Global mobile app installs rise 11% in H1 2025 as gaming leads growth across emerging markets

The global mobile app economy continued to expand in 2025 despite persistent privacy changes and rising user acquisition costs, according to Adjust’s Mobile App Growth Report: 2025 Edition. The report found that app installs rose 11% year-over-year (YoY) in the first half of 2025, while user sessions grew by 10%, reflecting steady demand and adaptive marketing strategies across industries.

Adjust’s analysis — based on data from more than 5,000 leading apps worldwide — shows that emerging markets and gaming remain the primary growth engines for the mobile ecosystem. The company introduced a new Growth Score benchmark, which measures performance using four weighted inputs: installs, inverse cost per install (CPI), sessions per user per day, and retention rate. The global average score for 2025 was 29.2.

Asia-Pacific (APAC) led globally with a Growth Score of 45, fueled by massive install volumes and low acquisition costs in key markets such as India (49) and Indonesia (43.1). Latin America (LATAM) followed as a strong growth hub with a regional score of 30.5, led by Argentina (34.9), where user acquisition remained cost-efficient.

In the Middle East, North Africa, and Türkiye (MENAT), growth was concentrated in Türkiye (31) and Saudi Arabia (26.4), while Europe (32.4) remained a stable region marked by strong retention and monetization performance. Smaller Northern European markets such as Finland and Denmark (both 29.1) outperformed larger economies like France (26.6) and the U.K. (26.3) in efficiency.

North America (27.3) maintained high retention levels, with growth increasingly driven by average revenue per user (ARPU) optimization rather than new user acquisition.

Gaming continued to anchor the global app ecosystem with the highest vertical Growth Score (45.8). Hyper casual and hybrid casual games led the segment, while card and music games also performed well. India emerged as the top market for gaming app growth (52.2), with the Nordics, Argentina, Colombia, and Türkiye also showing strong momentum.

Beyond gaming, marketplace and classifieds (40.8), news and magazines (36.4), and banking (33.6) apps recorded the fastest growth, reflecting diversification across app categories.

Tiahn Wetzler, Director of Content and Insights at Adjust, said that marketers are increasingly focused on user engagement and retention rather than pure install volume. “The challenge for marketers today isn’t a lack of data; it’s knowing which signals matter most,” she said.