India’s mobile app market is generating record revenue, with in-app purchases crossing $300 million in the first quarter, up 33% year-over-year, according to Sensor Tower — but much of that spending is flowing to global platforms.
Non-gaming apps were the main driver of growth in Q1, generating over $200 million in in-app purchase revenue — rising 44% year-over-year and increasing their share of overall spending, Sensor Tower said in its report. The gains were led by categories including utilities, video streaming, and generative AI.
The progress reflects a broader shift in India’s app market, where annual in-app purchase revenue has risen from $520 million in 2021 to more than $1 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $1.25 billion this year, per Sensor Tower. While downloads have stabilized at around 25 billion a year, time spent on apps continues to grow, pointing to deeper engagement and a greater willingness among users to pay for digital services.
Much of India’s spending in Q1 was captured by global platforms, with Google One, Facebook, ChatGPT, and YouTube among the top earners. Domestic players were more prominent in video streaming, with JioHotstar and SonyLIV ranking highly. A similar pattern emerged in downloads, where ChatGPT, Instagram, and the Chinese short-drama app FreeReels led the market, followed by Indian apps including Story TV, JioHotstar, and Meesho.
Image Credits:Sensor Tower
India’s app market has matured on the download side, but monetization is strengthening as usage deepens and digital payment habits become more embedded, Donny Kristianto, principal market insights manager at Sensor Tower, told TechCrunch.
Despite the gains, India remains a relatively low-spending market, generating about $0.03 in revenue per download, compared with more than $0.20 in Southeast Asia and Latin America, Sensor Tower data shared with TechCrunch showed.
While newer categories are driving growth in India’s mobile app market, spending remains concentrated in a handful of mature segments, particularly productivity, social media, and video streaming apps, which dominate the top rankings. Video streaming alone accounts for about half of the top 10 revenue-generating apps, underlining its outsized monetization power, the data showed.
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Even so, shifts in user demand suggest room for further growth. Generative AI apps saw downloads rise 69% year-over-year, with ChatGPT ranking among the top apps by both installs and revenue. India has long been ChatGPT’s largest market by users, while other AI apps are also gaining ground.
Short drama platforms are growing even faster, with downloads up more than 400%, led by apps like FreeReels. The trend suggests India’s app market is still early in its monetization journey, even as new categories expand what users are willing to pay for.
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President Donald Trump on Saturday posted footage of Reverend Ezekiel Dachomo of the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN), Plateau State, conducting a mass burial for victims of a terrorist attack, while calling on the United Nations and the United States to stop the killing of Christians in Nigeria.
Mr Trump posted the video on Truth Social without adding any text.
In the video, Mr Dachomo, a cleric known for speaking out against alleged killings of Christians in Nigeria, is seen lamenting as he buries his church members killed in attacks in a mass grave.
“Look at it today. Is there any Muslim here?” Mr Dachomo said, pointing to scores of corpses piled in a mass grave as he conducted the mass burial.
Calling on the international community to stop the alleged killing of Christians in Nigeria, Mr Dachomo said: “United Nations, I know you are watching me. American Senate, I know you are watching what I am doing here. Please tell Trump to save our lives in Nigeria. They are killing Christians in Nigeria. They are massacring Christians.”
Mr Trump’s posting of the video comes a day after U.S. and Nigerian forces eliminated ISIS second-in-command Abu-Bilal al-Manuki and his fighters in an airstrike.
The government of Mr Trump had said that the execution of Mr Al-Manuki and his foot soldiers on Nigerian soil was a reminder that American forces will go after enemies of the country and those killing Christians around the world.
“So, for months, we hunted this top ISIS leader in Nigeria who was killing Christians, and we killed him — and his entire posse,” U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said on X, praising American and Nigerian forces for the successful operation.
He added, “Operations like last night’s demonstrate the exceptional lethality, patience and skill of U.S. forces, amplified alongside willing and capable partners, to address shared threats. This should serve as a reminder that we will hunt down those who wish to harm Americans or innocent Christians, wherever they are.”
The killing of Mr Al-Manuki comes five months after Mr Trump ordered airstrikes against terrorists in their enclave in Sokoto State on December 25, 2025, following a months-long campaign over alleged killings of Christians in Nigeria.
Though the Nigerian government has repeatedly denied allegations of a Christian genocide in the country, it confirmed that it collaborated with U.S. forces to eliminate Mr Al-Manuki.
Mr Trump had also redesignated Nigeria as a country of particular concern last year, warning of continued military action against terrorists in Africa’s most populous country.
The vibes around the current AI boom aren’t great, even in the tech industry, according to a lengthy social media post from Menlo Ventures partner Deedy Das.
Das described San Francisco as “pretty frenetic right now,” as “the divide in outcomes is the worst I’ve ever seen.”
Using a “back of the envelope AI calculation,” he projected that there are around 10,000 people — founders and employees at companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Nvidia — that have “hit retirement wealth of well above $20M,” while everyone else worries “they can work their well-paying (but
Plus, “layoffs are in full swing,” and “many software engineers feel that their life’s skill is no longer useful,” leading to confusion about the best career paths and “a deep malaise about work (and its future),” Das said.
This prompted some eye-rolling on X, with entrepreneur Deva Hazarika arguing that “most of the people in this post” are “incredibly fortunate and can simply make a choice to be happy.”
Another user suggested it’s “pretty damn novel & also kinda nasty” that in the current cycle, “the same technology is both the lottery ticket & the thing eating your fallback.”
The vibes in SF feel pretty frenetic right now. The divide in outcomes is the worst I’ve ever seen.
Over the last 5yrs, a group of ~10k people – employees at Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI, Nvidia, Meta TBD, founders – have hit retirement wealth of well above $20M (back of the envelope…