App Store app flood grows faster than downloads

The App Store added about 560,000 new apps in the first half of 2026, nearly matching the roughly 600,000 released during all of 2025, according to Sensor Tower data cited by The New York Times. The jump comes as vibecoding tools make app creation easier, but demand is not keeping pace.

Per the report, new app releases on the App Store grew 30 percent last year to about 600,000. In the first half of this year, that number then doubled to about 560,000. Downloads, however, rose far more slowly: they increased 3 percent in 2025 to 35.4 billion, and were up just 2 percent in the first half of 2026 to 17.6 billion.

The Times also highlighted developers using vibecoding tools to ship apps quickly. Marco Pérez, a software engineer in Chicago who had never made a mobile app before, spent five weeks over the winter building a prototype with vibecoding tools and another two getting it ready for the App Store. His app, InfoDrizzle, reached 1,300 downloads and about $500 in profit.

His next app did better. In May, after about a week of work, Pérez released Stampa, a scrapbooking app that turns photos into digital postage stamps. According to the report, Stampa has been downloaded 20,000 times and made about $3,000 in profit.

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Another developer cited by the Times, David Svensson, released 11 niche apps over the past five months and sees vibecoding more as a hobby than a business opportunity.

Apple also addressed concerns that the surge in submissions is straining App Store review. Peter Ajemian, an Apple spokesman, told the Times:

“Apple consistently review[s] 90 percent of app submissions within 48 hours.”

He added that Apple is “thrilled to see a new generation of developers embracing the latest tools to build and ship apps faster than ever,” and said all apps are held to the same standards for quality, privacy, and security, whether or not they were built through vibecoding.