Games Lead ARKit App Downloads, Which Top 3 Million Since Launch

Apps and games that require Apple's new ARKit augmented reality framework have been installed more than three million times worldwide since iOS 11 launched on September 19, according to Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data. In this report, we've ranked the top 10 free, paid, and grossing ARKit-only mobile games and apps released thus far to provide a sense of who's leading this exciting new category at the nearly one month mark.

ARKit-only apps already are built entirely around Apple's new technology, but there is a second class of ARKit apps that offer varying degrees of added AR functionality via the framework. The chart below breaks down the first, ARKit-only group across currently available categories.

Games are—unsurprisingly—the single largest category at 35 percent of all available ARKit-only apps. We expect to see a more diverse range of app types as developers have more time to explore new concepts suited to AR.

Top ARKit-only Apps

Although dominated by games, the overall ARKit-only ranking boasts some early standouts from other categories such as Lifestyle (Housecraft), Utilities (AR MeasureKit), and Entertainment (Paint Space AR).

Australia's PlaySide Studios is behind the breakout hit of ARKit-only offerings available thus far, the virtual pet app AR Dragon, which has accounted for more than 20 percent of downloads among the top 10 free ARKit-only apps to date. Meanwhile, overall paid ARKit-only apps are led by TapMeasure from 3D sensing startup Occipital, Inc. As is also the case with non-AR apps, a game tops the revenue ranking. In this case it's The Machines from Directive Games, a flashy strategy title that received prime demo time during Apple's recent iPhone X debut event.

Top ARKit-only Games

Mobile games have accounted for 53 percent of ARKit-only app downloads and 62 percent of revenue since launch, making them the largest portion of this emerging category so far. Below are the top free, paid, and grossing games to date that are built entirely around the ARKit technology.

All three rankings feature a mix of AR-driven takes on traditional game mechanics, such as The Machines (strategy) and AMON (puzzle), alongside more conceptual efforts such as Pigeon Panic! AR and AR Runner.

Top ARKit-only Non-Games

Removing games from the picture, we see that the top ARKit-only apps so far are focused around sizing up 3D spaces in one way or another.

It's not surprising that IKEA Place is a standout among free apps, given the substantial amount of pre-launch press it received and its sublime execution of the nearly seamless mixed reality ARKit promises. Priced at $2.99, Vito Technology's Monster Park - Dino World is the current revenue front-runner, no doubt due in large part to its allure as an impressive tech demo.

Speaking of demos, we're already seeing many ARKit apps move beyond simple showcases of the technology and present content-rich experiences atypical of ordinary launch window titles. We're excited to see how ARKit experiences evolve even further in the coming months and will return with additional analysis as the category grows to become a larger part of the overall iOS ecosystem.

About This Data: Sensor Tower defines "ARKit-only" apps as those primarily focused on the AR experience. Our analysis did not look at apps offering limited ARKit content, such as AR photo modes, mini-games, and other ARKit-based features added onto otherwise traditional apps.