finance sessions up 21%, gaming CPI jumps 30%

Modify this week launched its Cellular App Traits: 2026 Version, a complete benchmarking report drawing on aggregated, anonymized information from hundreds of apps tracked by the measurement firm between January 2024 and January 2026. Published on February 18, 2026, by Thalia Kemp, Senior Advertising Supervisor at Modify, the report covers three core verticals – gaming, e-commerce, and finance – throughout six areas: APAC, Europe, LATAM, MENA, North America, and a world combination. It contains contributions from Google Advertisements, Snap for Enterprise, TikTok for Enterprise, Sensor Tower, Roku, and Alison.ai.

The headline figures paint an image of an app economic system that’s rising in engagement even the place uncooked set up numbers have plateaued. In keeping with Modify information, app installs climbed 10% year-over-year globally in 2025, whereas classes rose 7%. Each figures signify an acceleration from 2024’s progress charges of 8% and a couple of% respectively. February 2025 marked the calendar low for installs at 13% under the yearly common, earlier than a restoration that ended December at 8% above common.

The general app economic system context is substantial. In keeping with the report, there have been greater than 112.1 billion app downloads in 2025, with an estimated 5.8 billion distinctive smartphone customers globally. Client spending rose 10.6% year-over-year to $167 billion. Trying additional forward, the worldwide market is projected to exceed $1.23 trillion by 2035, and cell applied sciences are forecast to generate 8.4% of world GDP by 2030.

ATT opt-in charges proceed their upward trajectory

One of many extra technically important findings within the report considerations App Monitoring Transparency (ATT) opt-in charges amongst iOS customers who allow monitoring requests. The {industry} common rose from 35% in Q1 2025 to 38% in Q1 2026. This can be a significant shift for cell entrepreneurs, given the disruption ATT precipitated when Apple launched it in April 2021 – a moment PPC Land covered as initial opt-in rates sat between 11% and 15% earlier than the gradual climb now documented in Modify’s information.

Gaming led all classes with a 39% opt-in fee. Leisure, finance, life-style, and social apps all improved year-over-year. Essentially the most dramatic acquire was recorded by publications, which rose from 18% to 26%. E-commerce and purchasing bucked the development, slipping from 35% to 34%. Regulatory pressure around ATT has intensified over the identical interval, with France imposing a €150 million wonderful on Apple in March 2025 and Italy following with €98.6 million in December 2025.

In keeping with Deborah Bennett, Head of App Advertisements, Commercialization, Privateness & Measurement at Google Advertisements: “In 2026, the complexity of cell journeys will demand a shift from reporting efficiency to enabling choices. As customers transfer fluidly throughout apps, net, and commerce environments, AI-powered measurement will likely be important to connecting intent with outcomes, serving to entrepreneurs optimize for worth throughout more and more non-linear paths.”

Gaming: hyper informal dominates installs, CPI climbs sharply

The gaming vertical reveals a class underneath stress on value however nonetheless exhibiting robust engagement indicators. Hyper informal video games once more accounted for the most important share of gaming app installs globally in 2025, reaching 29.1% – up from 27% the prior yr. Their session contribution, whereas smaller at 15.3%, grew considerably, rising 31% year-over-year whilst installs grew solely 4%. The divergence signifies that hyper informal builders are including retention mechanics to extract extra income per person.

Informal video games posted 19% set up progress alongside a 37% session enhance. Technique video games confirmed the sharpest session improve at 57% regardless of flat set up numbers, suggesting a core of extremely engaged repeat gamers. On line casino and slots noticed set up progress of twenty-two% and 46% respectively however session declines of 5% every – a churn sign that the report flags as a problem to deal with.

Gaming CPI rose globally to $0.56 in 2025, up 30% from the prior yr. The costliest subverticals have been slots at $4.47, idle RPG at $3.19, and technique at $1.03. The worldwide paid/natural ratio for gaming jumped from 2.07 to three.33, a 61% improve. On line casino (+223% to 11.05), informal (+139% to 7.16), and slots (+447% to five.63) led that climb. LATAM confirmed the very best regional reliance on paid acquisition with a ratio of 4.23. A previous PPC Land article on the Adjust and Google Ads web-to-app handbook explored how the rising complexity of acquisition funnels is pushing entrepreneurs towards cross-channel measurement to know the place installs are literally coming from.

Gaming session lengths shortened globally to half-hour in 2025, down from 30.43 minutes. APAC maintained the longest classes at 33.14 minutes. Technique recreation classes averaged 37.51 minutes and grew 18%, whereas informal video games rose 15% to 25.92 minutes. Day 1 retention throughout all video games remained flat at 27%, day 7 at 13%, day 14 at 8%, and day 30 at 5%.

Gaming apps averaged 5.3 promoting companions in 2025, down from 6. That consolidation displays an {industry} narrowing its community combine towards companions that ship customers with demonstrable long-term worth. Eight of the highest 10 cell video games in 2025 every generated greater than $1 billion in participant spending, and world cell players reached practically 3 billion folks – greater than 80% of the worldwide gaming inhabitants, based on Sensor Tower information cited within the report.

