Demand for AI “Companion” applications other than the biggest names, such as ChatGPT and Grok, is increasing. Of the 337 active and expressive AI Companion Apps available worldwide, 128 was released so far in 2025, according to new data provided by TechCrunch by App Intelligence Company Competence. This Mobile AI Subsection has now made $ 82 million in the first half of the year and is on the right track to draw over $ 120 million by the end of the year, according to the company’s analysis.
Unlike general -purpose chatbots, AP Companion Apps Anthropomorphize AI interacts allowing users to chat with custom characters, including friends, lovers, friends or friends, imagination characters and much more. Appfigures have defined the market sector in the same way, describing the companionship applications with those in which the user can interact either with synthetic characters produced by the user intended to integrate a true personality.
The popular applications in this area include Replika, Character.ai, Polybuzz, Chai and more.
Since July 2025, AI Companion applications in the Apple App Store and Google Play have been taken 220 million times worldwide. In the first half of 2025, downloads increased by 88% annually, reaching 60 million.
Appfigures dug the numbers and found that, since July 2025, AI Companion applications have led $ 221 million to consumer spending worldwide. So far, these applications have generated 64% more revenue than in the same period in 2024.
Top 10% of all AI Companion applications generates 89% of the revenue in the class, the data show. In addition, about 10% (or 33) of applications exceeded $ 1 million in consumer spending during life.
Revenue per download also increases $ 0.66, from $ 0.52 in 2024 to $ 1.18 for the category so far in 2025.
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While dedicated AI Companion applications are quite popular, largest companies such as XAI are also on the market. In July, Xai’s Grok started AI’s comrades, including an anime girl and manas well as a Snarky 3D fox.
Meanwhile, the recent upgrade of Chatgpt to GPT-5 has brought to light the fact that many of its users felt related to the older model, such as they mourning the loss of their partner, whom they had Come and depend.
To address these and other concerns about the GPT-5 performance, Openai Sam Altman’s chief executive brought back the 4o model for now.
Google last year also got the market when it hired the founder of the character. Noam Shazeer. The character application.
According to Appfigures data, the most popular AI Companion apps are those used by people looking for a AI girlfriend. Of the active applications on the market today, 17% have an application name that includes the word “girlfriend”, compared to 4% saying “friend” or “imagination”. Terms such as anime, soulmate and lover, among other things, are less frequently reported.
The business notes that there were probably several other AI applications that started in application stores in 2022, but were later removed after failing to gain an attraction for revenue or downloads. However, those who did not participate in its analysis.
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