App development reaches far beyond publishing software: apps connect digital products, physical commerce, services, advertising, developers, and audiences. Apple reported $1.295 trillion in App Store ecosystem billings and sales in 2024, alongside millions of apps and developers in its 2023 transparency report.
Table of contents
- App development industry at a glance
- Ecosystem size and growth
- Revenue categories
- Regional app economy
- Marketplace activity
- Developers and users
App development industry at a glance
- The global App Store ecosystem generated $1.295 trillion in total billings and sales in 2024 (Apple Global App Store report).
- Digital goods and services represented $131 billion, or 10%, of 2024 billings and sales (Apple Global App Store report).
- Physical goods and services represented $1.014 trillion, or 78% (Apple Global App Store report).
- In-app advertising contributed $150 billion, or 12% (Apple Global App Store report).
- The App Store averaged more than 813 million weekly visitors worldwide in 2024 (Apple Global App Store report).
- Apple collected no commission on more than 90% of the $1.3 trillion in global ecosystem billings and sales (Apple Global App Store report).
- The App Store had 1,870,119 total apps in the 2023 transparency report (Apple 2023 App Store Transparency Report).
- Apple reviewed 6,892,500 app submissions in 2023 (Apple 2023 App Store Transparency Report).
The ecosystem total is broader than paid downloads or in-app purchases. It includes digital goods and services, physical goods and services, and in-app advertising, so it measures app-enabled economic activity as well as transactions inside apps.
Ecosystem size and growth
The App Store ecosystem increased from $514 billion in 2019 to $1.295 trillion in 2024, a reported 152% increase (Apple Global App Store report).
| Measure | 2019 | 2024 | Reported change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total ecosystem billings and sales | $514 billion | $1.295 trillion | 152% |
| Digital goods and services | — | $131 billion | 109% |
| Physical goods and services | — | $1.014 trillion | 162% |
| In-app advertising | — | $150 billion | 131% |
The changes below are reported 2019-to-2024 figures, not arithmetic derived from rounded values in this article.
- Digital goods and services increased 109% from 2019 to 2024 (Apple Global App Store report).
- Physical goods and services increased 162% (Apple Global App Store report).
- In-app advertising increased 131% (Apple Global App Store report).
- General retail increased 162% (Apple Global App Store report).
- Travel increased 137% (Apple Global App Store report).
- Food delivery and pickup increased 222% (Apple Global App Store report).
- Ride hailing increased 334% (Apple Global App Store report).
- Grocery increased 57% (Apple Global App Store report).
- Digital payment increased 241% (Apple Global App Store report).
Among these categories, ride hailing, food delivery and pickup, and digital payment had the largest reported increases. Grocery had the smallest reported increase.
Revenue categories
Physical goods and services were the largest 2024 component at $1.014 trillion, or 78% of ecosystem billings and sales. Digital goods and services accounted for $131 billion, or 10%, and in-app advertising for $150 billion, or 12% (Apple Global App Store report).
Category-level figures show apps’ connection to everyday commerce and services:
- General retail produced $618 billion, or 48%, in 2024 (Apple Global App Store report).
- Travel produced $135 billion, or 10% (Apple Global App Store report).
- Food delivery and pickup produced $110 billion, or 8% (Apple Global App Store report).
- Grocery produced $80 billion, or 6% (Apple Global App Store report).
- Ride hailing produced $60 billion, or 5% (Apple Global App Store report).
- Digital payment produced $12 billion, or 1% (Apple Global App Store report).
General retail was the largest listed category. The data also identifies substantial app-enabled activity in travel, food, grocery, transportation, payments, and digital services.
Regional app economy
In 2024, China accounted for $539 billion in App Store ecosystem billings and sales, the United States for $406 billion, Europe for $148 billion, and the rest of the world for $200 billion (Apple Global App Store report).
| Region | Total | Digital goods/services | Physical goods/services | In-app advertising |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $406 billion | $53 billion | $277 billion | $75 billion |
| China | $539 billion | $23 billion | $484 billion | $31 billion |
| Europe | $148 billion | $20 billion | $109 billion | $20 billion |
| Rest of world | $200 billion | $33 billion | $142 billion | $25 billion |
The underlying regional figures were:
- US digital goods and services: $53 billion; China: $23 billion; Europe: $20 billion; rest of world: $33 billion (Apple Global App Store report).
