Dec. 21, 2025 /Mpelembe Media/ — This report from examines the evolving landscape of the global mobile app market throughout 2025. The analysis identifies personalisation and short-form video content as primary tools for successful user discovery and engagement. It emphasizes that retaining existing users through improved onboarding is now just as critical as initial acquisition for long-term growth. Furthermore, the findings highlight a significant shift toward emerging markets in Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Also explores how stricter privacy regulations have forced marketers to rely more heavily on first-party data rather than broad tracking.
Evolving privacy regulations and platform policies have fundamentally altered how mobile apps gather and utilise data for growth. In response to these industry-wide adjustments, global marketing strategies are undergoing the following transformations:
Shift from Broad Tracking to First-Party Data: Campaigns are moving away from traditional, broad tracking methods. Instead, advertisers are increasingly relying on first-party data—information collected directly from users—and contextual signals to reach their target audience.
Adoption of Consent-Based Targeting: Because personalised experiences remain vital for engagement, marketers are pivoting toward consent-based targeting. This ensures that tailored messaging and content are delivered in a way that respects new privacy frameworks and user preferences.
Refinement of Performance Measurement: The loss of broad tracking capabilities has forced marketers to rethink how they measure campaign performance and optimise their acquisition tactics. Those who adapt their measurement strategies quickly to these new privacy-centric environments tend to experience more stable performance.
Focus on Relevance and Context: Rather than relying on individual user identities across different platforms, strategies are now focusing on the relevance of content. By matching the style of organic content on platforms like TikTok and Reels, marketers can maintain visibility and high click-through rates while staying within privacy boundaries.
In essence, these regulations have shifted the landscape from a “wide-net” approach to one of precision through permission.
Analogy
To understand this shift, imagine a captain navigating a ship. In the past, they might have used a global GPS (broad tracking) that told them exactly where every other ship was at all times. Now, with that GPS restricted by privacy regulations, the captain must instead rely on lighthouses and signal flags (contextual signals and first-party data). While the tools have changed, the goal remains the same: reaching the destination by paying closer attention to the immediate environment and the signals users choose to send.
Short-form video content has become a fundamental discovery tool for mobile apps, significantly enhancing visibility on popular social platforms. According to the sources, its impact is shaped by the following factors:
Increased Visibility and Stand-out: Platforms such as TikTok and Instagram Reels play a major role in how users encounter new software. By using these channels, new apps are better able to stand out from the competition.
Improved Performance Metrics: The use of short-form video has been linked to higher click-through rates, making it a highly effective medium for driving user interest.
Creative Strategy: To maximise impact, creative video ads must provide clear messaging and include strong calls to action.
Style Alignment: Short-form content is most successful when it matches the style of organic content found on the specific platform. This approach helps the advertisement feel more integrated into the user’s feed rather than an interruption.
Future Growth: Data indicates that short-form video is not a passing trend but is expected to remain a key driver for mobile app growth and user acquisition through 2026.
Analogy
Think of short-form video content as a vibrant shop window on a busy high street. In a crowded digital landscape where users are constantly “walking” past thousands of options, these brief videos act as eye-catching displays that instantly communicate value. They stop the passer-by in their tracks and provide just enough of a glimpse to encourage them to step through the door and explore the full experience.
Emerging markets have become a primary engine for the expansion of the mobile app industry, shifting the focus of global growth away from traditional strongholds. According to the sources, their influence is characterised by the following trends:
Geographic Shift in Growth: Mobile growth is increasingly moving beyond established regions such as North America and Western Europe. Instead, regions including Southeast Asia, Latin America, and parts of Africa are experiencing rapid year-over-year increases in app installs.
High Engagement through Localisation: Users in these markets demonstrate strong engagement when apps prioritising local language support and culturally relevant content. This suggests that developers can achieve significant growth by tailoring the user experience to the specific cultural nuances of diverse regions.
