Mobile App Growth Statistics 2026: What the Filings Actually Show

Apple announced that the global App Store ecosystem facilitated over $1.4 trillion in developer billings and sales in 2025, according to a study by economists at Analysis Group. That total traces to a named, dated, and publicly readable document. Most of the mobile app growth statistics in circulation, including download counts, session averages and consumer spending estimates, do not.

The figures below come only from audited filings, company newsroom releases and the transparency reports that regulators oblige platforms to publish, covering store revenue, platform reach and the connectivity base underneath both. Where a widely quoted metric fails that test, we say so plainly instead of substituting an estimate nobody can check.

Key Takeaways

• Physical goods and services accounted for $1.1 trillion of App Store ecosystem billings in 2025, far more than the $149 billion in digital goods that app store commissions actually touch.
• Apple Services net sales grew 14% to $109,158 million in fiscal 2025, an audited series that tracks app economy growth without relying on download estimates.
• Google Play reported 298 million average monthly signed-in accounts in the European Union, published because Article 24(2) of the Digital Services Act compels it.
• Google’s filing warns that both its signed-in and 48.3 million signed-out counts overstate unique recipients, and adding them together overstates that number further.
• Developers paid no commission on more than 90% of ecosystem billings, and Apple books only the commission it does retain, so aggregate gross app spending reaches no platform operator’s audited accounts.
• An estimated 6 billion people were using the internet in 2025, about three-quarters of the world’s population, setting the ceiling on any app growth forecast.

Editor’s Choice

• App Store ecosystem billings and sales: over $1.4 trillion in 2025.
• In-app advertising revenue: $151 billion from ads placed by developers in their own apps.
• Apple Services net sales: $109,158 million in fiscal 2025.
• Google subscriptions, platforms, and devices revenue: $48,030 million in 2025.
• Google Play EU signed-in accounts: 298 million average monthly active recipients.
• Meta Family daily active people: 3.58 billion on average for December 2025.
• App Store weekly reach: over 850 million average weekly users across 175 countries and regions.

Mobile App Growth Statistics: How Big the App Economy Is

• Apple announced that the global App Store ecosystem facilitated over $1.4 trillion in developer billings and sales in 2025, according to a study by economists at Analysis Group.
• Sales of physical goods and services accounted for $1.1 trillion, driven by grocery, food delivery and pickup, general retail, and travel.
• Developer billings and sales for digital goods and services totalled $149 billion, the slice driven by games, enterprise apps and video streaming apps.
• In-app advertising revenue from ads placed by developers in their apps was $151 billion.
• For more than 90% of the billings and sales the ecosystem facilitated, developers paid no commission to Apple.
• Since 2019, the size of the App Store ecosystem has nearly tripled.
• The App Store saw over 850 million average weekly users spanning 175 countries and regions.

Source: Apple Newsroom, Analysis Group study of the 2025 App Store ecosystem

Sales of physical goods and services accounted for $1.1 trillion. Developer billings and sales for digital goods and services totalled $149 billion, and in-app advertising revenue from ads placed by developers in their apps was $151 billion.

Commission-bearing digital goods are roughly a tenth of the headline figure, so a total quoted in trillions mostly measures grocery orders and retail checkouts passing through a phone. For more than 90% of the billings and sales facilitated by the App Store ecosystem, developers did not pay any commission to Apple, and since 2019 the size of the ecosystem has nearly tripled. The App Store saw over 850 million average weekly users spanning 175 countries and regions.

App Store Operator Revenue by Year

• Apple Services net sales reached $109,158 in fiscal 2025, in millions, up 14% from the prior year.
• Apple Services net sales were $96,169 in fiscal 2024 and $85,200 in fiscal 2023 on the same basis.
• Alphabet’s Google subscriptions, platforms, and devices line reached $48,030 in 2025, also in millions.
• The same Alphabet line was $40,340 in 2024 and $34,688 in 2023.
• Apple attributes the Services increase to higher net sales from advertising, the App Store, and cloud services.
• Apple’s Services gross margin was 75.4% in fiscal 2025, against 36.8% on products.
• Primary document: Apple’s Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 as filed with the SEC.
• Primary document: Alphabet’s 2025 Form 10-K carrying the disaggregated revenue table.

Apple reported Services net sales of $109,158 for 2025, an increase of 14%, compared with $96,169 in 2024 and $85,200 in 2023, in a table the filing denominates in millions. Apple states that Services net sales increased during 2025 compared to 2024 primarily due to higher net sales from advertising, the App Store, and cloud services.

