Following the US executive order to ban WeChat, Signal became the top alternative with 65,000 US installs in six days, a 30% increase from 50,000 before. Daily installs rose to 10,800 from 8,300. QQ also surged to 15,000 installs, triple its prior 5,000, but later returned to near-normal levels.
Signal had 1.6 million US installs in H1 2020, while QQ has 3.3 million total US installs since 2014. WeChat had 764,000 US installs in H1 2020, generating $120,000 in IAP. The ban deadline is September 15.
TikTok faces potential U.S. ban, leading to a 361% surge in installs for competitors Triller, Zynn, Dubsmash, and Byte. TikTok's global installs declined 25% in July. Competitors capitalized on uncertainty, with Triller and Byte seeing massive week-over-week growth. The situation mirrors India's ban, where rivals like Snack Video and Likee gained traction. ByteDance's challenges create opportunities for other apps to grow audiences.
Contact tracing apps in 13 populous countries have about 9.3% adoption. Australia leads with 21.6%. Germany's app reached 10.4M downloads in a month. India has most total downloads at 127.6M.
Global top 10 wellness apps hit 10M April downloads, up 24.2% from Jan. Calm leads with 3.9M. Meditation apps surge amid COVID-19 lockdowns.
Adjust has expanded store detection and verification across multiple app storefronts, making Store Type the primary dimension for identifying where an install originated rather than relying on platform or OS alone. For ad ops teams, this means campaign performance can now be analyzed at the store level across Huawei AppGallery, Xiaomi GetApps, Samsung Galaxy Store, Vivo Appstore, and Google Play variants, with independent verification of install origin. Newly detected stores are flagged in AppView with a direct route to configuration, and store-level data flows automatically into reporting, raw data, callbacks, and CSV exports, plus Conversion Rules via Store Rule conditions.
Adjust's Halloween 2025 data across six weeks shows the holiday window opens well before October 31 and differs by category and market. Entertainment installs peaked the weekend before Halloween (up 42–44% vs. summer baseline), with OTT/streaming and video content installs up 120% on October 25 and 300% YoY. Photo and video sessions instead spiked on Halloween night itself (+6% global vs. the four prior Fridays; Canada +15%, Germany +13%, U.K. +11%, U.S. +9%, Mexico +7%). Single global send dates miss market-level peaks, so ad ops should time creative, push, and budget shifts per market—especially in Mexico, where activity runs through Día de los Muertos.
Fortnite was removed from app stores, losing $1.2B revenue. PUBG Mobile leads in battle royale. Fortnite's absence may be filled by competitors like Call of Duty: Mobile.
Japan's finance app category is outperforming, with H1 2026 installs up 8% YoY and sessions up 40%—nearly 5x the install growth and well ahead of global figures (5% and 29%). Stock trading is the standout subvertical: installs +90% YoY and average session length climbing to 11.7 minutes, driven by NISA reforms and a retail investor resurgence. Retention is improving across the full 30-day curve (D1 17% to 19%, D30 7% to 8%). For ad ops teams, the takeaway is clear: prioritize measurement depth, re-engagement, and channel-level quality over top-of-funnel volume alone.
Q4 2026 planning should treat peak shopping as a compressed event, not a week. Black Friday/Cyber Monday purchase lift runs 2–3x install lift, so ad ops must schedule by daypart and hour. Singles Day is not global: Brazil, UAE and Spain show real lift, while US/France barely react. CPI spikes hardest in supposedly cheap markets—Spain’s CPI rose nearly 50%. Remarketing already drives 65–92% of non-organic spend and rises during peak. Deep linking is critical: deep-linked users are ~2x more likely to purchase and spend nearly 3x more. Benchmark market CPI, shift budget to remarketing, and connect every entry point.
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