Long-term Strategic Importance: Emerging markets are identified as one of the key drivers that will continue to shape global mobile app growth and user engagement patterns through 2026.
Integration with Global Trends: The growth in these regions is occurring alongside other global shifts, such as the rise of short-form video discovery and the need for personalised, consent-based targeting. Marketers who adapt these global tactics to the specific needs of emerging audiences are better positioned for stable performance.
Analogy
To understand this shift, imagine a growing garden. For a long time, the most attention and resources were given to a few established oak trees (traditional markets). However, the gardener is now finding that the most vibrant and rapid growth is coming from newly planted sections of the garden (emerging markets) that were previously overlooked. To help these new plants thrive, the gardener cannot simply use the same old methods; they must provide the specific type of “water and soil”—such as localised content and cultural relevance—that these unique varieties require to flourish.
In 2025, short-form video content consolidated its position as a primary tool for mobile app discovery, significantly influencing how new software reached audiences. The impact was driven by several key factors:
Platform Dominance: Channels such as TikTok and Instagram Reels were central to increasing mobile app visibility throughout the year.
Enhanced Performance Metrics: The use of short videos was directly linked to improved click-through rates, effectively helping new applications stand out in a highly competitive digital market.
Style and Integration: The most successful creative video ads were those that matched the style of organic content found on each specific platform. This “native” feel allowed advertisements to engage users more naturally within their social feeds.
Clarity of Messaging: High-performing campaigns in 2025 utilised videos that featured clear messages and strong calls to action, which were essential for converting viewers into active users.
Future Trajectory: Based on its success in 2025, short-form video is projected to remain one of the key drivers for mobile app growth and user engagement as the industry moves into 2026.
Analogy
In 2025, short-form video acted as the digital “elevator pitch” for the mobile app world. In a crowded marketplace where users have limited attention spans, these brief videos provided just enough speed, style, and substance to convince a “passenger” to take interest in an app before they reached their floor and moved on to the next piece of content.
In 2025, marketers shifted toward contextual signals primarily as a response to new privacy regulations and platform policies that fundamentally altered how mobile apps gather and utilise data.
The transition was driven by several key factors identified in the sources:
Privacy Framework Adjustments: Industry-wide changes to privacy frameworks made traditional broad tracking less viable. Marketers were forced to rethink how they measured performance and optimised campaigns, leading them to rely on contextual signals and first-party data instead.
Performance Stability: Apps and marketers that adapted quickly to these privacy-centric methods experienced more stable performance compared to those that did not evolve their strategies.
Continued Need for Personalisation: Despite stricter regulations, tailored messaging remained essential because it consistently outperformed generic approaches. Contextual signals allow advertisers to provide these relevant, personalised experiences in a way that aligns with consent-based targeting.
Analogy
To understand this shift, imagine a salesperson working in a large shop. In the past, they might have followed a customer from store to store across the entire city to learn their habits (broad tracking). Now, due to new rules, they must instead “read the room” (contextual signals). By observing that a customer is currently looking at hiking boots in the sports department, the salesperson can offer relevant advice on outdoor gear immediately, providing a helpful, personalised service without needing to know the customer’s private history.
The specific regions that experienced rapid year-over-year increases in app installs are Southeast Asia, Latin America, and parts of Africa.
This surge indicates that global mobile growth is shifting away from traditional strongholds like North America and Western Europe. Success in these emerging regions is heavily dependent on localisation, with data showing that users engage more deeply when apps provide local language support and culturally relevant content. These markets are projected to continue serving as key drivers for global user acquisition and engagement through 2026.
Analogy
Think of the mobile app market as a growing forest. While the old-growth trees in North America and Europe are tall and stable, the most vigorous new growth is happening on the forest floor in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Africa. For these new saplings to reach their full potential, they require specific “nutrients”—such as localised content—that allow them to thrive in their unique environments rather than just copying the growth patterns of the older trees.