The state of AI app discovery: what 1,000 U.S. adults told us about how they find apps

58% of U.S. adults have used an AI assistant to find or choose an app to download. AI app discovery is no longer an emerging trend, but rather the majority behavior.

AppTweak surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults in August 2026 on how they find and choose apps and games, and found that AI search engines now influence multiple points of the user’s discovery journey. Unless otherwise noted, all figures reflect the full sample of 1,000 U.S. adults. Here are the survey results, and what they mean for app growth teams today.

Key takeaways

58% of U.S. adults use AI to find or choose apps or games

More than half of U.S. adults have used AI to find or choose a new app or game, and 21% do it half the time or more when deciding what to download. Using AI to choose an app is mainstream, not niche. Is your app strategy ready for this new era of discoverability in AI search.

AI ties Google and social as a first-touch app discovery source

10% of U.S. adults first learned about their most recent app download from an AI assistant, level with Google (10.7%) and social media (10.4%). Store search and personal recommendations still lead, but AI has already drawn even with two of the biggest discovery channels app marketers have optimized for years.

A year ago, AI app discovery was merely an emerging signal on the horizon. Today it’s drawing level with Google and social media as a first point of discovery. Teams pour ad budget into those two channels to be seen. AI visibility deserves the same investment, and the teams who move first stand to gain new users before their competitors.

AI shows up across app discovery, research, and comparison

People don’t rely on AI only for finding new apps. Among people who have used AI while choosing an app, 45.5% were looking for something specific, 27.2% were researching an app they’d already heard of, and 20.7% were comparing apps they were considering.

Base: the 585 who have used AI while choosing an app; 6.7% chose “something else”.

AI search engines are answering more than users’ questions about a specific need. They are comparing your app to others as well as providing information about your app when queried. As an app marketer, do you know what ChatGPT and Gemini are saying about your app?

People lean toward the AI recommendation over the store’s top result

Asked to choose between an app that an AI assistant recommended and a different app topping store search, more than twice as many people picked the AI recommendation over the store’s top result: 17.3% versus 7.7%.

These findings dispel the notion that people do not trust AI. For ASO practitioners this means that being the app AI recommends does matter.

59% still check the store before downloading an AI-recommended app

The top of the funnel now includes AI, but ASO isn’t dead. Six in ten people who received an AI recommendation went straight to the store to check reviews, ratings, or screenshots before deciding, and only 16% downloaded on the AI recommendation alone.

Base: 602 who received an AI app recommendation.

AI can put your app in front of a user, but your store listing still has to close. This is why it’s important to optimize your app store listing for AI and humans.

ChatGPT and Gemini dominate app discovery in AI

ChatGPT is the most commonly used AI assistant for choosing apps and games, at 39.2% of U.S. adults, according to AppTweak’s survey. Google Gemini follows at 30.9%. Claude, Microsoft Copilot, and Perplexity each land in the single digits.

If you’re already tracking your app’s AI visibility, that’s a great step ahead of your competitors. However, only tracking one AI search engine means you’re missing part of the picture as we now know that ChatGPT and Gemini carry the overwhelming majority of AI-recommended app choices in the U.S.

For a deeper look at how these assistants actually decide what to recommend, see AppTweak’s AI visibility playbook for apps and games.

AI is the #2 place people would look for their next app or game

Asked what they would consider using the next time they look for a new app, more people named an AI assistant than Google, friends and family, forums, or social media. Only the app stores ranked higher.

Select-all question so shares sum to more than 100%.

These findings prove ASO is still very much alive and well, but so are AI recommendations. The question for app teams is whether they are investing there too.

To see how AI search engines recommend your app or game, check out AI Visibility for Apps and AI Visibility for Games.

Methodology

AppTweak surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults in August 2026 about how they find and choose new apps and games. Respondents were recruited via Prolific, an opt-in online participant pool, and the sample was matched to U.S. population proportions on age, sex, and ethnicity. Respondents were not told who commissioned the study.

Margin of error is approximately ±3 percentage points on full-sample results, wider on subgroups. Full-sample findings use a base of 1,000. Subgroup findings state their base on the finding: 585 respondents have used AI while choosing an app, 559 have used any AI assistant to choose an app, and 602 received an AI app recommendation. The recommendation-to-verify figures carry a wider margin of error than the full sample.

Caveats:

• All measures are self-reported.
• Findings on individual AI search engines reflect usage as of August 2026 and shift over time.
• Respondents were recruited from an online research participant pool, which skews toward frequent internet users.
• Results are not broken out separately for apps versus games.

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