Overall, the data shows AI apps are becoming essential tools for users both during work and leisure hours, signaling a major shift in digital consumption habits.