Everyone said AI would kill apps. Instead, new app launches are skyrocketing.
According to a new analysis from a market intelligence provider Appfiguresworldwide app releases in the first quarter of 2026 grew 60% year-over-year in both Apple’s App Store and Google Play. That figure was even higher at 80% when looking at just the iOS App Store. In April 2026 so far, the total number of app releases has increased by 104% in both stores compared to the same period last year and by 89% on iOS.
As Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Greg “Joz” Joswiak, quipped recent interview: rumors of the App Store’s death in the age of artificial intelligence “may have been greatly exaggerated.”
These findings come amid concerns that the rise of chatbots and AI agents would eventually see users move away from apps — a theory already floated by those in the industry, such as Nothing CEO Carl Pei, who is focused on building a smartphone for the AI age. The New York Times also reported last year on the potential for new computing platforms to eclipse the smartphone, such as smart glasses, ambient computing devices or redesigned smartwatches with AI features.
OpenAI is even working on a hardware AI device with famous Apple designer Jony Ive.
But there’s another possibility: AI will make it easier for anyone to create apps, leading to a renaissance of the App Store. The new Gold Rush app could be driven by creators who have ideas but not the technical skills to design mobile software.
Appfigures data shows that some app categories see more new releases than others.
Techcrunch event
San Francisco, California
|
13-15 October 2026
Mobile games continue to account for the majority of new app launches worldwide from Q1 2026, as in previous years. However, “productivity” apps have moved into the top five this year. The “utilities” category also moved up to second place, and the “lifestyle” app category rose from No. 5 last year to No. 3. Finally, “health and fitness” apps rounded out the top five categories.
The working hypothesis here is that AI-powered tools like Claude Code or Replit could be behind the wave of new startups. It also seems likely that we’re at some tipping point in AI usability where it’s easy enough for people to leverage these tools to build their own desired mobile apps faster — or even build their first apps.
The explosion of new apps to control Apple could also be behind some of the tech giant’s recent missteps. This week, Apple pulled the Freecash rewards app from the App Store for rule violations after letting the app climb the store’s top charts and stay in the top five for months. Apple was also caught off guard by a malicious cryptocurrency app, a clone of Ledger Live, that drained $9.5 million in crypto from victims’ accounts.
While high-profile problems like this can create bad PR for the App Store, the company still goes to great lengths to block and remove dangerous or unwanted apps. of Apple latest analysis from 2024 said the company had removed or rejected more than 17,000 apps for bait-and-switch violations that year. rejected more than 320,000 app submissions that were found to be spam, duplicating other apps or misleading. and took action to prevent more than 37,000 potentially fraudulent apps from reaching users in the App Store.
However, Apple pundits like John Gruber have they were arguing for a long time that the App Store necessary a “bunco team” of sorts that watches for scams or fraudulent apps that gain popularity or earn a lot.
If AI-assisted vibe coding turns out to be behind the recent surge in app releases, that need will only increase as more new apps flood the market, not all of which will be benign.
