GoKawiilAs vibecoding becomes more accessible, new App Store releases are surging, doubling in the first half of 2026, while downloads increased by just 2%. Here are the details.
Downloads lag behind the surge in new App Store releases
In a report published today, The New York Times cites new Sensor Tower data showing that while the number of new apps released on the App Store doubled in the first half of 2026, downloads increased by just 2%:
Last year, the number of new apps released in the App Store grew 30 percent to about 600,000, according to estimates by Sensor Tower, an app analytics firm. In the first half of this year, new apps doubled to about 560,000. […] But […] downloads from the App Store haven’t taken off. Last year, they grew 3 percent to 35.4 billion, according to Sensor Tower. In the first half of this year, downloads grew 2 percent to 17.6 billion.
The NYT’s report also highlights two developers who have been releasing vibecoded apps on the App Store. Marco Pérez, who plans to leave his job at JPMorgan Chase next month to develop apps full-time, and David Svensson, who has released 11 niche apps over the past five months, and sees vibecoding as a hobby rather than a business opportunity.
From the report:
Mr. Pérez, a software engineer in Chicago who had never made a mobile app before, spent five weeks over the winter tinkering with “vibecoding” A.I. tools to create a prototype, and two more preparing the app for Apple’s App Store. The app, InfoDrizzle, has been modestly successful, netting 1,300 downloads and about $500 in profit. Mr. Pérez’s next app was more popular. In May, after about a week of work, he released Stampa, a scrapbooking app that turns photos into digital postage stamps. Stampa has been downloaded 20,000 times and made about $3,000 in profit.
In a statement to the NYT, Apple spokesman Peter Ajemian addressed another side effect of the boom in submissions: a previously reported strain on the App Store’s review process.
Ajemian said “Apple consistently review[s] 90 percent of app submissions within 48 hours,” and added that Apple is “thrilled to see a new generation of developers embracing the latest tools to build and ship apps faster than ever.”
He also said that “all apps are held to the same high standards for quality, privacy and security that users have come to trust,” regardless of whether they were built through vibecoding.
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