India’s app downloads climbed to 25.5 billion in 2025, with people spending more time on apps despite low overall spending.
AI tools and short drama apps led the growth, becoming the biggest drivers of new installs during the year.
Domestic apps gained ground, showing India’s digital market is growing on scale and usage rather than payments.
India’s app market continues to move in two directions at once. It leads the world in the number of app downloads, yet it still does not rank among the top 20 countries for consumer spending. A new report from Sensor Tower shows how India regained momentum in 2025 after a softer year, driven by changing user behavior and new content formats. More people downloaded apps, spent longer hours on them, and showed growing interest in artificial intelligence tools and short drama content. While many global markets slowed, India stood out as one of the few large markets to post growth. The data also highlights that India has a digital economy built on scale and engagement when even the spending remains limited.
SurveyIndia recorded 25.5 billion app downloads in 2025, up from 24.6 billion in 2024 and slightly below the 25.9 billion downloads seen in 2023. Along with Pakistan, India was one of the only markets in the global top 10 where downloads grew year on year. User engagement also increased strongly. Time spent in apps rose from 1.13 trillion hours in 2024 to 1.23 trillion hours in 2025, supported mainly by AI-based apps and microdrama platforms.
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Category-level data shows clear shifts in user interest as the social media, messaging, and security apps saw a decline in downloads. While in contrast to that, the AI assistants, short drama apps, video editing tools, social discovery platforms, and food and delivery apps recorded growth.
Adding more than 350 million downloads domestically, the short drama apps have emerged as the most popular apps of 2025. AI assistant apps with 346 million downloads were next, followed by the generative AI apps, which also witnessed a substantial increase, with 602 million downloads in 2025, up from 198 million downloads the previous year, 2024.
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According to the experts, the growth was mainly due to new image tools released by companies like OpenAI and Google. Furthermore, many AI companies also gave free premium plans to users in India to attract more people.
ChatGPT emerged as the most downloaded generative AI app, followed by Google Gemini, Perplexity, and Grok. It also ranked just behind Instagram in overall downloads. In video streaming, microdrama apps surged. Kuku TV, Story TV, QuickTV, and DashReels ranked first, third, fifth, and eighth in the category, with Kuku TV placing fourth globally.
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Furthermore, it’s important to note that the increase in the downloads of the food delivery apps was seen because of the door-to-door quick deliveries the companies started. Domestic apps also increased their share of total downloads from 33.91% to 36.52%. However, the revenue generated from in-app purchases in the domestic apps remained stable. This clearly shows that the rise in the download numbers is due to the utility, government, or quick commerce apps.
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Bhaskar Sharma
Bhaskar is a senior copy editor at Digit India, where he simplifies complex tech topics across iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, and emerging consumer tech. His work has appeared in iGeeksBlog, GuidingTech, and other publications, and he previously served as an assistant editor at TechBloat and TechReloaded. A B.Tech graduate and full-time tech writer, he is known for clear, practical guides and explainers. View Full Profile
