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Unpacking 2025 festive season app trends
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Like every year, the 2025/2026 festive season was a prime time for mobile app activity. Between Christmas and New Year, users around the globe turned to their phones to track gift budgets, book trips, order food to avoid holiday kitchen chaos, and stream entertainment for cozy nights in.
To decode the holiday hustle, we dug into global Adjust data spanning Christmas Eve through New Year’s Day 2026. What follows is a marketer’s map of installs and engagement across major app categories, plus tactical guidance on when to spark new interest, re-engage holiday-fatigued users, and keep retention high into the new year.
TL;DR
- The period from Christmas to New Year is the key growth window.
- Entertainment installs peak post-Christmas, with video streaming spiking on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
- Deal discovery drives early December engagement, while shopping installs peak immediately after Christmas.
- Finance sessions are highest in early and mid-December, then dip during the festive break itself.
- Food delivery installs and sessions remain strong from early December through New Year’s Day.
- Gaming app installs rise after Christmas, and both installs and sessions peak on New Year’s Day.
- Overall travel app installs grow post-Christmas, while maps and navigation increase earlier and stay elevated.
Entertainment app installs rise over the holidays
Globally, entertainment apps saw installs consistently outpaced the 2025 daily average all December long, wrapping up the month 12% higher overall. The most significant gains occurred during the Christmas-to-New Year stretch.
On Christmas Day, entertainment app installs jumped 13% above the 2025 average, with video streaming up 23%. The binge continued, with installs peaking at +27% on December 27–28, while video streaming reached +29% on December 28.
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This momentum extended into the new year. On New Year’s Eve, entertainment installs reached +22%, while video streaming hit a festive peak at 54% above average. New Year’s Day kept the celebration going, with installs up 18% for entertainment and 31% for video streaming.
Music and audio apps hit their high notes earlier in the season, peaking at 23% on December 13 and 26% on December 14.
Tips for marketers: Use the days immediately after Christmas as the core acquisition window for entertainment apps. For video streaming apps, place extra emphasis on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, supported by refreshed creatives and optimized store listings to capture peak demand.
From deal discovery to post-Christmas shopping spikes
E-commerce app installs saved their best for the post-Christmas rush (+8% on December 26, +14% on December 27, +13% on December 28). However, sessions were actually higher earlier in December.
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Deal discovery apps kicked off December with installs up 25% and sessions at 37%. The growth was strong through mid-month, with a session increase of 28% on December 8 and 32% on December 15.
Post-Christmas, the attention moved to shopping apps. Installs jumped 12% on December 26, 18% on December 27, and 17% on December 28. For marketers, this is the moment to re-engage users with fresh deals and new year essentials.
Tips for marketers: Start December with engagement-focused campaigns that highlight deals and encourage browsing. As Christmas passes, shift emphasis to install-optimized shopping campaigns between December 26 and 28.
Finance apps hit their session highs before the holidays
Across finance apps, session growth was highest in the weeks leading up to Christmas and declined during the festive period.
From December 1–5 sessions surged to +34–36% and stayed above 25% most days as users got budgets in shape ahead of the holidays.
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Mid-December (December 9–19) sustained high activity, with finance sessions in the +24% to +32% range and payment sessions hitting +12–15%.
During the festivities, financial activity dipped, with sessions 20% above the annual average on Christmas Eve, 14% on December 26, and 22–25% by the end of the year.
Tips for marketers: Focus engagement and retention activity in the weeks leading up to Christmas, when finance app sessions are consistently highest. Use reminders, alerts, and in-app prompts in early and mid-December to support core tasks such as budgeting, payments, and transfers.
Food & drink apps stay active throughout the festive period
Food delivery apps kicked off December (1-9) with installs 26%–58% above average and sessions at around 19%-36%. This trend continued into mid-December with slight variations. Food delivery still stayed top of mind on Christmas Day, with installs and sessions up 15% and 25%, respectively.
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Installs reached +28% on December 26, +30% on December 27, and +29% on December 28, with sessions staying above +30%. On December 31 and on New Year’s Day, food delivery installs increased by 11% and 27%, with sessions up 33% on both days.
Tips for marketers: Scale install and visibility campaigns by mid-December, then maintain always-on presence through the festive period. For food delivery apps, keep post-Christmas acquisition active (Dec 26–Jan 1).
The festive countdown pushes gaming installs higher
Gaming app installs climbed 7% on Christmas Day compared to the 2025 average. Some subgenres stood out, including family, sports, racing, and word games, all posting 29–41% growth.
Install growth increased post-Christmas. On Boxing Day, overall installs reached +9%, rising to +13% on December 27, and +15% on December 28. During this window, racing games reached +32% on December 27 and +39% on December 28, while hybrid casual games grew +26% and +30%, respectively.
On New Year’s Day, overall installs jumped 18%, with top subgenres (racing, hybrid casual, family, sports, arcade, strategy) posting 24–48% growth.
Gaming session activity rises after Christmas
On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, several gaming subgenres recorded positive session growth, including idle RPG (+19%), sports games (+13–14%), and strategy (+17–18%). After Christmas, overall session growth turned positive.
On Boxing Day, game sessions increased by 2%. Sessions remained positive on December 27 (+1%) and December 28 (+2%). Subgenre session growth during this period included idle RPG (+15–17%), sports games (+10–16%), and strategy (+18–20%).
The highest session growth occurred at year-end. On New Year’s Eve, overall game sessions reached +3%, increasing to +4% on New Year’s Day. On New Year’s Day, session growth by subgenre included sports games (+25%), idle RPG (+20%), strategy (+19%), and racing (+13%).
Tips for marketers: Plan gaming acquisition and engagement in two distinct phases. Use the days immediately after Christmas to scale install-focused campaigns. As the year closes, shift emphasis to engagement-led features, scheduling events, challenges, or live content for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
Travel app installs peak in the days after Christmas
Travel apps received a holiday boost, with installs rising from +9% on Christmas to +23% on December 28, before moderating to +17% by December 30.
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Maps & navigation installs were highest in early December, before dropping off and regaining momentum in thepost-Christmas period. Install numbers hit +24% on December 26 and 27 and +17% on December 28.
On New Year’s Eve, installs measured +11% for both travel apps overall and maps & navigation. On New Year’s Day, installs reached +12% for travel and +15% for maps & navigation.
Planning beyond the festive season
The holiday season offers more than short-term spikes. The opportunity now is to operationalize what the data shows. Marketers that refine timing, messaging, and lifecycle strategies based on these insights will be better positioned to sustain momentum beyond the festive period.
We’ll continue analyzing these trends and sharing data-backed insights to help you stay ahead. Look out for our upcoming Mobile app trends 2026 report, and if you’re ready to turn seasonal signals into measurable growth, request a demo of Adjust to see how advanced attribution and analytics support smarter decisions throughout the year.
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