Gen AI Apps Enter a New Era of Growth

The first half of 2025 has marked a record-breaking period for generative AI (Gen AI) applications, both in terms of user engagement and revenue. According to a comprehensive report from Sensor Tower, these apps reached 1.7 billion downloads, a sharp rise from 1 billion in the second half (H2) of 2024. At the same time, in-app revenue nearly doubled, climbing from $932 million to $1.87 billion.

“Unsurprisingly, apps that added terms like ‘AI’ or ‘LLM’ to their app names or descriptions experienced a notable boost in downloads over the subsequent months,” Sensor Tower noted.

Time Spent with AI Soars

User engagement with Gen AI apps has also seen a significant rise. The report highlights that users spent over 15.6 billion hours using these apps during H1 2025—an impressive leap from 8.5 billion hours in H2 2024. These sessions accumulated across 426 billion interactions, showing that users are increasingly integrating AI into their daily digital routines.

Asia Leads the Way in Downloads

Asia emerged as the fastest-growing and most dominant region for Gen AI app downloads, accounting for 42.6% of the global total. Countries like India and Mainland China played a key role in this trend. The region saw an 80% growth in downloads compared to H1 2024, surpassing Europe’s 51% and North America’s 39%.

On the revenue front, Latin America posted the highest growth in in-app purchases. Still, North America retained the lead in terms of total market share, making up 40% of all revenue generated by Gen AI apps.

ChatGPT Dominates Global AI Usage

A standout in the report is ChatGPT, which continues to lead in both user engagement and revenue generation—ranking as the top revenue-generating app in every country except China. In China, a local AI tool called Deepseek led in terms of download volume in the weeks following its launch.

On average, users interacted with ChatGPT for more than 12 days per month in H1 2025. Other widely-used Gen AI apps included Character AI, PolyBuzz, DeepSeek, and Perplexity.

“This development makes its app usage patterns more akin to Google’s, which consumers rely on as a primary search tool both during and outside of work hours,” the report explained.

Stickiness and Cross-Platform Presence

ChatGPT’s popularity is also evident in user stickiness. Sensor Tower revealed that usage of the app is now comparable to platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit, with only Google surpassing it in average monthly use.

Daily usage metrics reflect this shift as well. In H1 2025, users spent an average of 16 minutes per day on ChatGPT, compared to 18.2 minutes on top search engines and browsers.

Beyond search functionality, users are increasingly turning to ChatGPT for health advice, wellness tips, shopping assistance, personal finance guidance, and meal planning. In fact, over one-third of user prompts in Q2 2025 were focused on lifestyle and entertainment.

The app is also being accessed across multiple platforms. More than 15% of U.S. users used ChatGPT via both web and mobile, a higher cross-platform usage rate than seen with Temu and Threads. However, it still trails tech giants like Google, Facebook, YouTube, Google Docs, and Amazon, each with 25% or more cross-platform adoption.

The AI Buzzword Effect

Sensor Tower observed a sharp increase in the use of AI-related terms across app listings. The word “AI” now appears over 100,000 times in app descriptions on both the App Store and Google Play. Apps with these terms in their metadata collectively achieved 7.5 billion downloads in H1 2025—accounting for roughly 10% of all downloads.

The trend has spread across app categories, including:

• AI Assistants

• Content Generation Tools

• Photo Editing Apps

• Nutrition and Diet Planners

• Test Prep & Study Helpers

• Translation Services

• Hobby & Lifestyle Apps

Adding “AI” or “LLM” to app names and descriptions resulted in short-term spikes in user interest and download volume, though the report cautions this may not guarantee long-term success.

Conclusion: A Market in Rapid Evolution

The first half of 2025 has solidified the role of Gen AI apps as a central force in mobile technology. With billions of downloads, skyrocketing usage, and rising revenue, this sector shows no signs of slowing down. As AI continues to evolve and integrate into daily life, companies that innovate around intelligent, accessible, and cross-functional tools are likely to define the next wave of digital transformation.

Author: Din Kumar