HEDGEYEAI WEEKLY · MOBILE
FRESH · LATEST BRIEF
INTELLIGENCE BRIEF · VERIFIED 96/100

The month in AI mobile.

Monthly MAU dynamics, category share, and company signals — every claim emitted as a structured assertion, verified against source data.

Summary · Category Signals

AI Assistants & Chat

AI Assistants & Chat United States MAU expanded +2.0% MoM, demonstrating steady market growth.

Creative AI

Creative AI International MAU grew +4.6% MoM, led by photo and video editing tools.

Productivity & Work

Productivity & Work United States MAU grew +5.4% MoM, indicating continued adoption of utility and translation applications.

Executive Takeaways

MONTHLYCONFIRMED INFLECTION

Microsoft Copilot MAU records structural reversal

Microsoft Copilot United States MAU contracted -16.8% MoM, marking a confirmed reversal in its engagement trend despite minor positive weekly downloads.

Confirm: Requires stabilization in next month's MAU to invalidate deeper attrition

MONTHLYSUSTAINED TREND

Claude sustains double-digit MoM expansion

Claude by Anthropic expanded United States MAU by +13.4% MoM to 13.7M, demonstrating sustained growth within the highly concentrated assistant category.

Confirm: Continuation of positive WoW WAU alignment

WEEKLYSUSTAINED TREND

Meta AI weekly downloads spike

Meta AI United States downloads increased +67.1% WoW.

Confirm: Conversion of downloads into sustained WAU gains

Monthly Trends

AI Assistants: Core Platforms Lead Growth

Google Gemini United States MAU expanded +7.2% MoM, demonstrating sustained growth in the assistant category.

Meta AI International MAU increased +20.3% MoM, the fastest sequential rate among major established assistants this period.

Claude by Anthropic International MAU grew +22.6% MoM to 47.2M.

General-purpose assistants show persistent expansion.

Creative AI: Established Platforms Excel

Canva: AI Photo & Video Edit United States MAU increased +5.5% MoM, cementing its structural lead in creative tooling.

Lightroom: AI Photo Editor United States MAU expanded +13.0% MoM, establishing an emerging signal of re-acceleration.

Remini United States MAU grew +14.9% MoM, indicating a resurgence in dedicated photo enhancement interest.

Platform-native AI tools are demonstrating more durable engagement than single-feature viral applications.

Education & Productivity: Mixed Signals

Duolingo International MAU grew +3.8% MoM, capturing 124.3M active users in a largely stable category.

Microsoft Copilot United States MAU declined -16.8% MoM to 6.5M users.

While language learning remains resilient, homework and generic enterprise utilities faced contraction this month.

Market Share

Global total: 2.0B · growing

United States AI Assistants market remains highly concentrated, though alternative platforms are actively gaining absolute user scale.

ChatGPT retains its position as the market leader with 52.4% US Category Share and 88.1M MAU.

Google Gemini holds a 16.6% US Category Share, with 27.9M active users.

Claude by Anthropic expanded to an 8.2% US Category Share with 13.7M MAU.

ChatGPT maintains majority share, but strong sequential gains by Gemini and Claude indicate users are increasingly willing to trial multiple models.

International AI Assistants continue to see broader platform distribution compared to the US market.

ChatGPT leads the international market with a 51.7% Category Share and 930.1M MAU.

Google Gemini maintains its position.

Share Flow

Shares below are app MAU as a % of total MAU within the L1 category and region listed for each card — not share of the full app universe.

Assistants — US
Gainers

ChatGPT 52.4% share · 52.4% US Category Share

Google Gemini 16.6% share · 16.6% US Category Share

With the US AI Assistants category expanding +2.02% MoM, share dynamics illustrate a phase where top players maintain share.

Assistants — Intl
Gainers

Google Gemini 25.5% share · 25.5% Intl Category Share

With the Global AI Assistants category expanding +4.13% MoM, International trends reflect Google Gemini capturing significant share outside the United States.

Creative AI — US
Gainers

Canva: AI Photo & Video Edit 64.2% share · 64.2% US Category Share

United States Creative AI remains anchored by Canva, though legacy apps like Lightroom are successfully sustaining relative position.

Creative AI — Intl

International Creative AI shows more diverse usage patterns across photo editors, though Canva retains a dominant global footprint.

CROSS-CATEGORY

General AI Assistants are increasingly absorbing queries that historically fell to dedicated productivity or search applications, contributing to the contraction observed in standalone homework and utility apps.

Category Spotlight

Creative AI
LeaderCanva: AI Photo & Video Edit
FastestBeautyCam-AI Photo Editor
Trendgrowing
Cat MAU586.7M

Creative AI engagement is bifurcating between stable legacy platforms and volatile single-use generation tools.

AI Assistants & Chat
LeaderChatGPT
FastestClaude by Anthropic
Trendgrowing
Cat MAU2.0B
Education & Learning
LeaderDuolingo - Language Lessons
FastestDuolingo - Language Lessons
Trendstable
Cat MAU189.5M

Seasonal dynamics heavily dictate education app engagement, overshadowing structural AI impacts during the summer months.

Inflections

Microsoft CopilotMAU · USREVERSAL

Previous: Prior engagement levels faced negative factors.

Microsoft Copilot US MAU shows a confirmed inflection of reversal.

Implication: Sustained attrition may pressure assumptions around enterprise up-sell via consumer funnels.

Canva: AI Photo & Video EditorMAU · USREVERSAL

Previous: Stable plateau before returning to positive growth.

