Sensor Tower + Bidease: 2026 Middle East App Growth Report

The 2026 Middle East App Growth Report: Mid-Year Edition by Bidease and Sensor Tower combines GCC market data with insights from 400 regional app marketers to look at how app growth moves across Ramadan, Eid, summer, and Q4, and what those shifts reveal about demand, engagement, monetization, and marketing strategy.

GCC Growth Shifts Towards Monetization

From Q1 2024 to Q1 2026, GCC app downloads grew 9% while  IAP revenue surged 41%, growing 4.5x faster than installs. In fact, every GCC market outperformed the 21% global revenue growth benchmark, led by the UAE with +46%, Saudi Arabia with +43%.

Seasonality still matters, but gaps between acquisition, engagement, and monetization are widening. 

Ramadan, Eid, summer, and Q4 are stress tests for how different categories grow. Each window produces something different, and the gaps between acquisition, engagement, and monetization are widening.

OTT had the strongest Ramadan acquisition pattern with downloads rising 20% in 2024, 35% in 2025, and 48% in 2026. But in 2026, total OTT time spent actually declined during that same Ramadan window, even with record downloads, showing that acquisition spikes don’t always translate into proportional engagement. 

Shopping showed a different kind of seasonal OTT dependency with the two peak shopping windows driving nearly  1/5 of annual Shopping downloads in 2025, while March accounted for 12% alone. 

Food & Dining followed another pattern. Though total OTT downloads during Ramadan increased from +20% PoP in 2024 to +35% in 2025, and a record-breaking +48% in 2026, Food & Dining  contracted, then rebounded closer to Eid, with post-Ramadan downloads up 30% in 2024 and 45% in 2025.

Installs and Engagement Are Diverging

The clearest tension in the data is the gap between acquisition and post-install behavior. In Saudi Arabia, Consumer Banking sessions stayed above 1.25 billion monthly throughout Q1 2026, even as downloads declined. Structural usage, not promotional spikes. Crypto showed the opposite, with session counts hitting two-year lows in early 2026 despite minor acquisition activity.

The strongest categories are not only the ones that can acquire users during peak windows. They are the ones that keep users active after the peak passes.

Adjusting Your Strategy For 2026, And Beyond 

The seasonal calendar will continue to anchor planning across the region,but marketers can no longer assume that every peak will behave the same way, or that every install spike will carry through into engagement and revenue.

Marketing teams must read seasonal signals more carefully, understand which categories are building durable value, and move faster when conditions shift.

Want to learn more? We’ve only scratched the surface. Download the full report to get 40+ pages filled with dynamic, interactive charts, and crucial insights on the MENA app market.