Regional breakdown confirmed MENA as the one area to put up gaming set up progress at 2%, with a 7% classes improve. Europe and LATAM each recorded set up declines of seven% and 9%. North America noticed installs drop 5% and classes decline 2%.

E-commerce: classes maintain as installs retreat

World e-commerce app installs fell 10% year-over-year in 2025, whereas classes elevated 5%. The sample – fewer downloads, extra use from present customers – runs by means of the e-commerce information constantly. The set up decline was sharpest in February at 8% under common, however a This fall restoration introduced November and December 6% and 4% above common. PPC Land reported on a similar dynamic in August 2025, when Modify’s Purchasing App Insights Report for H1 2025 confirmed installs down 14% whilst classes grew.

LATAM was the standout performer in 2025 throughout the total yr, with 17% set up progress and a 30% session improve. APAC grew installs 7% whereas classes remained basically flat at -0.7%. Europe offered a cut up image: installs fell 22% whereas classes edged 6% larger. MENA and North America posted declines on each metrics.

Common e-commerce session size fell from 10.04 minutes in 2024 to 9.6 minutes in 2025. APAC dropped from 9.42 to 9.14 minutes, Europe from 10.87 to 10.53, and MENA from 9.56 to eight.61. The value per set up for e-commerce apps globally declined marginally from $1.00 to $0.98. On the subvertical degree, deal discovery CPI surged from $1.44 to $2.26, whereas market and classifieds dropped from $0.99 to $0.88 and purchasing eased from $0.93 to $0.91. In APAC, CPI fell sharply from $1.27 to $0.68; in North America it declined from $2.61 to $2.49. Europe moved in the wrong way, from $1.83 to $2.25.

World e-commerce downloads reached 6.35 billion in 2025, up from 4.36 billion in 2019 – progress of greater than 45% over that interval. The highest purchasing app globally by downloads in 2025 was Temu, adopted by SHEIN, Amazon, Meesho, and Shopee. The worldwide reside commerce market is predicted to succeed in $2.47 trillion by 2033, based on third-party estimates cited within the report.

The worldwide median paid/natural ratio for e-commerce apps elevated from 0.48 to 0.54. MENA confirmed the most important shift, up 16% to 0.63. Regardless of rising paid reliance, e-commerce apps labored with fewer companions on common – down to six.3 – suggesting advertisers are concentrating budgets on a smaller set of networks.

In keeping with Ozge Gulerman, Head of Advertising Science at Snap for Enterprise: “As paid media turns into extra aggressive, manufacturers have to strategically spend money on channels that assist them attain new clients. App advertisers activating full-funnel campaigns, alongside unified, privacy-safe measurement, can higher perceive which channels are performing and the place to speculate.”

Finance: classes surge 21%, LATAM leads installs by broad margin

Finance apps delivered what’s arguably probably the most putting determine within the report. World finance app classes rose 21% year-over-year in 2025, regardless of a 4% decline in installs. The report attributes the session energy to banking and funds apps changing into embedded in every day routines globally. Session size elevated 8% to 7.18 minutes globally, with North America main at 8.43 minutes.

LATAM dominated the regional set up rating with 76% progress and 57% session progress. MENA adopted with 42% set up progress and 10% session progress. APAC mixed 5% set up progress with a 50% surge in classes – a big hole that factors to intense use amongst an already-installed base. Europe posted 15% set up progress and 19% session progress. North America superior 5% in installs and 17% in classes.

On the subvertical degree, crypto app installs grew 16% year-over-year in 2025, whereas inventory buying and selling installs rose 12%. Cost app installs elevated 2%, although classes surged 22%. Finance app CPI fell globally from $1.51 to $1.13, with the steepest reductions in Europe (from $7.37 to $4.75) and North America (from $7.03 to $4.13). Crypto CPI fell from $5.17 to $2.90, whereas cost CPI rose 29% to $1.44 and banking CPI declined 18% to $2.09.

The worldwide paid/natural ratio for finance apps climbed to 1.13, with LATAM’s improve to three.26 probably the most pronounced regional shift. The variety of digital pockets customers reached 4.5 billion in 2025. The worldwide neobanking market is forecast to succeed in an estimated $13.67 trillion by 2031, based on third-party projections cited within the report.

Finance app retention confirmed slight softening: day 1 declined from 13% to 12%, day 7 held at 6%, and day 30 fell from 3% to 2%.

PPC Land previously documented Adjust’s Finance App Insights Report for 2024, which confirmed in-app income for finance apps leaping 119% year-over-year in Q1 2024. The 2026 benchmarks mirror a maturing class the place session frequency issues greater than new installs.

AI and cross-platform measurement as structural priorities

The report frames 2026 because the yr AI strikes from an optionally available enhancement to core advertising infrastructure. In keeping with the doc, as many as 88% of companies now use AI of their every day work – 13 share factors larger than the prior yr and 76 share factors larger than when ChatGPT launched in November 2022. Practically two-thirds of organizations stay within the experimentation or pilot part, nevertheless, leaving measurable effectivity features nonetheless erratically distributed. Organizations which have superior their AI deployment reportedly obtain effectivity features above 20%.