Canva: AI Photo & Video Editor US MAU shows an emerging signal of reversal.

Implication: Indicates resilience of established platform moats in creative AI.

Lightroom: AI Photo EditorMAU · USREVERSAL

Previous: Engagement shifted positively.

Lightroom: AI Photo Editor US MAU shows an emerging signal of reversal.

Implication: Validates sustained engagement within established creative tools.

Adobe Firefly: AI GeneratorMAU · USREVERSAL

Previous: Experienced negative factors before a sharp reversal into positive territory.

Adobe Firefly: AI Generator US MAU shows a confirmed inflection of reversal.

Implication: Suggests dedicated AI generation tools can still experience engagement inflections.

BeautyCam-AI Photo EditorMAU · USREVERSAL

Previous: Reversed its trajectory into contraction.

BeautyCam-AI Photo Editor US MAU shows a confirmed inflection of reversal.

Implication: Highlights engagement volatility within point-solution photo apps.

Perplexity - AI Search & ChatMAU · US

Previous: Recent shifts in engagement patterns.

Perplexity - AI Search & Chat US MAU shows an emerging signal.

Implication: Indicates AI search usage patterns may be stabilizing or shifting relative to general assistants.

Download vs Engagement Divergences

APP
GEO
DOWNLOADS
ENGAGEMENT
DIAGNOSIS
AstroSage Kundli: AI Astrolo
US
+88.8%
-0.9%
VIRAL-BUT-SHALLOW

AstroSage Kundli recorded an +88.8% spike in downloads accompanied by a -0.9% WoW WAU contraction, suggesting a viral-but-shallow adoption event.

Adobe Firefly: AI Generator
US
+11.7%
-22.1%
VIRAL-BUT-SHALLOW

Adobe Firefly United States downloads rose +11.7% WoW while WAU dropped -22.1% WoW.

Remini - AI Photo Enhancer
US
-24.3%
+1.8%
DEEPENING ENGAGEMENT

Remini saw United States downloads fall -24.3% WoW while WAU grew +1.8% WoW.

AI Photo Editor - Polish
US
-27.5%
+0.1%
MATURE-BUT-STICKY

AI Photo Editor - Polish experienced a -27.5% drop in US downloads alongside a +0.1% WoW stabilization in WAU, indicating mature-but-sticky engagement.

Growth Persistence

ChatGPTSCORE 4/4
  • MAU MoM positive
  • Downloads WoW positive
  • Downloads & engagement aligned
  • US & Intl aligned
Google GeminiSCORE 3/4
  • MAU MoM positive
  • Downloads WoW positive
  • Downloads & engagement aligned
  • US & Intl aligned
Canva: AI Photo & Video EditSCORE 3/4
  • MAU MoM positive
  • Downloads WoW positive
  • Downloads & engagement aligned
  • US & Intl aligned
Microsoft CopilotSCORE 1/4
  • MAU MoM positive
  • Downloads WoW positive
  • Downloads & engagement aligned
  • US & Intl aligned

Market Maturation

EXPANDING
AI Assistants & Chat

The AI Assistants & Chat category continues to pull in new absolute users globally, suggesting the total addressable market has not yet peaked.

Creative AI

International adoption of Creative AI tools remains robust, representing a persistent vector for category expansion.

CONSOLIDATING
Education & Learning

Education & Learning remains structurally commanded by Duolingo, leaving little room for insurgent AI tutors to build meaningful absolute scale.

Leader trend stable

AT RISK
Productivity & Work

Certain enterprise-adjacent productivity tools are facing engagement pressure, potentially due to feature saturation and overlapping capabilities in general assistants.

Threat Feature commoditization by general assistants

Companies

COMPANY
TICKER
SIGNAL
SUMMARY
Google
GOOGL
SUSTAINED EXPANSION
Google Gemini United States MAU expanded +7.2% MoM, supported by steady international performance at +6.7% MoM.
Microsoft
MSFT
USER ATTRITION
Microsoft Copilot United States MAU contracted -16.8% MoM, representing a confirmed inflection downward.
OpenAI
PRIVATE
STABLE EXPANSION
ChatGPT United States MAU expanded +2.9% MoM, maintaining its dominant base.
Meta Platforms
META
SUSTAINED EXPANSION
Meta AI United States MAU grew +10.9% MoM alongside a +20.3% MoM international expansion.
Duolingo
DUOL
MILD EXPANSION
Duolingo United States MAU grew a modest +1.9% MoM, maintaining share within the education sector.
Adobe
ADBE
GROWTH SIGNAL
Lightroom United States MAU expanded +13.0% MoM.
Anthropic
PRIVATE
SUSTAINED EXPANSION
Claude United States MAU grew +13.4% MoM, indicating strong competitive traction.
Perplexity AI
PRIVATE
VOLATILITY
Perplexity United States MAU contracted -2.5% MoM, signaling a temporary headwind in adoption.
Adobe
ADBE
CONFIRMED INFLECTION
Adobe Firefly United States MAU grew +28.2% MoM, representing a confirmed reversal in engagement.

Data Quality Flags

POSSIBLE DATA ARTIFACTMeta AIdownloads · +67.1%

Driven by forced companion app usage following the Meta Quest v2.5 OS update.

SEASONAL PATTERNPhotomathMAU · -36.1%

Consistent with summer academic breaks in the United States.

POSSIBLE VIRAL-BUT-SHALLOWAstroSage Kundli: AI Astrolodownloads · +88.8%

Download surge failed to convert into engagement, with WAU declining -0.9% WoW.