Generative AI (GenAI) applications experienced massive growth in downloads, usage, and revenue during the first half of 2025, according to a new report by market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.

Massive Growth in Downloads and Revenue

Between January and June 2025, users downloaded GenAI apps 1.7 billion times, a significant jump from 1 billion downloads recorded in the second half of 2024. This sharp rise reflects growing consumer trust and reliance on AI-powered tools for everyday tasks. Revenue growth was even more striking. In-app purchases from GenAI apps more than doubled, reaching $1.87 billion in H1 2025, compared to $932 million in H2 2024. This surge demonstrates that users are not only experimenting with AI apps but are increasingly willing to pay for premium features, subscriptions, and enhanced capabilities.

Engagement Levels Reach New Highs

User engagement with GenAI apps reached record levels in early 2025. Sensor Tower reported that users collectively spent 15.6 billion hours on these apps during the first half of the year, nearly double the 8.5 billion hours recorded in the previous six months. This engagement occurred across an estimated 426 billion app sessions, highlighting how frequently users are turning to AI-powered applications. From quick questions to long conversations and productivity tasks, GenAI apps are becoming deeply embedded in daily routines.

Asia Emerges as the Fastest-Growing Market

Regionally, Asia led global growth, accounting for 42.6% of all GenAI app downloads. Countries such as India and Mainland China were key drivers of this momentum, fueled by large smartphone user bases and rising digital adoption.

Download growth in Asia reached 80% in H1 2025, significantly outpacing other regions. By comparison, Europe saw 51% growth, while North America recorded 39% growth during the same period.

While Latin America registered the highest growth rate for in-app purchases, North America remained the dominant revenue market overall, holding approximately 40% of global GenAI app revenue. This reflects stronger monetization and higher spending power among users in the region.

ChatGPT Continues to Set the Benchmark

Among all GenAI apps, ChatGPT continues to stand out as the category leader. Sensor Tower noted that ChatGPT ranked as the top app for in-app revenue in nearly every country, with China being the only exception. In China, DeepSeek gained strong momentum, outperforming ChatGPT in download numbers during the weeks following its launch.

This highlights the importance of localized AI solutions in tightly regulated or language-specific markets.

Rising Time Spent on AI Assistants

Consumers are spending more time than ever with AI assistants, and ChatGPT remains the most widely used. During the first half of 2025, users engaged with ChatGPT on more than 12 days per month on average.

Other popular AI assistant apps include Character AI, PolyBuzz, DeepSeek, and Perplexity, each catering to different user needs such as role-play conversations, research assistance, or concise answers.

Sensor Tower emphasized ChatGPT’s exceptional user retention and stickiness. The app’s usage frequency now rivals major social platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit, with only Google surpassing it in average days used per month.

Notably, ChatGPT’s weekend usage has increased, suggesting that users now rely on the app for personal needs, entertainment, and lifestyle queries—not just work or study.

ChatGPT Starts to Compete with Search Engines

ChatGPT’s usage patterns are increasingly resembling those of traditional search engines. In H1 2025, the app recorded 16 minutes of average daily usage, narrowing the gap with top search engines and browsers, which averaged 18.2 minutes per day.

As the report notes, this shift positions ChatGPT closer to Google’s role as a primary information tool used both during and outside working hours.

Expanding Beyond Search and Productivity

While search and information retrieval remain core use cases, ChatGPT is increasingly being used for health and wellness advice, shopping decisions, personal finance guidance, and meal planning.

Sensor Tower found that over one-third of ChatGPT prompts in Q2 2025 were related to lifestyle and entertainment, indicating a broadening of consumer expectations from AI assistants.

Growth Across Mobile and Web Platforms

ChatGPT is also expanding its presence across platforms. In the United States, more than 15% of ChatGPT users access the service on both mobile and web, a higher cross-platform usage rate than apps such as Temu and Threads.

However, the platform still trails established digital giants like Google, Facebook, YouTube, Google Docs, and Amazon, where over 25% of users engage across both web and mobile environments.

The Rise of “AI” as a Branding Strategy

Beyond GenAI-native apps, many traditional apps are now embracing AI branding. Sensor Tower reported that the term “AI” appears more than 100,000 times in app descriptions across the App Store and Google Play.

Apps mentioning AI were downloaded 7.5 billion times in H1 2025, accounting for roughly 10% of all app downloads worldwide.

In the past year, apps across categories such as AI assistants, content generation, photo editing, nutrition and diet, test preparation, tutoring, translation, and hobby services have increasingly added AI-related terms to their names and descriptions.