This Week in Apps - Boring but Big

This Week in Apps is a short, no-fluff, round-up of interesting things that happened in the mobile industry. Here are our top highlights.

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U.S. Revenue Index (vs. 30 days ago)

Insights

1. Changing Channels is a Multi-Million Dollar Business on the App Store

When app makers think about what to build, they tend to associate big ideas with big money. I've shown you over the last few months that's not always the case, and that there are "boring" niches that make a lot of money.

This week I bring you another such niche: TV Remove Controls. Apparently, channel changers for your smart TV are a BIG business.

Let me show you.

I was browsing Appfigures Explorer and noticed a few high-earning remote control apps. We're talking a million or more in consumer spending per month. So, I had to dive in.

According to Explorer, there are 1,705 apps with the words "TV" and "remote" on the App Store and Google Play. Most, a little over 60%, are available on Google Play with a little under 500 available on the App Store.

Considering all feel and look fairly similar, I imagine Apple isn't making it easy to enter this niche. Yet, 500 still managed to get approved, so I wouldn't say it's "closed".

We estimate that the entire group saw $11M in consumer spending and 22M downloads in the last month. Those numbers balloon to $117M in consumer spending and 276M downloads when looking back to the beginning of 2024.

That's a lot of millions from people who forgot where their remote is...

And it's not a single-winner industry.

According to Appfigures Inbtelligence, 21 apps grossed more than a million dollars in the last 12 months. Two from Google Play and the rest through the App Store.

So, if you're thinking about building a remote control app, you should focus on iOS - but don't do that just yet.

How TV Remotes Get Users?

One of the main challenges of apps in niches like this - somewhat boring but high-earning - is that branding doesn't play much value. Instead, it's all about whoever the user finds first.

On the App Store, visibility for TV remotes comes in two forms: App Store Optimization (aka organic) and Apple Ads. Both are substantial challenges on their own, and unless you're ready to dive in with both feet, this may not be the niche for you.

But I did find some opportunities.

Most TV remote apps use the same keywords, don't have a real name, and have a very similar icon. The majority even use the same colors: black and purple.

But while exploring the top results I noticed quite a lot of keyword duplication. It doesn't hurt these apps as much as you'd expect because most apps are doing it and on the lower end, results have hundreds of new ratings, making it hard for the algorithm to ignore them.

If you're in this niche and get hundreds or more new ratings, try removing the duplication and see how your ranks rise within a few days.

According to our Apple Ads Intelligence, of all the apps making $1M or more a year, only 2 aren't running Apple Ads. And those that do are responsible for campaigns spanning nearly 6K keywords.

That might discourage you from building a TV remote app, but it shouldn't discourage you from finding a similar "boring" niche that's raking in cash.

How To Find Your Next Million-Dollar Idea?

The best way to identify high-earning categories is not to look for the highest-earning categories but rather look for apps making a few hundred thousand every month, then isolate ones where multiple apps are making the same amount, and then narrow down your search just to this niche.

I do that with Appfigures Explorer by first setting the month revenue filter to $100K - $250K and look for apps that do the same thing. I then zero in using the name filter to find all apps that are similar and rank them by their monthly revenue.

When I find a group that has multiple apps making substantial money, even if there's a long tail, I consider it an opportunity. It means there's competition and yet enough apps are still making good money.

Soon we'll be making it even easier to identify these niches automatically. Stay tuned!

2. Love Island Season 7 Has Its Biggest Opening Week on the App Store Ever!

It's been a while since a TV show took over the App Store! The latest to achieve that is Love Island, and the numbers are pretty astonishing.

Season 7 of Love Island started airing on Jun 3 and has been one of the most downloaded apps in the US App Store ever since.

Its first day of downloads was so high it beat the first week of downloads of every previous season except for season 1 (but only by a few downloads).

I compared the first week of downloads for every season to see just how big this season is:

According to our App Intelligence, the first week of downloads for season 7 generated 367K downloads from the App Store and Google Play (mostly the App Store). That's nearly 30x the downloads of season 6 and 5!

In fact, season 7's downloads in the first week are twice the number of downloads of all other seasons combined. Someone's doing something right.

What's driving this eruption of engagement? A critical update to the app, and the show, that put viewers behind the steering wheel.

Coming off of a hit season 6, and with a bigger and more engaged audience than ever before, season 7 gave viewers the ability to vote for their favorite couples. Via app, of course.

I thought maybe Peacock also pushed the app with ads but according to our Apple Ads Intelligence, there are no campaigns behind Love Island, making this sustained stream of downloads even more impressive.

Peacock is Soaring, Too!

