Explore how iOS app growth is evolving in 2026. Arunabh Madhur shares insights on intent, Apple Ads, AI-led optimization, and real-time app growth.
As the iOS ecosystem undergoes its most significant evolution in years, app marketing teams worldwide are recalibrating everything, from how they interpret user intent to how they activate app growth. The shift has been especially visible in 2025, a year marked by new user behaviors, sharper competition, and a much swifter pace of market movement on the App Store.
Rebranding from “Apple Search Ads” to “Apple Ads” this year further underscored the transformation. What was once a keyword-driven performance channel is now evolving into a sophisticated, multi-format advertising ecosystem built for full-funnel growth. Combined with rapidly changing discovery patterns and rising expectations for relevance, the iOS platform is behaving differently and app teams are being forced to adapt just as quickly.
To unpack what this evolution means for the year ahead, we sat down with Arunabh Madhur, Chief of Growth at Newton, to explore the trends shaping 2026 and the mindset shifts every app team should carry into the new year.
iOS Becomes a Premium Market That Behaves Like a Scale Market
“What stood out most in 2025?”
According to Arunabh, app marketing in 2025 can be summed up in one line:
“iOS is a premium market that finally started behaving like a scale market.”
While Google and Meta still dominate in spending terms, iOS quietly unlocked a new gear this year. Even emerging markets like Africa delivered double-digit growth in terms of paid app installs. The Apple Ads website also revealed that over 800 million people now visit the App Store every week, a signal that iOS is no longer just a premium environment. It has truly become a scale market.
Interestingly, this surge was driven by more users as well as better intent. As Arunabh notes, “app teams often underestimate how powerful and profitable user intent can be when understood correctly.”
The Misalignment: Teams Chase Volume, Not Intent
““What patterns do you see when speaking with founders?”
Despite all the industry evolution, Arunabh highlighted one common behaviour that remains unchanged:
“Most teams still chase scale before understanding intent.”
For years, app growth meant simply buying more reach: more keywords, more creatives, bigger budgets. But today, understanding user intent drives much greater/ deeper outcomes than just bigger budgets. App marketing teams are increasingly seeing the value of connecting paid and organic data and investing in localization to drive stronger outcomes. As this approach matures, budget movement across regions offers clear signals of how demand and intent vary across emerging markets.
Newton’s internal data shows that while some regions scale steadily with consistent demand, others experience sharper bursts of high-intent activity. These patterns highlight the opportunity to align budgets more closely with real-time intent and regional behavior, enabling smarter and more confident scaling.
The takeaway? Precision and strategy will always outperform bigger budgets and overspending.
Where AI Is Actually Changing App Growth
“AI is everywhere in the conversation, so where does it truly matter?”
Arunabh believes the biggest breakthrough is simple:
“AI finally solves the part of app marketing that humans can’t: real-time adaptability.”
User intent now shifts by the hour. Markets react faster than teams can. And this is where AI becomes indispensable.
At Newton, this shift is powered by Niko, our “always-on” AI growth agent, and OpticksAI, a creative intelligence engine for custom product page generation.
● Niko reads keyword signals, TTR shifts, and bid patterns continuously
● It predicts changes instead of simply reacting by consistently reading past performance data
● It reallocates budgets before a human even spots the trend
● It prunes, expands, and optimizes keyword sets in real time
This real-time impact of AI is clearly visible across markets. App marketing teams across Africa, Vietnam, GCC, and LATAM using Niko + OpticksAI are already reporting:
● Lower CAC
● Higher ROAS
● Confidence to scale Apple Ads even during peak volatility
Ultimately, AI-powered growth looks like consistency, rather than the vicious cycle of short spikes followed by long flat weeks.
The Mindset Shift for 2026: Growth Is No Longer a Weekly Exercise
“If app teams could change one thing, what should it be?”
Arunabh’s answer is clear:
“Stop treating growth like a monthly or even weekly exercise.”
The best-performing apps of 2025 made micro-adjustments daily, even hourly. They also took seasonality far more seriously.
Every region has its own high-intent seasonal moments:
● GCC: Pre-Ramadan activity spikes
● Africa: Easter travel & Black Friday drives demand
● SEA: Shopping surges during 10.10 and 11.11 (Singles’ Day)
These moments don’t just shift traffic; they shift KPIs themselves. Newton’s internal survey indicates that while apps in SEA prioritize lower-funnel conversions like in-app purchases or bookings during Singles’ Day, apps in the GCC focus more on new user acquisition and ROAS during Ramadan.
And this is exactly why Arunabh says growth now lives in micro-experiences. When user intent, KPIs, and behavior change within hours, keywords, creatives, and custom product pages that don’t adapt instantly lose relevance.
The New Year’s Resolution Every App Should Make
“What’s the one message for app leaders heading into 2026?”
Arunabh leaves us with a powerful reminder:
“Your app’s biggest competition in 2026 won’t be another brand. It will be the speed at which the market moves.”
If your users move hourly but your decisions move weekly, you will always feel behind. But when intent, automation, and creativity work together consistently, you unlock momentum that compounds quietly, consistently, and exponentially.
And that is the most meaningful New Year’s resolution any app can make.
