App Store: New apps double, downloads stagnate

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In the first half of 2026, almost as many new apps appeared in the App Store as in the entire previous year. This surge is driven by AI-powered vibecoding – but this has barely translated into downloads.

The App Store is growing faster than it has in a long time, but almost exclusively in terms of sheer number of apps. According to data from the analytics firm Sensor Tower, which the New York Times analyzed, the number of new app releases doubled to around 560,000 in the first half of 2026. In all of 2025, there were approximately 600,000 – a 30 percent increase, which even then could be explained by the boom in AI-powered programming tools. What began as a significant increase in the spring has since accelerated even further.

Half a year almost at the previous year's level

The scale becomes clear in a direct comparison: What took twelve months to accumulate in 2025, the App Store will achieve in just six months in 2026. Around 560,000 new apps in half a year represent a doubling compared to the same period of the previous year – and are only slightly below the total for the entire year of 2025.

The driving force behind this isn't traditional developer growth, but rather a lowered barrier to entry. AI-assisted programming, often called vibecoding, allows even people without programming experience to build and submit a functioning app. A skill that previously required weeks or months of learning has become a process that takes just a few days.

Vibecoding lowers the barrier to entry

The examples cited in the report illustrate just how low this barrier has become. A software developer from Chicago, who had never previously built a mobile app, released a scrapbooking app called Stampa after about a week of work. Stampa transforms photos into digital stamps. It was downloaded approximately 20,000 times and generated around $3,000 in profit. Another developer released eleven niche apps within five months and considers the whole thing more of a hobby than a business model.

This very mix characterizes the current wave: many small, quickly built apps by individuals who fill the store with content on the side. A mass phenomenon with mostly modest individual economic results.

When more apps don't mean more downloads

The surge in demand has not yet been reflected on the user side. According to Sensor Tower, the number of downloads increased by only two percent to 17.6 billion in the first half of 2026 – a rate comparable to the previous year, when downloads rose by three percent to 35.4 billion for the entire year. While supply has doubled, demand remains virtually constant.

This gap is the real issue. More apps don't automatically mean more usage, but rather, initially, more competition for the same attention. This makes it harder for individual developers to even be discovered, and it increases the pressure on the App Store to rank the relevant titles from an ever-growing mass of apps. A thriving catalog is not the same as a thriving marketplace.

Apple between boom and quality control

For Apple, this growth is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it confirms the platform's appeal; on the other, the flood of submissions puts a strain on the review process. According to Apple, 90 percent of all submissions are still reviewed within 48 hours, and the company explicitly welcomes the fact that a new generation of developers is publishing apps faster than ever before. At the same time, Apple emphasizes that the same requirements for quality, data protection, and security apply to all apps - regardless of whether they were developed using traditional methods or AI.

That this emphasis stems from real pressure to act is demonstrated by the current course of action. Apple is already scrutinizing AI-generated apps more closely and has tightened the App Store rules for low-quality and cloned apps, meaning that such titles can now be removed retroactively. The boom thus also provides the justification for stricter filters.

Growth in width, not depth

The App Store faces an unusual situation in 2026: More new apps than ever before are being released, while the user base is barely growing. As long as vibecoding continues to gain traction, the gap between supply and demand is likely to widen further. The crucial question, therefore, is less about how many apps are created, but rather whether Apple can manage to keep the truly useful ones visible amidst this mass. (Image: Shutterstock / tadamichi)