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The top 10 most downloaded mobile apps (not games) in the world made their way into 318M devices in May: 🥇 ChatGPT (61M) 🥈 TikTok (43M) 🥉 Instagram (39M) Source: Appfigures Intelligence estimates

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The top 10 highest-earning mobile apps (not games) in the world earned $1.22B after fees in May 🥇 TikTok ($300M) 🥈 ChatGPT ($201M) 🥉 YouTube ($138M) Source: Appfigures Intelligence estimates

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🤯 Two big TV events and one huge game finally pushed AI down the App Store charts. ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini have been Top 5 U.S. iOS apps for months. No match for: 🏝️ Love Island USA 🎮 Pokémon Champions ⚽ World Cup viewing + betting More perfect storm than trend change.

Top free iOS apps show Pokémon Champions and Love Island USA leading. ChatGPT and Claude drop to lower ranks amid major events.

🎧 Apple could've filled its WWDC rap with shiny AI startups. Instead, it chose apps averaging 11 years old. 95 made the cut. 92 have hit #1. Averaging 270x the installs and 665x the revenue of a typical app. It wasn’t hyping new trends. It was spotlighting staying power.

Bar graph comparing app downloads and net revenue, highlighting Apple's list was significantly above average, at 270x and 665x.

🤯 Claude grew revenue 26x in a year. Not downloads. Revenue. May downloads were actually lower than April. Yet Claude still hit a record $92M month. The best AI apps aren't just growing. They're getting dramatically better at getting paid.

Graph shows sharp rise in Claude's gross revenue reaching $92M in May, while downloads remained stable. Revenue surged despite fewer downloads.

💡 Instants doesn't need to beat Snapchat day one. It has to show Instagram can push a behavior back into the mainstream. 4M installs so far says it can. The hard part is building the habit. Threads shows the result of Meta being patient. Instants might get the same treatment.

A graph compares downloads of Instagram's Instants (pink), Snapchat (yellow), and BeReal (black) over a month, highlighting trends.

🤯 ChatGPT mobile grossed $5B — faster than YouTube, Tinder, Disney+, or TikTok. 🚀 It made $5B (est.) before any rival hit $500M. 💰 By late '25, it was grossing nearly $7/install. 📅 Some months. it made more than rivals' lifetime totals. AI got big. ChatGPT got bigger. 📈

Bar graph compares time taken by major apps to reach $5B in consumer spending, highlighting ChatGPT's record speed.

Most consumers don’t care what AI model just shipped. They care if it *looks* better. Image model updates drove 6.5x more installs than other model upgrades. That's what the data shows. If users can see the improvement, they try it. Then they share it.

A bar graph shows estimated worldwide downloads above baseline for various AI models, highlighting significant spikes for image models.

⛽ 📈 Higher gas prices didn’t just nudge Gas Buddy demand, they detonated it 117K February → 570K March (estimated) 4K/day → 18K/day in March Installs have stayed ~20K/day into April Pain at the pump = instant demand In this case, that demand is also consistent

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📈 We looked at every new app in the last 8 months (not including games) that's making real money. • 17K are generating revenue • 268 are making $50K+/month • 116 make $100K+/month That's 116 apps most have never heard of, quietly clearing $1.2M+/year each after store fees.

A list of mobile apps with developer info, ratings, revenue, and categories, highlighting their monthly earnings.

💡 The real story isn’t an agent marketplace, it’s ceilings. Picsart revenue per download hit one at around $2/install. Meanwhile, downloads softened. So it added a new axis of spend per user, not more users. The jury is out on its effectiveness, but we should know more soon.

Graph shows Picsart's estimated consumer revenue per download from January 2024 to February 2026, with trends noted monthly.

The most downloaded mobile apps in the world in February: 🥇 ChatGPT (50.7M) ↓ 5.2M (-10%) 🥈 TikTok (39.7M) ↓ 3.4M (-8%) 🥉 Instagram (37.8M) ↓ 4.0M (-10%) Downloads estimates from Appfigures Intelligence.

The chart displays the top downloaded mobile apps of February 2026, highlighting ChatGPT as the most popular across platforms.

The highest earning mobile apps in the world for February 2026: 🥇 TikTok ($286M) ↑ $2.1M (+0.7%) 🥈 ChatGPT ($194.2M) ↓ $29.8M (-13%) 🥉 YouTube ($142.3M) ↓ $12.4M (-8%) Revenue is estimated after store fees.

Top earning mobile apps for February 2026 ranked by revenue: TikTok leads globally, followed by ChatGPT and YouTube.

🏄 Subway Surfers might have pulled off a rare trick. A sequel that grows the franchise instead of cannibalizing it. Original game: ~540K estimated downloads per day. City: ~5M est. downloads in 10 days. Together the brand is now doing 1M installs a day worldwide.