The demand for Love Island may come from existing viewers, but its success and the popularity of the show have also pushed downloads of Peacock's mobile app to their highest so far in 2025!

According to our App Intelligence, since Love Island started airing, downloads of Peacock have risen to a daily average of 70K from an average of 20K in April.

That's not an all-time high for Peacock, but considering we're talking about the app that streamed the Olympics, this is still an accomplishment.

It's 2025 and content is still king. That's not changing any time soon.

3. X Doubled its Mobile Revenue Year Over Year

May was a strange month for X. On the one hand, revenue didn't grow from April - quite the opposite. On the other, it saw the return of its chief poster from his political journey.

But when looking at revenue beyond just a few months, an interesting trend emerges:

According to our App Intelligence, X ended May with $16.7M of net revenue (after fees) down from $18.4M in April. But when you compare May's haul to May of 2024 it's very different. Year-over-year revenue is actually up 120%!

X really transformed its revenue generation capabilities in 2024. Price increases were somewhat responsible for this increase but I don't think that's really the core of it. Instead, it was the platform's ability to surface interesting posts.

And as the year progressed, that diminished, at least in my stream. I don't think I'm the only one because Elon's return from DC also brought on an algorithm update, suggesting I'm not the only one who noticed.

By the way, I also considered the decrease in revenue to be the result of Bluesky taking off, but looking at the downloads I'm fairly certain that isn't the case. Bluesky's downloads have dropped from 2.7M in January to 370K in May, according to our estimates. That's a loss of more than 86%.

That may not have an immediate impact, but more relevant posts + Elon's fairly non-political return to the platform could drive more revenue as X cements itself as the go-to news source around the world.

4. Same Title, More Money! The Highest-Earning Games in the World in May

I crunched the numbers and ranked the highest-earning mobile games in the world. Movement was minimal in May but revenue wasn't.

At all.

Honor of Kings was the highest-earning game in the world in May. Appfigures Intelligence shows the China-only title brought in $154M of net revenue from the App Store alone (Google Play isn't available in China) to earn the top position. Net means after Apple's fees are taken out.

The title was the highest earner in April as well, but short a few millions.

Whiteout Survival was the second highest earner, bringing in $145M of net revenue, according to our estimates. The same one-two punch as April, but that's not all.

Last War and Royal Match came in 3rd and fourth, respectively, in both April and May. May delivered more revenue, however.

PUBG rounded out the top five with $105M of net revenue, according to our estimates. It's one of two titles that moved in May, climbing one spot and kicking Monopoly Go out of the top 5 for the first time ever since it came into our charts back in June of 2023.

That's big!

Only one of the remaining four titles moved and that's Roblox. According to our App Intelligence, Roblox brought in $42M of net revenue, pushing it into the 10th spot overall, an appearance it hasn't made since February.

But don't let the static nature of May's list fool you - it was a big month!

We estimate that the top 10 highest-earning games in the world saw $926M of net revenue (after fees) in May. When compared to April, that's a 7% increase, and that's good news for game developers. Even those who didn't make the top 10 list.

5. A Big But Impactless Shuffle - The Most Downloaded Games in May

Unlike the highest-earning chart, which was fairly stagnant in May, games fought for downloads. On the App Store, every rank has a game that wasn't there in April!

Except for one.

Block Blast was the most downloaded mobile game in the world in May, a rank it's held since dethroning Subway Surfers back in March. Appfigures Intelligence shows the title has made its way into 19M new devices in May. A bit more than April.

It was also the only game that didn't move a single rank on the App Store (and on Google Play, and combined).

Looking at the combined list, it was incumbent Roblox that took the second spot with 16M estimated downloads. Roblox's in-app revenue has seen a sharp decline, but the downloads continue.

Subway Surfers ended May in third place, and it's the third month the once-king has not been the most downloaded game, having given up that position to Block Blast in March. With 15M estimated downloads, however, it's still very popular.

Ludo King and Pizza Ready round out the top five with 11M and 10M estimated downloads, respectively.

Like apps, games have seen downloads decline while revenue is rising, demanding studios work harder for each download.

Together, the top 10 most downloaded games saw 110M downloads in May, up a smidge from April as we head into the more promising summer season.

App Intelligence for Everyone!

The insights in this report come right out of our App Intelligence platform, which offers access to download and revenue estimates, installed SDKs, and more! Learn more about the tools or schedule a demo with our team to get started.

Are you a Journalist? You can get access to our app and market intelligence for free through the Appfigures for Journalists program. Contact us for more details.

All figures included in this report are estimated. Unless specified otherwise, estimated revenue is always net, meaning it's the amount the developer earned after Apple and Google took their fee.