Last for this week is a trend I've been talking about for a while now that we can see across a whole bunch of industries. If you've been following the newsletter for a while you know where I'm going with this...
Apps are now becoming the place where things start.
An easy way to visualize this trend is to look at something that had to move virtually during lockdown—Dating. Even as things have reopened and people are out and about, dating app revenue is growing faster than ever before.
According to our estimates, the top 5 dating apps in the U.S. saw net revenue grow by 29% in Q3, with a collective haul of $321M in the U.S. And that's after they handed over roughly $90M in fees to Apple and Google—mostly Apple.
That's up from Q2's combined net revenue of $250M in the U.S. across the App Store and Google Play, and that was 12% higher than Q1 of this year for the group, which includes Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, Plenty of Fish, and Match.
Going deeper, we can see the majority of growth in Q3 came in August and September. Yes, I know, September isn't over so I used a forecast to ensure I don't underestimate the month. In August, the group hit a new milestone, crossing $100M in net revenue (in the U.S.), according to our app intelligence. We expect September to bring in $129M of net revenue from the U.S.
We're heading into the cold season, and that's been great for growth in previous years. Given the trend the sector is already on, I expect double-digit growth to continue.
May’s top app charts were mostly stuck, but ChatGPT kept growing in downloads while TikTok kept leading revenue and Google One climbed into the top five.
Apple's WWDC 2026 app song named a tiny slice of the App Store, but the apps behind the lyrics are far bigger, older, and more successful than average.