Mobile Gamers Are Closing Their Wallets — But App Spending is Still Up
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A new Sensor Tower report shows that non-gaming apps drove mobile spending growth around the globe during Q2 2026 on both the Android and iOS platforms, while gaming showed a year-over-year decline.
The details come in the firm’s Q2 2026 Digital Market Index report, which was published this week to provide deeper insight into how mobile app spending and downloads both changed during the quarter.
The report says non-gaming revenue rose 14.6% year-over-year in Q2 2026, while gaming revenue fell 4.5% over the same period. Non-gaming apps generated $24.4 billion in revenue and 25.5 billion downloads versus the $19.2 billion in revenue and 11.3 billion downloads for the gaming category.
Apple foreshadowed Sensor Tower’s report during last month’s fiscal Q3 2026 earnings call, where the company blamed part of its Services revenue slowdown on weaker mobile gaming performance, as well as regulatory changes that affected the App Store business model.
The Sensor Tower report shows that in-app purchase (IAP) revenue declined 3% year-over-year in the US, although it still led the world in overall spending at $14.8 billion. Despite revenue growth of 10%, China came in a distant second for the period with $5.98 billion.
In the top markets by app downloads column, India hung onto its first place spot, tallying 6.67 billion installs, up 4% year-over-year. The US took the runner-up spot with 3.08 billion downloads, down 0.2%, while Brazil showed in third place with 2.43 billion, down 2%.
As for which app categories generated the most revenue, Sensor Tower said Generative AI led the spending:
Non-gaming genres maintained strong monetization momentum in Q2 2026, with nine of the top 10 categories posting positive YoY growth. Generative AI led this expansion, doubling consumer spend with a 108% YoY surge. Market leader ChatGPT held roughly 60% category revenue share with 82% YoY growth, while competitors like Claude, Grok, and Gemini also saw rapid acceleration. Claude particularly stood out, climbing from No. 7 ranked Generative AI app in Q2 2025 to No. 2 globally in Q2 2026.
Dating & Social Discovery was the only top category to experience a decline globally, falling 11% YoY primarily due to softness in the US market, which contracted 34% YoY. However, Latin American markets showed strong growth momentum, led by Mexico with a 41% YoY revenue gain, alongside double-digit expansion in Brazil (+19% YoY) and Argentina (+18% YoY).
According to the Sensor Tower report, the world’s most downloaded app for the period was ChatGPT, followed by TikTok and Instagram, while the top IAP revenue apps were the trio of TikTok, ChatGPT, and Google One.
Claude was the top “breakout” app by IAP revenue growth, leaping an impressive 34 places to No. 10 overall. Meanwhile, PineDrama saw the most impressive leap in download numbers, climbing 237 places to No. 20 worldwide.
While the Apple App Store held on to a dominant lead in absolute revenue volume, Google Play showed better growth momentum during the quarter. Google Play expanded by nearly 10% year-over-year, more than triple the 3% annual growth seen on iOS, meaning it would do well for developers to not ignore the Google Play ecosystem as non-gaming subscription adoption continues to scale.
At least one mobile gaming category defied the gaming downloads contraction, as puzzle games achieved 1% year-over-year download growth in Q2 2026. Arrow puzzle titles in particular experienced an impressive quarter, with Arrows Puzzle Escape hitting No. 1 on the global download chart and Arrows GO! climbing into the top 5.
For more details, check out Sensor Tower’s full Q2 2026 Digital Market Index report.