Alphabet reported Google subscriptions, platforms, and devices revenues of $48,030 for 2025, up from $40,340 in 2024 and $34,688 in 2023, on the same millions basis. Neither line is a pure App Store figure, since both bundle subscriptions and hardware or cloud services alongside store commissions. They remain the closest audited proxy available.

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Services as a Share of Apple Revenue

• Apple’s total net sales were $416,161 million in fiscal 2025, $391,035 million in 2024, and $383,285 million in 2023.
• Services rose from roughly 22.2% of total net sales in fiscal 2023 to about 26.2% in fiscal 2025.
• Services gross margin reached 75.4% in fiscal 2025, up from 73.9% in 2024 and 70.8% in 2023.
• Total company gross margin was 46.9% in fiscal 2025.
• Apple’s products gross margin was 36.8% in fiscal 2025, roughly half the Services rate.
• Among reported categories, iPhone led fiscal 2025 net sales at $209,586, in millions, ahead of Services at $109,158.
• Wearables, Home and Accessories reached $35,686, Mac $33,708, and iPad $28,023 on the same basis.

Apple reported fiscal 2025 net sales of $209,586 for iPhone, $109,158 for Services, $35,686 for Wearables, Home and Accessories, $33,708 for Mac and $28,023 for iPad, in millions.

Services moved to about 26.2% of Apple’s total net sales in fiscal 2025. The same line was roughly 22.2% of total net sales in fiscal 2023. Apple’s total net sales were $416,161 for 2025, $391,035 for 2024, and $383,285 for 2023 on that same basis.

By the numbers: Apple’s fiscal 2025 filing reports a Services gross margin percentage of 75.4% against 36.8% on products. The software side of the app business earns roughly double the margin of the hardware carrying it, which is why store economics attract regulatory attention that device sales do not.

Apple’s Services gross margin percentage was 75.4% in 2025, compared with 73.9% in 2024 and 70.8% in 2023, while products gross margin percentage was 36.8% and total gross margin percentage was 46.9%.

Recent Developments

• June 2026: Apple published the Analysis Group study reporting over $1.4 trillion in App Store ecosystem billings and sales for 2025.
• February 2026: Google published its Digital Services Act report on average monthly active recipients in the European Union, dated 13 February 2026.
• January 2026: Meta reported Family daily active people of 3.58 billion on average for December 2025 in its Form 10-K.
• July 2026: Apple reported June quarter revenue of $109.4 billion, up 16% year over year, with double-digit revenue growth across iPhone, Mac, and Services.
• August 2026: Apple’s European DSA recipients page was updated to cover the six months to 30 June 2026.
• November 2025: The ITU released Facts and Figures 2025, estimating 6 billion internet users worldwide.

Google published its report on average monthly active recipients in the EU on 13 February 2026, in compliance with Article 24(2) of the Digital Services Act. Apple’s European DSA Recipients of Services Report sets out average monthly active recipients calculated over the period of the six months to 30/06/2026.

Google Play Reach Across the European Union

• Google Play reported 298 million average monthly counts based on distinct signed-in accounts of recipients across the EU.
• The same filing reported 48.3 million average monthly counts based on distinct sessions of signed-out recipients.
• Germany reported 55.4 million signed-in accounts, France 46.5 million, and Italy 38.5 million.
• Czechia reported 7.6 million signed-in accounts.
• Greece and Belgium each reported 6.6 million, with Hungary at 5.6 million.
• Estonia was among the smallest reported markets at 800,000 signed-in accounts.

Google Play, described as the online store and digital distribution service available through the Google Play Store, reported 298,000,000 average monthly counts based on distinct signed-in accounts and 48,300,000 based on distinguishable sessions of signed-out recipients. By EU Member State, Google Play reported average monthly counts of 55,400,000 distinct signed-in accounts in Germany, 46,500,000 in France and 38,500,000 in Italy.

No aggregator publishes this table, and no panel vendor needs to estimate it, because the regulation obliges the platform to state it. Readers tracking 5G connectivity will recognise the same pattern of larger markets carrying disproportionate infrastructure weight.

