The subscription economy significantly bolstered mobile app revenues in 2025, even as app downloads dropped for the fifth straight year, according to Appfigures’ annual report. Global downloads of all mobile apps and games from the App Store and Google Play hit around 106.9 billion, marking a 2.7% decline from the previous year. On the other hand, consumer spending surged by 21.6%, reaching an estimated $155.8 billion during the same timeframe.
The data shows that app developers, marketers, and publishers have effectively encouraged users to make in-app purchases or activate subscriptions, despite a decrease in new app downloads.
The report also highlighted a continued shift away from mobile games as the main revenue source for the app economy. In 2025, consumers spent $72.2 billion on mobile games, making up about 46% of all mobile app spending. While that figure reflects a 10% increase year-over-year, spending on non-game mobile apps rose even more. Non-game app spending grew 33.9% year-over-year, reaching $82.6 billion in 2025, according to Appfigures.
Although many consumers may be frustrated with the prevalence of in-app purchases or subscription models, these changes have provided a more sustainable avenue for app developers. Additionally, the move toward recurring payments has sparked a range of businesses supporting the mobile app ecosystem. For example, subscription management platform RevenueCat raised $50 million in Series C funding this past year, and Appcharge, a startup focused on improving mobile game monetization, announced a $58 million Series B round in August. Recently, Liftoff Mobile, a company that aids in marketing and monetizing apps, filed for an IPO.
As revenue increased, downloads continued to decline in 2025.
After reaching a peak of 135 billion downloads in 2020 during the pandemic, the numbers have been in decline. This year’s total of 106.9 billion installs fell from 109.8 billion in 2024, following a slowdown in download growth from 2023 to 2024, when installs dropped by 3.3%.
Mobile game downloads experienced a sharper decline this year, totaling 39.4 billion downloads—a drop of 8.6% year-over-year—after a 6.6% decline from 2023 to 2024. Non-game app downloads remained relatively steady, with just a slight 1.1% year-over-year increase, reaching 67.4 billion.
The full report also examines the U.S. market specifically. Here, consumers spent an estimated $55.5 billion on all mobile apps, marking an 18.1% increase from $47 billion in 2024. Downloads totaled 10 billion, down 4.2% from 10.4 billion in 2024. In the U.S., consumer spending on non-game apps reached $33.6 billion, a rise of 26.8% year-over-year, while spending on games climbed by 6.8% to $21.9 billion.
In terms of downloads, U.S. non-game apps were estimated at 7.1 billion, while games were downloaded 2.9 billion times.
