Mobile app revenues in the Middle East have reached $1.7 billion, reflecting an impressive 18.6 percent year-over-year growth. This surge is largely attributed to increased consumer engagement during the Holy Month of Ramadan, as brands intensify their marketing efforts to capture user attention during this peak commercial period.

According to a report from AppsFlyer, mobile app activity has shown dramatic growth across the region. The report indicates that sessions, which measure app usage across all categories, increased by approximately 15 percent year-over-year. Notably, gaming, shopping, and finance apps have maintained consistent engagement throughout Ramadan. Additionally, non-organic installs rose by an estimated 10 percent year-over-year across various app categories.

During Ramadan, shopping app sessions in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar climbed over 20 percent year-over-year, totaling 682 million sessions this year. Accompanying this growth was a remarkable 76 percent increase in non-organic installs throughout the region. In the first half of Ramadan, shopping apps experienced a staggering 111 percent rise in installs compared to the same period last year, followed by a 47 percent increase in the second half.

Finance apps also performed well, with sessions growing by 9.7 percent and in-app revenue climbing 29.35 percent, reaching $650 million. However, the finance sector experienced a slight decline in non-organic installs, which dropped by 6 percent year-over-year, suggesting a reduced focus on paid user acquisition. Nonetheless, the users who did convert generated higher value, according to the report.

Gaming apps displayed stable performance, showing nearly flat session growth of 0.05 percent and consistent monetization with a 3.26 percent increase in in-app purchases.

In the UAE, non-organic installs for shopping apps surged by 97 percent year-over-year, with installation activity peaking during the latter half of Ramadan at 103 percent. Although overall non-organic installs in the finance category decreased by 7 percent, the app usage in the UAE was particularly strong in the early and late weeks of Ramadan, with a notable 24 percent drop in the final two weeks.

Sue Azari, Industry Lead – eCommerce at AppsFlyer, emphasized that this year’s Ramadan data highlights the growing importance of the season for mobile engagement strategies. She noted that the significant increase in shopping installs indicates users’ increasing comfort with mobile commerce, particularly in markets like the UAE, where promotional cycles and consumer expectations are rapidly evolving.

AppsFlyer conducted its analysis by reviewing anonymized aggregated data from over 800 apps that recorded at least 1 000 daily installs per country during the Ramadan period. The dataset covered a total of 220 million installs, focusing on key markets, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, and Jordan. Year-over-year comparisons are based on the full Ramadan period performance from 2024 and 2025, incorporating metrics like non-organic installs, sessions, and in-app revenue across the shopping, finance, and gaming categories.