Global mobile in-app purchase revenue hit $167bn in 2025
| Date | Type | Companies Involved | Key Datapoint |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 21, 2026 | report | Sensor Tower |
- Total time spent across mobile apps climbed to 5.3 trillion hours in 2025, reinforcing mobile’s dominance in consumer attention
- Users now spend an average of 3.6 hours per day on mobile apps and engage with 34 apps per month
- The mobile market has entered a monetisation-first era, with leading apps prioritising value and engagement over raw scale
Global mobile in-app purchase revenue reached $167 billion in 2025 as total downloads climbed to 149bn worldwide.
That's according to Sensor Tower's State of Mobile 2026 report, which found that consumer spending via in-app purchases grew 10.6% year on year, outpacing the 0.8% growth recorded for new app downloads.
The report also showed that total time spent across mobile apps reached 5.3 trillion hours in 2025, up 3.8% year on year, highlighting mobile’s continued dominance in consumer attention.
On average, users spent 3.6 hours per day on mobile apps and used 34 apps per month, both figures rising yoy.
Monetisation first
The report also found that the mobile market has entered a monetisation-first era, with leading apps shifting focus away from pure scale towards higher value users, diversified revenue strategies and deeper engagement.
The firm further noted that monetisation growth is increasingly being driven by attention rather than raw download volumes.
Moreover, one of the report’s key findings is that non-game apps surpassed games in total mobile revenue for the first time. Growth was driven by generative AI, social media, video streaming and productivity apps, reflecting the expanding influence of the attention economy beyond games.
Furthermore, Sensor Tower's findings showed that generative AI played a defining role in 2025, with AI-powered assistants and tools rapidly scaling user bases and expanding into new use cases across the mobile ecosystem.
Despite mobile’s global reach, the report stressed that local market knowledge remains critical, with factors such as regulation, tariffs and consumer behaviour continuing to shape performance across regions.
You can access the full report here.
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