- Asia leads the way now, particularly in fast-growing markets such as India and Mainland China, where downloads surge 80%, followed by Europe by 51% and North America by 39%.
- DeepSeek, launched in January 2025, outperforms all other Generative AI apps—including ChatGPT—for new global downloads due to its strong uptake in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
- ChatGPT remains the all-time download leader at 940m, followed by Google Gemini’s 200m and DeepSeek’s 127m.
BENGALURU: The first half of 2025 has been nothing short of explosive for Generative AI apps around the globe, with users flocking to platforms that offer AI Assistance or AI Content Generation.
According to Sensor Tower’s State of AI Apps Report 2025, both the App Store and Google Play have seen Generative AI apps approach 1.7 billion downloads, while in-app purchases soared to nearly $1.9 billion.
What’s more impressive is that both downloads and IAP revenue are not just increasing—they’re accelerating, with half-over-half (HoH) growth rates hitting their highest levels since the genre’s early boom in 2023.
Let’s talk numbers: Downloads shot up by 67 per cent HoH in the first half of 2025, according to Sensor Tower, setting a new pace for growth. Meanwhile, consumer spending on IAPs doubled versus the previous six months.
People aren’t just downloading these apps—they’re getting hooked. Total time spent in Generative AI apps reached a mind-boggling 15.6 billion hours in the first half of 2025, which breaks down to more than 86 million hours every single day. That kind of engagement led to 426 billion total sessions in just six months—translating to about 50 sessions for every person on the planet.
AI Assistants steal the show
When ChatGPT first broke out, North America and other English-speaking regions raced ahead in adoption. Initially, North America made up about 20 per cent of global AI app downloads. Fast forward to the first half of 2025, and North America’s share has dipped to 11 per cent, not because usage is shrinking there, but because world adoption—especially in Asia—has exploded.
“Asia leads the way now, particularly in fast-growing markets such as India and Mainland China, where downloads surged 80 per cent from the previous half-year. Europe grew by 51 per cent, and North America still rose by a respectable 39 per cent,” the report showed.
Delving into the app types, the Generative AI market is largely split between AI Assistants and AI Content Generators. While content generators dominated until late 2022, the arrival of ChatGPT turned the spotlight to AI Assistants and chatbots. Their momentum is overwhelming: by the second quarter of 2025, 85 per cent of all downloads in these categories came from AI Assistants like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and DeepSeek.
Still, the distinction between assistant and content creation is blurring, as leading assistants roll out capabilities like image generation.
It has also become a competitive battleground. DeepSeek, launched in January 2025, made an immediate splash, outperforming all other Generative AI apps—including ChatGPT—for new global downloads in its first six months, thanks to its strong uptake in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. ChatGPT remains the all-time download leader at 940 million, followed by Google Gemini’s 200 million and DeepSeek’s 127 million by June 2025.
Growing appetite for intelligent chatbots
Apps like Grok and Meta have joined the ranks of top performers, capitalising on consumers’ growing appetite for intelligent chatbots.
Despite their global reach, these apps still attract a fairly specific crowd. Generative AI users skew younger, with a clear male bias—nearly 70 per cent of ChatGPT’s US audience is male, and 64per cent are under 35. Apps like DeepSeek, Claude, and Grok lean even more heavily male, while ChatGPT, Copilot, and Gemini show a bit more demographic balance (at least 30 per cent of users are women).
On the flip side, entertainment-centric apps such as PolyBuzz and Character AI are a hit with young women. ChatGPT users are also highly engaged, checking in about 13 times per month—similar to social favorites like X and Reddit, and even ahead of newer contenders like Threads. But Google still holds the daily-use crown, with users logging in 18+ times a month.
A few years ago, from 2015 to 2019, AI was mostly a games phenomenon on mobile platforms. Since ChatGPT’s debut in 2022, the application of AI in non-game apps has exploded.
The software sector is leading the way, but Health & Wellness, Education, Lifestyle, Services, and Financial Services are quickly catching up: each saw over 200 new apps using AI-related terminology in the first half of 2025.
Subgenres like Photo Editing, Test Prep, Translation, Nutrition, Language Education, and Video Editing are especially popular places for AI integration.
The implications for the broader digital ecosystem are profound. ChatGPT is rapidly closing the gap with search engines and browsers as a daily go-to info hub. In the first half of 2025, ChatGPT users averaged 7.8 sessions per day—a 37 per cent jump year-on-year—actually nudging past leading browser cohorts.
Although daily minutes spent is still a bit shy of Google’s, ChatGPT’s numbers are climbing fast, up 58 per cent over last year, hitting an average of 16 minutes daily.
The meteoric growth in sessions and usage signals a new digital habit for users and hints that AI Assistants like ChatGPT are steadily carving out a place alongside, or perhaps even ahead of, traditional search tools.