Three operational makes use of of AI are recognized: information evaluation assistants that floor decision-ready insights in pure language interfaces; good viewers segmentation that updates dynamically based mostly on behavioral indicators reasonably than static demographic lists; and generative AI artistic instruments that systematically check variants and mannequin person journeys.

On cross-platform measurement, the report notes that solely round 31% of entrepreneurs report full satisfaction with their capability to unify and skim information throughout platforms. The transfer from mobile-first to multi-platform technique creates attribution gaps as customers analysis on cell browsers, examine on desktop, and convert in-app. Adjust’s TrueLink deep linking product, launched in September 2024, addresses a part of this problem by creating common hyperlinks throughout marketing campaign environments.

Jeff Katz, Head of Rising Gross sales at Roku, provided a pointed remark on the measurement problem that spans screens: “With discovery, engagement, and conversion spanning screens and units, advertisers want unified measurement and optimization to know how cell and TV work collectively to drive efficiency throughout the total funnel. You do not ‘click on’ your TV the best way you do on cell units, and new know-how and partnerships are essential to precisely measuring influence.”

Deep Shah, World Head of AdTech Partnerships at TikTok for Enterprise, added: “As we head into 2026, cell discovery will likely be pushed much less by linear funnels and extra by participation. With customers discovering, participating, and changing by means of culture-led content material throughout platforms, manufacturers that design for community-driven experiences, reasonably than interruptions, will likely be higher positioned to drive influence throughout the total journey.”

For cell entrepreneurs, the report’s significance lies much less in any single information level than within the course the composite image suggests: rising engagement towards flattening set up progress, rising prices in gaming, falling prices in finance, and a widening functionality hole between groups which have operationalized AI and people nonetheless experimenting. The AppsFlyer State of Cellular report revealed in December 2025 similarly documented that world app advertising spend reached $109 billion, with GenAI app promoting alone attracting $824 million – contextualizing the aggressive atmosphere Modify’s benchmarks are set towards.

The report relies on aggregated, anonymized information from Modify’s high 5,000 apps and its whole tracked dataset, overlaying roughly 250 nations based mostly on the ISO 3166-1 normal. Information runs from January 2024 by means of January 2026.

Timeline

• November 2022 – ChatGPT launches; marks the reference level Modify makes use of to measure AI enterprise adoption progress (76 share factors since then to 88% at the moment)
• September 24, 2024 – Adjust launches TrueLink, its multi-platform deep linking product for app entrepreneurs
• Q1 2025 – ATT opt-in fee {industry} common stands at 35%, based on Modify information
• March 30, 2025 – France fines Apple €150 million over App Monitoring Transparency framework as anticompetitive
• February 12, 2025 – PPC Land reports on an Modify and AppLovin report exhibiting smartphone customers spending 5 hours every day on cell
• July 23, 2025 – Modify and Sensor Tower launch Japan Mobile App Trends 2025, exhibiting finance installs up 50% in Japan
• August 6, 2025 – Adjust releases Shopping App Insights Report, documenting 14% H1 2025 e-commerce set up decline alongside 2% session progress
• September 17, 2025 – Adjust and Google Ads publish web-to-app marketing handbook overlaying multi-channel acquisition technique
• December 10, 2025 – AppsFlyer releases annual mobile app report, exhibiting $109 billion in world app advertising spend and $824 million in GenAI app promoting
• December 22, 2025 – Italy fines Apple €98.6 million for ATT-related competitors violations
• Q1 2026 – ATT opt-in fee rises to 38% industry-wide, with gaming main at 39%
• February 18, 2026 – Modify publishes Cellular App Traits: 2026 Version with information throughout gaming, e-commerce, and finance verticals globally

Abstract

Who: Modify, an AppLovin (NASDAQ: APP) firm, with contributions from Google Advertisements, Snap for Enterprise, TikTok for Enterprise, Sensor Tower, Roku, and Alison.ai.

What: The Cellular App Traits: 2026 Version report, a world benchmarking research overlaying gaming, e-commerce, and finance app efficiency throughout APAC, Europe, LATAM, MENA, and North America, utilizing aggregated and anonymized information from hundreds of apps tracked between January 2024 and January 2026. Key findings embody world app installs up 10% and classes up 7% in 2025; finance classes up 21%; gaming CPI up 30% to $0.56; ATT opt-in charges rising from 35% to 38%; LATAM finance installs rising 76%; and e-commerce installs declining 10% whilst classes rose 5%.

When: The report was revealed on February 18, 2026, overlaying information from January 2024 by means of January 2026.

The place: World, with particular regional breakdowns overlaying APAC, Europe, LATAM, MENA, and North America. Modify is headquartered in Berlin, Germany.

Why: The report gives cell advertising and person acquisition groups with efficiency benchmarks and contextual evaluation to assist marketing campaign optimization, price range allocation, and progress technique throughout three of probably the most commercially important app verticals, at a second when AI adoption and cross-platform measurement have emerged as defining aggressive components.