Which App Metrics Can Actually Be Verified

• Of the $1.4 trillion ecosystem total, only the commission slice ever reaches Apple’s audited accounts.
• Apple does not obtain control of third-party applications before transferring them to the customer, so it accounts for those sales on a net basis.
• Apple recognises in Services net sales only the commission it retains, which means gross third-party app spending is absent from the filing.
• Google states its counts do not comprehensively de-duplicate within or between the signed-in and signed-out measures.
• Google warns that the same recipient may be counted many times across its 298 million signed-in accounts, so the counts overstate unique recipients.
• Google states that adding the two counts together would further overstate the number.
• Meta warns that actual numbers of unique people using its products may vary significantly from its estimates.

Source: Apple Form 10-K fiscal 2025 and Google DSA transparency report, 2025 and 2026

For third-party applications sold through the App Store, Apple does not obtain control of the product before transferring it to the customer, and therefore accounts for all third-party application-related sales on a net basis by recognizing in Services net sales only the commission it retains.

That single accounting sentence explains a decade of confusion. Because aggregate gross app spending is never booked by the platform operator, no audited filing states it. That leaves paid measurement panels as the only producers of the number.

Downloads by category and average sessions per user sit in the same position. We drop them here rather than restate them.

Worth noting: Google LLC states in its own Digital Services Act filing that it does not comprehensively de-duplicate its recipient counts, that the same recipient may be counted many times, and that the counts therefore overstate unique recipients. Publishing a mandated figure alongside its disclosed error is more honest than most privately modelled estimates manage.

Google states that it does not comprehensively de-duplicate within the count based on distinct accounts of recipients, or within the count based on distinguishable sessions of signed-out recipients, and that the same recipient may be counted many times, so the counts overstate the number of unique recipients of the service in the EU.

The Connectivity Base Underneath App Growth

• An estimated 6 billion people were using the internet in 2025, about three-quarters of the world’s population.
• That figure was up from a revised estimate of 5.8 billion in 2024.
• The world’s online population grew by more than 240 million people during 2025.
• 2.2 billion people remained offline, down from a revised estimate of 2.3 billion in 2024.

Globally, an estimated 6 billion people, about three-quarters of the world’s population, are using the Internet in 2025, up from a revised estimate of 5.8 billion in 2024, while 2.2 billion people remain offline, down from a revised estimate of 2.3 billion in 2024.

The world’s online population grew by more than 240 million people in 2025, according to Facts and Figures 2025 released by the International Telecommunication Union.

Any app growth projection is bounded by this number. Roughly a quarter of humanity remains beyond the reach of any app at any price.

5G Coverage and the Quality Divide

• 5G subscriptions account for about one-third of all mobile broadband subscriptions worldwide, or around 3 billion.
• 5G networks are estimated to cover 55% of the world’s population in 2025.
• 84% of people in high-income countries have access to 5G.
• Only 4% of people in low-income countries have the same access.
• A typical user in a high-income country now generates nearly eight times more mobile data than one in a low-income country.

Facts and Figures estimates the total number of 5G subscriptions, which now account for about one-third, or around 3 billion, of all mobile broadband subscriptions worldwide. In 2025, 5G networks are estimated to cover 55% of the world’s population, with 84% of people in high-income countries having access to 5G, compared with only 4% in low-income countries.

A typical user in a high-income country now generates nearly eight times more mobile data than one in a low-income country. Bandwidth-intensive categories including streaming and AR and VR inherit that divide directly, since neither works acceptably on a constrained connection.

How Many People Use the Largest App Family

• Meta reported Family daily active people of 3.58 billion on average for December 2025.
• That was an increase of 7% year over year, from 3.35 billion during December 2024.
• Ad impressions delivered across the Family of Apps increased by 12% year over year in 2025.
• Average price per ad increased by 9% year over year in 2025.

Meta reported that Family daily active people were 3.58 billion on average for December 2025, an increase of 7% year-over-year; that ad impressions delivered across its Family of Apps increased by 12% year-over-year in 2025, and that average price per ad increased by 9% year-over-year in 2025. Worldwide daily active people increased 7% to 3.58 billion on average during December 2025 from 3.35 billion during December 2024.

Daily reach of that size across one corporate family is why engagement metrics for social media apps dominate any aggregate view of app usage.

Apple’s Quarterly Services Trajectory

• Apple posted quarterly revenue of $109.4 billion for the June 2026 quarter, up 16% year over year.
• Services net sales were $30,739 in the June 2026 quarter, in millions, against $27,423 a year earlier.
• Nine-month Services net sales reached $91,728, up from $80,408 on the same basis.
• Products net sales were $78,678 in the quarter, against $66,613.
• Company gross margin was 50.1%, including a favourable impact of approximately 2 percentage points from tariff refunds.
• Quarterly revenue was $109.4 billion, up 16% year over year.
• The quarter ended June 27, 2026, against a comparable period ended June 28, 2025.

