X’s declining Android app installs are hurting subscription revenue

Elon Musk’s X is struggling on Android gadgets when it comes to new installs, even whereas App Retailer downloads develop, in line with new knowledge from app intelligence supplier Appfigures. In July 2025, X downloads on Google Play noticed a big decline, as new installs dropped by 44% year-over-year worldwide, whilst iOS downloads grew by 15%.

This steep drop in installs is flattening X’s general common, resulting in a 26% lower in complete cellular downloads year-over-year as of July. That’s nonetheless barely higher than the month prior, when complete downloads had fallen by 35%, thanks to a different sharp drop in Android downloads, which have been then down by almost half (49%) year-over-year.

The agency didn’t speculate on what’s inflicting the decline on Android gadgets past suggesting that the X app on Android is understood to be a sore spot for the corporate. Not too long ago employed X Head of Product Nikita Bier, recognized for progress hacking teen social apps like Gas and TBH (then selling them), has hinted that X is trying to tackle points on Android, the place its app is notoriously buggy and often crashes.

In a submit on the platform, Bier announced that X was hiring for its “Android Dream Staff” to would work on rebuilding the X Android app. He additionally just lately posted that X’s iOS app had just seen a record week in terms of installs, maybe hoping to attract consideration away from the massive Android droop.

It’s not clear the place would-be X Android customers are going. Rival Bluesky has seen slowing progress in latest months, and its Google Play app pulled in simply 119,000 downloads in July. That’s nowhere close to the hundreds of thousands that set up X on iOS or Android each month. Nevertheless, Meta’s Threads each day lively customers have been catching up to X on mobile devices, so, probably, some Android customers may very well be accounted for there.

Along with the drop in Google Play installs, X is struggling to develop its subscription income, Appfigures discovered.

In July, X earned $16.9 million in internet income, down from the $18.8 million it earned in March 2025. Nevertheless, that was a slight tick up from the $16.8 million it generated in June. (After all, X nonetheless earns nearly all of its general income from advertisements, not in-app premium subscriptions.)

Whereas the declining demand for X on Android is partially guilty for income declines, X can be probably dropping paying clients to Grok. The latter now has its personal standalone app that draws those that have been shopping for X subscriptions primarily for the AI perks.