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This Week in Apps - Outrunning the OG
#268 - Subway Surfers City already hit 5M dwnloads, February's chart is frozen, TikTok's revenue kept climbing, some weather apps surged during Storm Fern, and the biggest pre-season for the MLB!
Locked at the Top - The Most Downloaded and Highest Earning Apps in February 2026
The same seven apps held the same seven download spots. Revenue told a different story, and a short-drama app from Singapore crashed the top 10.
Baseball's Biggest Pre-Season on Mobile
MLB app downloads jumped 43% this February while revenue climbed to $3.5M, signaling a stronger season ahead for baseball on mobile.
Winter Storm Fern Drove Weather App Downloads Sky High
Winter Storm Fern triggered massive spikes in weather app downloads. The Weather Channel surged nearly 6x to 50K daily downloads, while a YouTube creator's app hit 31K in a single day.
Subway Surfers City Just Launched and It's Already Outrunning the Competition
SYBO's sequel to Subway Surfers hit 5 million downloads in its first 10 days, outpacing Free Fire, PUBG Mobile, and Brawl Stars without cannibalizing the original.
King Brought Candy Crush to Solitaire, but Disney Solitaire Took the Crown
King launched Candy Crush Solitaire in early 2025, but it settled at around $1M/month. Disney Solitaire scaled to $21M/month in under a year. Here's what happened in mobile solitaire.
The App That Tricked TikTok To The Top of the App Store (And It's Still There)
Freecash used TikTok ads to rocket to the top of the US App Store and has stayed there for nearly two months. Here's how.
This Week in Apps - Tricked to the Top
#267 - A rewards app tricked TikTok to reach #2 on the App Store, Disney Solitaire outearned Candy Crush's solitaire 10-to-1, Peacock races to 100M, Claude's Super Bowl bet, and Hallow's clockwork Lent spike.
Peacock Is Riding the Winter Olympics Straight to 100 Million Downloads
The Winter Olympics are pushing Peacock toward a major milestone. But the real story is how NBC's streaming app doubled its revenue while Disney's apps went the other way.
The Most Predictable Spike in the App Store
Every year, one app quietly takes over the App Store charts for a few days. It's not a game, not a social network, and not AI. Here's what's behind the spike.
Claude's Super Bowl Bet Paid Off
Anthropic bet big on a timely Super Bowl ad that mocks ChatGPT for Claude. The data shows it worked even better than they expected.
Another Billion Dollar Month - The Top Apps in the World in January
What does it look like when AI apps dominate both the download and revenue charts? January 2026 gave us a pretty clear answer.
MONOPOLY GO! Is Back on Top – The Top Mobile Games in the World
MONOPOLY GO! reclaimed the top spot as January's top 10 earned $935M, beating December. Here are the highest-earning and most-downloaded mobile games.
The Company Squeezing Money From Apps You Used to Love
A company many never heard of is now the owner of classic platforms like Evernote, Meetup, Vimeo, and even AOL. What happens to an app after they take over? I pulled the data to find out.
Grok Earned Almost as Much as ChatGPT in Its First Year
In its first 12 months on mobile, Grok earned an estimated $79M in net revenue. ChatGPT earned $80M. No other AI chatbot comes close.
Century Games Did It Again - Kingshot Hit $500M in Under a Year
Kingshot, from the studio behind Whiteout Survival, earned $500M in its first year on mobile. Together, Century Games' two hits now earn $140M per month.
This Week in Apps - They Did It Again!
#266 - Century Games’ repeat hit-making, a reshuffled top games chart driven by live events, Grok closing in on ChatGPT’s early monetization pace, and Bending Spoons’ acquisition playbook.
Downloads Down, Revenue Up - The State of Mobile Apps in December 2025
December saw a curious split: downloads dropped 2% while revenue sat at $1.3B. ChatGPT and TikTok dominated both charts as the mobile industry enters a new maturity phase.
Polymarket's Downloads Explode as Wall Street Bets $2B on Prediction Markets
Wall Street bet $2 billion on Polymarket, and downloads surged 1,172% in December. The prediction market banned in 2022 is now where Wall Street looks for signals.
X's Revenue Doubled When It Split Grok Into Its Own App
X took its fastest-growing feature and gave it its own app. The result? Combined December revenue of $46M, proving that sometimes unbundling beats bundling.
BambuLab Hit 2M App Downloads by Thinking Like Apple
BambuLab hit 2M app downloads in 2025 by building more than printers. Their ecosystem strategy has lessons for any app developer.
This Week in Apps - A New Kind of Bet
#265 - Polymarket's 1,172% download surge, December's revenue records despite download declines, mobile games' mixed holiday results, and how X doubled revenue by splitting Grok.
Games Unwrapped More Downloads, Fewer Dollars in December – The Top Mobile Games in the World
The highest-earning titles made $32M less than in November, but first-time downloads were up 16M during the gift-giving season. Read what other factors impacted the games category in the final month of 2025.
Is Your ASO Ready for 2026? App Store Optimization Q&A
Deep-dive ASO Q&A with Ariel covering 2026 algorithms, keyword focus, localizations, Apple Search Ads, ratings, and category strategy.
Meta's Mega Acquisition of Manus AI Isn't Just About The Tech
Meta didn't buy Manus AI for the tech. They bought the competitive moat money can't replicate.
ChatGPT Crosses $3 Billion in Mobile Revenue, Cementing AI's Paid Future
Less than 3 years after launching its mobile apps, ChatGPT has reached $3B in consumer spending. Here's how OpenAI turned curiosity into commerce.
