The App Store is booming again, and AI may be why

The Appfigures data points to supply-side growth (more apps being created), but the more consequential question the summary skips is whether this volume surge reflects durable developer activity or a one-time flush of AI-assisted experiments that won't retain users or generate revenue.

MIT Technology Review's piece on 'the future of software engineering' from April 14 framed AI-assisted development as potentially the third major structural shift in how software gets built, following open source and DevOps. The App Store surge is the first concrete market signal that this shift may already be compressing the time between 'idea' and 'shipped app' at scale. That connects directly to the retail AI traffic story from April 16, which showed AI-adjacent activity converting into measurable revenue, not just engagement. Taken together, these data points suggest the productivity gains from AI tooling are showing up in output metrics across multiple sectors simultaneously, which is harder to dismiss as noise.

Watch whether Appfigures' next quarterly report shows a corresponding rise in app retention and active user counts alongside new submissions. If new app volume grows but 90-day retention stays flat or drops, the surge reflects disposable AI-generated product rather than a genuine developer renaissance.