Bar graph showing estimated downloads for Subway Surfers and Subway Surfers City, highlighting combined download growth over time.

🧩 If you want to see the power of character IP in mobile games: Candy Crush Solitaire ~$12M est. lifetime net revenue. Disney Solitaire ~$137M in 11 months. Same core game. Different emotional connection.

Bar graph comparing estimated revenue of Disney Solitaire and Candy Crush Solitaire, highlighting Disney's significant earnings growth.

🔀 The AI assistant race just had a crossover moment. For the first time ever on Feb 28: -Claude: 152K U.S. est. downloads -ChatGPT: 113K And it wasn’t just a 1-day spike. Mar 2: -Claude: 149K -ChatGPT: 124K It follows a Feb where Claude installs grew 240% MoM in the U.S.

Graph shows U.S. downloads of Claude and ChatGPT mobile apps from Feb 1 to Mar 2, 2026, with Claude surpassing ChatGPT on multiple days.

🔥 2+ years of soft launch vs. 1 week of global launch. Rainbow Six Mobile: ~6M estimated installs since 2022. But 3.1M came in the first week after Feb 23. ~$400K earned since global launch last week. ~$1.1M lifetime net (estimated).

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Visit Freecash's appropriately free product page on Appfigures for additional estimates, metrics, and metadata. You'll see everything done to market the app during this unprecedented period. Take a look here → appfigures.com/reports/app...

Freecash: Earn Money & Rewards Stats · Downloads, Revenue, Keywords, Product Pages, Reviews, SDKs...

Analyze Freecash's download & revenue, audience demographics, user acquisition, SDKs, ratings, on the App Store & Google Play

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🤯 An app you’ve never heard of is up with ChatGPT on the App Store charts. Freecash jumped from 40K iOS installs a month to almost 6M. Not from product innovation. From a TikTok ad promising a payout for scrolling your feed. The payday wasn't legit, but 5.5M downloads were.

A line graph shows Freecash's fluctuating US App Store rank over two months, reaching a peak around mid-January before declining.

🏂 The Olympics didn’t just boost Peacock. They hit the growth button. ⏫ 44K to 200K est. daily downloads in a weekend. February is already 2x last year. Meanwhile, net revenue grew. Up 44% YoY from $466M to $674M (est.) Installs are hype. 📢 Net revenue is winning. 🏅

A graph shows estimated net revenue for Peacock, Disney+, and Hulu over time, with Peacock's revenue increasing and Disney+'s declining.

📈 The most predictable spike in the App Store isn’t in fitness. It’s a prayer app. Hallow just pulled 263K (est.) downloads on Ash Wednesday. Again. 25x its normal day. Clockwork demand, calendar-driven growth. The real question now: how much of it turns into March revenue.

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🤖 🏈 Claude bet the Super Bowl on one message: “No ads in your AI.” Downloads jumped 211% week-over-week. Every other major AI app dipped or stayed flat. And the craziest part? The biggest day wasn’t game day. It was a week later. That’s not a spike. That’s momentum.

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💡 Prime example of a different kind of growth strategy. No big feature renaissance. No rebrand. Just tighter economics inside the app. The product narrative cools. The revenue narrative improves.

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🔥 Grok just matched ChatGPT’s first year revenue on mobile. ~$79M in 12 months (estimated). ChatGPT did ~$80M in its first 12. The difference? ChatGPT launched alone. Grok launched into a knife fight. If this pace holds, year two gets interesting fast.

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💀 Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile shuts down April 17. Lifetime estimates: 24.8M downloads, $17.3M gross ($12.1M after stores' fees). For context, the still-functional COD Mobile sits at 459M installs and $2.47B. Same franchise. Completely different scale.

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📊 Step’s impressive growth story predates today's MrBeast deal. An estimated ~9.3M total downloads since 2019. January added ~120K installs, up 97% YoY. The momentum was already there in a big way. What comes next will be a test of the streamer's appeal.

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🕹️ Something interesting is happening with NYT Games. Crossplay soft-launched for ~8 months, ~228K installs. Then it goes live for all and adds ~186K in a day. Now it's the No. 1 free app on iOS. Feels like brand gravity has kicked in. This could be a gateway, not just a game.

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Polymarket's downloads explode as Wall Street bets $2B on prediction markets 💥 1,172% increase in downloads in 2025, most came in December

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The highest-earning mobile apps in the world in December: 🥇 TikTok ($284M) 🥈 ChatGPT ($229M) 🥉 YouTube ($148M) Revenue estimates after store fees from Appfigures Intelligence

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The most downloaded mobile apps in the world in December: 🥇 ChatGPT (49.6M) 🥈 TikTok (41.9M) 🥉 Instagram (40.2M) Downloads estimates from Appfigures Intelligence

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