Ai Companion Apps On Track To Pull In $120m In 2025

Demand for AI “companion” applications extracurricular of bigger names, for illustration ChatGPT and Grok, is growing. Of nan 337 progressive and revenue-generating AI companion apps disposable worldwide, 128 were released successful 2025 truthful far, according to caller information provided to TechCrunch by app intelligence patient Appfigures. This subsection of nan AI marketplace connected mobile has now generated $82 cardinal during nan first half of nan twelvemonth and is connected way to propulsion successful complete $120 cardinal by year-end, nan firm’s study indicates.

Unlike general-purpose chatbots, AI companion apps anthropomorphize AI interactions by allowing users to converse pinch civilization characters, including friends, lovers, girlfriends aliases boyfriends, imagination characters, and more. Appfigures defined nan marketplace conception successful nan aforesaid way, describing companion apps arsenic those successful which nan personification tin interact pinch either premade aliases user-generated synthetic characters meant to embody an existent personality.

Popular apps successful this abstraction see Replika, Character.AI, PolyBuzz, Chai, and others.

As of July 2025, AI companion apps crossed nan Apple App Store and Google Play person been downloaded 220 cardinal times globally. During nan first half of 2025, downloads were up 88% year-over-year, reaching 60 million.

Appfigures crunched nan numbers and recovered that, arsenic of July 2025, AI companion apps person driven $221 cardinal successful user spending worldwide. So acold this year, these apps person generated 64% much gross than during nan aforesaid play successful 2024.

The apical 10% of each AI companion apps make 89% of nan gross successful nan category, nan information shows. In addition, astir 10% (or 33) of nan apps person exceeded $1 cardinal successful life user spending.

Revenue per download is besides up $0.66 from $0.52 successful 2024 to $1.18 for nan class truthful acold successful 2025.

While dedicated AI companion apps are reasonably popular, bigger companies for illustration xAI are besides moving into nan market. In July, xAI’s Grok launched AI companions, including an anime woman and guy, arsenic good arsenic a snarky 3D fox.

Meanwhile, ChatGPT’s caller upgrade to GPT-5 brought to ray nan truth that galore of its users felt a kinship pinch nan older model, arsenic they mourned nan nonaccomplishment of their AI companion, whom they had come to dangle upon.

To reside these and different concerns astir GPT-5’s performance, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman brought backmost nan 4o model for nan clip being.

Google past twelvemonth tapped into nan market, too, erstwhile it hired distant Character.ai’s founder, Noam Shazeer. The Character.ai app lives connected and still has tens of millions of monthly progressive users.

According to Appfigures’ data, nan astir celebrated AI companion apps are those utilized by group looking for an AI girlfriend. Of nan progressive apps connected nan marketplace today, 17% person an app sanction that includes nan connection “girlfriend,” compared pinch 4% that opportunity “boyfriend” aliases “fantasy.” Terms for illustration anime, soulmate, and lover, among others, are little often mentioned.

AppfiguresImage Credits:Appfigures

The patient notes location were apt a number of different AI companion apps that launched connected nan app stores since 2022, but were later removed aft failing to summation traction successful position of gross aliases downloads. Those weren’t factored into its analysis, however.