- US physical goods and services: $277 billion; China: $484 billion; Europe: $109 billion; rest of world: $142 billion (Apple Global App Store report).
- US in-app advertising: $75 billion; China: $31 billion; Europe: $20 billion; rest of world: $25 billion (Apple Global App Store report).
China had the largest reported total and the largest physical-goods-and-services figure. The United States had the largest reported digital-goods-and-services and in-app-advertising figures among these regions.
Marketplace activity
Apple reviewed 6,892,500 submissions in 2023 and rejected 1,763,812 (Apple 2023 App Store Transparency Report). It approved 277,923 submissions after rejection and removed 116,117 apps from the App Store in 2023 (Apple 2023 App Store Transparency Report).
These figures describe 2023 review and enforcement activity. They are not 2024 counts, forecasts, or independently verified estimates. Rejections, approvals after rejection, and removals are different actions and are therefore not combined.
The 2023 transparency report recorded 1,870,119 total apps. Submission volume should not be read as a count of unique apps or developers because the supplied data does not state how many unique projects generated those submissions.
Developers and users
Apple recorded 42,219,169 registered developers in 2023 (Apple 2023 App Store Transparency Report). The same report recorded 117,843 terminated developer accounts and 373,739,771 terminated customer accounts in 2023 (Apple 2023 App Store Transparency Report).
User activity was also reported weekly:
- Average weekly App Store visitors: 734,673,588 in the 2023 transparency report (Apple 2023 App Store Transparency Report).
- Average weekly app downloads: 787,999,950 in the 2023 transparency report (Apple 2023 App Store Transparency Report).
- Average weekly visitors: more than 813 million worldwide in 2024 (Apple Global App Store report).
The 2023 and 2024 visitor figures use different measurement periods and wording, so they remain separate. The 2023 figures describe the App Store transparency-report period; the 2024 figure describes Apple’s later global App Store report.
Taken together, these statistics measure app development through four connected lenses: the economic activity enabled by apps, the categories and regions generating that activity, the marketplace processes applied to submissions, and the developers and users participating in the platform.
How to read the ecosystem total
The $1.295 trillion figure is an ecosystem measure, so it should not be treated as app-store commission revenue or as the income of app developers alone. Apple’s report separately identifies digital goods and services, physical goods and services, and in-app advertising. That distinction matters for readers comparing app development with media, streaming, retail, travel, delivery, or mobility markets.
The category shares also describe different kinds of app value. General retail, travel, food delivery and pickup, grocery, ride hailing, and digital payment are physical or service-led activities accessed through apps. Digital goods and services are a separate part of the 2024 total, while advertising is reported separately again. Keeping those groups distinct prevents the ecosystem total from being described as a single type of app monetization.
How to read the regional figures
The four regional groupings are not presented as a ranking of developer headquarters or app downloads. They are regional billings and sales categories in Apple’s 2024 App Store ecosystem report. The table therefore helps compare where reported economic activity occurred, while the developer-account figure comes from the separate 2023 transparency report.
China’s $539 billion total includes $23 billion in digital goods and services, $484 billion in physical goods and services, and $31 billion in in-app advertising. The United States total of $406 billion includes $53 billion, $277 billion, and $75 billion in those same categories. Europe’s $148 billion includes $20 billion, $109 billion, and $20 billion, while the rest-of-world total of $200 billion includes $33 billion, $142 billion, and $25 billion. These values retain Apple’s geography labels and reporting periods.
What marketplace activity measures
The transparency figures are operational measures rather than a complete census of the app development workforce. A submission is a review event, while a registered developer is an account measure. An app count is a marketplace inventory measure. Weekly visitors and weekly downloads are user-activity measures. Because these measures describe different units, they should not be added together or used as substitutes for one another.
The report’s 2023 figures also sit beside, rather than replace, the 2024 ecosystem results. The 2023 app count, developer count, account actions, submissions, visitors, and downloads describe the transparency-report period. The 2024 figures describe the later App Store ecosystem report. Where Apple used rounded language such as “more than 813 million,” that wording is retained rather than converted into an exact count.
For app development readers, the combined picture is most useful as a map of platform scale. It shows a marketplace with 1,870,119 listed apps, millions of reviewed submissions, 42,219,169 registered developers, hundreds of millions of weekly visitors, and an ecosystem total measured in trillions of dollars. Each statistic answers a different question, and the dates and measurement units determine how it should be compared.