According to a report by Sensor Tower’s State of Mobile 2025, India continues to lead the global mobile app market in terms of downloads and time spent, but it significantly lags in in-app purchases (IAP). The nation, which has approximately 900 million internet users, recorded 24.3 billion app downloads in 2024, down from 25.6 billion in 2023 and 26.6 billion in 2022. However, app usage experienced remarkable growth, with total time spent on apps reaching 1.12 trillion hours in 2024, an increase from 991 billion hours in 2023 and 841 billion hours in 2022.
Despite these figures, India did not rank among the top 20 countries for IAP revenue, which reflects user spending on purchases within apps. Globally, IAP revenue rose by 13 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to $150 billion, with the United States leading at $52 billion and China following with $25 billion.
As per the report, the primary app categories in India remained social media and media and entertainment (M&E), largely driven by platforms like Instagram and Jio Cinema. Downloads in these categories saw a decline, with social media downloads dropping by 10 per cent to 1.19 billion and M&E (Film and TV Streaming) falling by 8 per cent to 663 million. Notably, IAP revenue from M&E (Dating) grew by 25 per cent YoY to $55 million, primarily due to Bumble’s performance, while the social media category also saw a rise of 29 per cent to $54 million, with YouTube leading.
Further the report added that, YouTube and WhatsApp maintained their positions as the top apps for user engagement, underscoring their importance for entertainment and communication. Furthermore, generative AI apps gained traction in 2024, with downloads in India reaching 177 million and IAP revenue hitting $12 million, compared to 75 million downloads and $4.1 million in IAP revenue in the previous year. ChatGPT and Gemini emerged as the most downloaded AI chatbots.
In contrast, India’s gaming sector experienced an 11 per cent drop in downloads, totalling 8.5 billion in 2024.
