As brands across the Middle East continue to compete for consumer attention during the Holy Month, in-app purchase revenue in the region topped $1.70 billion; up 18.6 percent year-over-year (YoY).
A new data reveals another year of dramatic growth in mobile app engagement, installs, and revenue across the Middle East, as marketers double down on seasonal campaigns to capture user attention during this critical commercial period, a report from AppsFlyer said.
In its annual Ramadan analysis, AppsFlyer found that mobile app activity across the region saw a significant uplift during the Holy Month. Sessions, a measure of app usage across all app categories, increased by approximately 15 percent year-over-year, with gaming, shopping, and finance apps leading steady engagement throughout the Ramadan period. Non-organic installs also increased by an estimated 10 percent year-over-year across categories, the report added.
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During Ramadan, Shopping app sessions across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar rose by over 20 percent YoY, reaching 682 million this year. This was accompanied by a 76 percent rise in non-organic installs across the region.
Shopping apps saw the most significant increase in the first half of the Holy Month, with a 111 percent increase in installs compared to the same period last year, followed by a 47 percent boost in the second half.
Finance apps showed strong performance, with sessions increasing by 9.7 percent and in-app revenue rising by 29.35 percent, reaching $650 million. However, non-organic installs in the finance sector saw a slight decline of 6 percent YoY, indicating a decrease in paid user acquisition, though the users who did convert generated higher value, the report said.
Gaming apps maintained a steady performance, with nearly flat session growth (0.05 percent) and stable monetization (3.26 percent in IAP).
UAE highlights: smart growth, strong retention
While regional metrics outperformed local performance in certain categories, the UAE remained a strong contributor across key verticals. Non-organic installs for shopping apps surged by 97 percent YoY, with installation activity peaking during the second half of Ramadan (103 percent).
In the finance category, app usage in the UAE was concentrated in the early and late weeks of Ramadan. Although non-organic installs decreased by 7 percent overall, there was a notable 24 percent drop in the final two weeks, highlighting a dependence on early acquisition and strong organic performance.
Gaming app sessions in the UAE also mirrored regional trends, with installs remaining stable despite a slight YoY decline of 1 percent.
“This year’s Ramadan data reinforces how critical the season has become for mobile-first engagement strategies,” Sue Azari, Industry Lead – eCommerce, at AppsFlyer said.
“The leap in shopping installs across the region reflects users’ growing comfort with mobile commerce as their default shopping channel — particularly in markets like the UAE where promotional cycles and user expectations are maturing fast.”
Methodology used
AppsFlyer analyzed anonymized aggregated data from across the Middle East during the Ramadan period, covering over 800 apps that each recorded at least 1,000 daily installs per country. In total, the dataset includes 220 million installs.
Data spans key markets including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, and Jordan. Year-over-year comparisons are based on full-Ramadan period performance from 2024 and 2025, including non-organic installs, sessions, and in-app revenue across the shopping, finance, and gaming categories.
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