According to the latest report by data analysis firm Sensor Tower, the number of new apps added to the Apple App Store in just the first half of this year reached approximately 560,000. If this growth trend continues, the total number of new apps in 2026 is expected to exceed 1 million, far surpassing the historical high of 890,000 set in 2016.

However, the driving force behind this app boom is no longer professional developers, but ordinary people using AI coding tools.

AI programming lowers the barrier, leading to an overflow of low-quality applications

More people without programming experience are using AI coding tools such as Replit and Bolt.new, quickly generating full-stack applications with just natural language prompts. Professional developers also widely use smart assistants like Claude Code and GitHub Copilot to assist in development.

This has led to thousands of low-quality, homogenized "AI garbage apps" flooding the market. In sharp contrast to the explosive growth on the supply side, user download interest remains very low - overall app downloads on the App Store only grew by 3% last year, and the growth rate has further slowed to 2% so far this year.

Review pressure increases, imitations and security risks emerge

The massive number of app submissions has sparked debates about review efficiency. Many developers have complained on the Apple Developer Forum that the review cycle has significantly lengthened in recent months. Apple officially denied this claim and stated that 90% of apps can still be reviewed within 48 hours. Phillip Shoemaker, who managed the App Store from 2009 to 2016, warned that uncontrolled app surges not only severely consume Apple's review resources, but could also be exploited by malicious actors to sneak dangerous malware into the app store.

Many users have reported that the market is filled with counterfeit products with rough appearances and functions. Recent media reports have also pointed out that many AI-generated apps have serious privacy leakage risks, and some cannot even function properly as advertised.