Appfigures: global consumer mobile app spending on Apple's App Store and Google Play rose 21.6% YoY to $155.8B in 2025, but app downloads dropped 2.7% to 106.9B
The subscription economy helped boost mobile app revenues in 2025, even as app downloads declined for the fifth consecutive year …
Context & Ripple Effects
The 2025 results extend an already divergent mobile-market pattern: spending rose while downloads fell in 2024, with the download decline now entering a fifth consecutive year.
Earlier coverage showed a market where downloads and spending could both expand, including 2020’s jump in downloads and consumer spending. The current data makes monetization of the installed user base—not new installs—the more consequential measure.
First-order effects
- App developers with subscription offerings gain a larger revenue pool despite fewer new downloads, increasing the value of retaining and converting existing users.
- The App Store and Google Play are processing more consumer spending while app acquisition volume contracts, reinforcing revenue growth without corresponding download growth.
Second-order effects
- Developers and publishers face greater pressure to improve subscription conversion, renewal, and pricing as fewer downloads limit top-of-funnel growth.
- Apps dependent on paid acquisition or one-time downloads may find growth harder to sustain, while subscription-oriented categories gain relative strategic weight.
Third-order effects
- If spending continues to outpace installs, mobile-app competition will increasingly center on revenue per active user and retention rather than download rankings.
- The pattern points to a more mature app economy in which recurring billing has greater influence over product design and platform economics, though aggregate spending alone does not show which developers capture the gains.
The trend: Mobile app markets are shifting from install-led expansion toward subscription-led monetization of an established user base.