Source: Apple Form 8-K Exhibit 99, third quarter fiscal 2026, SEC EDGAR, July 2026

Apple posted quarterly revenue of $109.4 billion for its fiscal 2026 third quarter ended June 27, 2026, up 16% year over year, with a company gross margin of 50.1%, including a favorable impact of approximately 2 percentage points from tariff refunds. Services net sales were $30,739 for the three months ended June 27, 2026 against $27,423 a year earlier, and $91,728 for the nine months against $80,408, again in millions.

Where App Growth Is Concentrating by Region

• Over the last six years, App Store billings and sales have more than doubled in China and more than tripled in the U.S. and Europe.
• General retail ranked number one by category in every market, with travel second across the U.S., Europe, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil.

Source: Apple Newsroom, Analysis Group study of the 2025 App Store ecosystem, June 2026

In the last six years, billings and sales facilitated by the App Store have more than doubled in China, and more than tripled in the U.S. and Europe, with physical goods and services accounting for the majority of total billings and sales in every region and general retail ranking as the number one category across all markets. Travel was the second-largest category of spending in physical goods and services in the U.S., Europe, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil, while in Korea food delivery and pickup took the second spot.

Retail and travel dominance is a reminder that the app store is now mostly a checkout surface. Categories such as mobile commerce and subscription apps describe where the money moves more accurately than a downloads chart does.

How AI Features Are Changing App Billings

• More than 40 of the top 100 apps on the App Store featured consumer-facing AI capabilities in 2025.
• Those apps saw stronger billing growth than other top 100 apps, a comparison Apple states without quantifying it.
• No multiplier for that growth appears in Apple’s announcement, so none appears here.

In 2025, more than 40 of the top 100 apps on the storefront featured consumer-facing AI capabilities, and those apps saw stronger billing growth than other top 100 apps.

AI concentration among the highest-grossing apps signals monetisation rather than adoption, since the top 100 is where spending already sits. Usage across general-purpose AI tools tells a broader story than storefront rankings.

What the EU Platform Threshold Reveals About App Scale

• Online platforms with 45 million or more average monthly active recipients in the Union may be designated very large online platforms.
• Apple reports App Store recipient figures separately under that framework.
• Apple lists Apple Books ebooks at under 1 million average monthly active recipients in the EU.
• Apple lists Apple Podcasts Subscriptions at under 1 million on the same basis.
• Recipients are counted as active where they engage with the service at least once in a given period.

Under the DSA, online platforms with 45 million or more average monthly active recipients of the service in the Union may be designated as very large online platforms, and Apple lists Apple Books ebooks and Apple Podcasts Subscriptions as each having under 1 million.

Distribution scales to regulatory thresholds; individual content services mostly do not. Categories such as mobile gaming and programmatic advertising sit on the publisher side of that line.

How much does an app with 10,000 downloads make?

No primary source supports an answer, so no figure appears here. Revenue per download turns on category, monetisation model, geography and retention. No audited filing or regulatory report discloses any of those at that granularity. The structural reason is set out above, in that Apple recognises only the commission it retains on apps built by outside developers, so aggregate gross app revenue is never booked in a platform operator’s audited accounts.

Figures circulating for per-download earnings originate in paid measurement panels that model consumer spending from sampled device data. A reader cannot reproduce those models, and the vendors do not publish the inputs. That places them outside what a source-cited page should present as fact.

Conclusion

The App Store ecosystem’s $1.4 trillion in 2025 billings and sales is dated and traceable, and so are Apple’s Services net sales, Alphabet’s subscriptions and platforms line, and Google Play’s signed-in account totals across the European Union. Those lines sit against a global base of an estimated 6 billion internet users in 2025, about three-quarters of the world’s population. That base is expanding by a few percent a year, which bounds every growth projection built on top of it.

What has changed is the standard of proof. Regulatory disclosure regimes now compel platforms to publish reach figures they once kept private, which makes several of the most-quoted app metrics checkable at last, while accounting treatment keeps gross consumer spending permanently outside the audited record. Readers who want to trace a number back to its origin will find that half the metrics tested here still live in the unverifiable category.