App revenue: what iPhone apps actually earn

What a typical app earns

App revenue is not distributed around an average — it is a long tail, and quoting a mean is how the number gets wildly overstated. The spread across the catalog:

Under $10k/mo

1,591 · 41%

$10k – $100k/mo

907 · 23%

$100k – $1M/mo

1,064 · 27%

$1M – $10M/mo

270 · 7%

$10M+/mo

48 · 1%

Quartiles: 25% of these apps gross under $5k/mo, half under $30k/mo, 75% under $200k/mo, and the top 10% clear $800k/mo. Note the selection bias — every app here already ranks on the App Store charts. The median across all ~2 million apps on the store is a different, much smaller number.

Common questions

How much money do apps make?

Across the 3,880 top-grossing App Store apps tracked here, the median app grosses about $30k a month. A quarter earn under $5k/mo and a quarter earn over $200k/mo. These are apps that already rank on the App Store charts — the median across all apps on the store, most of which never chart at all, is far lower.

How is app revenue estimated?

Apple does not publish per-app revenue. Estimates are modelled from public signals — chart position, rating velocity, download estimates and known in-app purchase prices — then calibrated against apps whose real numbers are public. They measure App Store gross, before Apple’s 15–30% commission, and only App Store transactions: an app billing by card on its own website (Spotify, most marketplaces and delivery apps) shows a low App Store figure while earning far more overall.

Which app categories make the most money?

By median monthly revenue, Photo & Video leads at $400k/mo, followed by Health & Fitness ($350k) and Entertainment ($300k). Category medians say more than category totals, which one or two giants dominate.

How much revenue does the average app make per download?

Revenue per install is the number worth watching, and it varies by orders of magnitude between categories. Each app page here shows its own figure alongside its category median, so a per-install average can be read in context rather than as a single industry number.

Where these numbers come from

Revenue and download figures are worldwide monthly estimates, refreshed weekly. They are estimates, not filings: treat them as an order of magnitude and a ranking, not as accounting. Every app page on RevShot carries its own figure next to its category rank and median, so any single number here can be checked in context.

Browse every tracked app · revenue by category