Apple services shattered records in 2025

Apple announced on January 12, 2026, that 2025 marked a record-breaking year across its services portfolio, with the App Store averaging 850 million weekly users globally and developers earning more than $550 billion since the platform's 2008 launch. Services revenue reached new highs during the company's fiscal 2025 third quarter ended June 28, 2025, totaling $27.423 billion and representing 12 percent growth compared to $24.213 billion in the prior year quarter.

The App Store recorded unprecedented engagement between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day, with customer spending on digital goods and services reaching record levels during this period. Productivity apps and photo and video apps drove key growth, while education apps including Simply Draw: Learn to Draw and Toca Boca World ranked among the most popular with customers during the holiday period.

Apple Pay now operates in 89 markets with more than 11,000 banks and network partners, including over 20 local payment networks. According to Apple data and industry data, the payment platform eliminated well over $1 billion in fraud globally over the past year while generating more than $100 billion in incremental merchant sales globally. During the peak holiday shopping weekend in November and December, purchases made through Apple Pay significantly outpaced the overall growth in consumer spending levels during that time period.

The company's advertising business contributed to services growth, following the April 14, 2025 rebrand from "Apple Search Ads" to "Apple Ads." The name change reflects expanded advertising offerings and signals more comprehensive advertising capabilities across Apple's ecosystem. Apple Search Ads expanded to 21 new countries on October 3, 2024, including Turkey, Cyprus, Morocco, and 18 other markets across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

Apple TV eclipsed all prior viewership records in December 2025, with total hours viewed up 36 percent compared to the previous year, setting a new record for monthly engagement. This milestone was fueled by robust audience growth across Europe and Latin America, continued expansion in the U.S., and the global streaming debuts of F1, Pluribus, and The Family Plan 2. The landmark year was propelled by Apple's summer blockbuster F1 — the No. 1 movie at the global box office, the top film on Apple TV, and the highest-grossing sports movie of all time.

Apple TV has amassed 672 award wins and 3,085 nominations to date. The Studio made history as the most Emmy-winning freshman comedy ever, Severance led as the most-awarded drama, and Slow Horses landed a Best Directing honor. Building on its record-breaking year, Apple TV introduced a bold new identity and mnemonic recorded by multi-Grammy- and Academy Award-winning artist FINNEAS.

Beginning in March 2026, Apple will expand its relationship with Formula 1 following the global success of F1 The Movie with a new five-year agreement that will bring every F1 race exclusively to Apple TV in the United States. The announcement on October 17, 2025 granted Apple TV exclusive rights to broadcast all F1 races in the U.S., marking a significant expansion of Apple's sports content strategy.

Apple TV also unveiled a series of platform enhancements — including the launch of the Apple TV and Peacock bundle. The service introduced a native Apple TV app for Android on February 12, 2025, after more than four years since its launch, marking a significant expansion of the streaming service's availability. Apple TV also introduced new profiles that give every member of the household their own personalized experience within the Apple TV app.

All Major League Soccer matches will be available to stream for Apple TV subscribers at no additional cost, expanding the live sports offerings. Apple elevated the fan experience across marquee sports leagues and moments in 2025, including "Friday Night Baseball" and Major League Soccer's 30th season.

Apple Music had its best year ever in 2025, breaking records across both listenership and new subscribers. The service marked its 10-year anniversary with its biggest product feature release since launch and the opening of a brand new state-of-the-art 15,000-square-foot studio facility in Los Angeles on June 30, 2025. The three-story creative campus represents a major investment in artist-driven content.

New features including Lyrics Translation and Pronunciation — along with AutoMix, Library Pins, and in-app Replay stats — elevated everyday listening. Apple Music Sing expanded its feature set: Users can now turn their iPhone into a microphone that amplifies their voice through the TV, and utilize Continuity Camera to appear onscreen alongside lyrics and visual effects. The most "sung" song on Apple Music during the holiday season was Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You."

Apple Music also expanded its reach beyond the Apple ecosystem, partnering with companies like GM, TuneIn, Chase, and more to bring Apple Music to even more listeners around the world. In 2025, Shazam generated over 1 billion recognitions per month, with significant app and website enhancements.

With iOS 26, Apple Pay allows banks and lenders to enable users to pay with bank- or lender-provided installments and rewards in stores. The feature integrates directly with rewards programs and installment loan offerings from eligible credit and debit cards, allowing users to view and redeem rewards during checkout.

Apple introduced support for Japan's My Number Card on iPhone — marking the first international ID in Wallet — enabling millions of users to use iPhone to present their ID in person, in apps, and online for identity and age verification. In the U.S., Apple introduced Digital ID on November 12, 2025, which enables users to create and add a Digital ID to Apple Wallet using information from a U.S. passport, and securely present their identity information using iPhone and Apple Watch at TSA airport security checkpoints for domestic travel.

Digital ID builds on the continued expansion of state IDs and driver's licenses in Wallet, which was enabled by Illinois, Montana, North Dakota, and West Virginia last year, and is now live in 13 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Apple Wallet rolled out a refreshed boarding pass experience with airlines, which brings Live Activities for flight tracking, Maps, Find My, and more into one convenient place in Wallet.

Apple Wallet now uses Apple Intelligence to automatically identify, summarize, and display order tracking details from emails sent from merchants or delivery carriers. Apple brought Apple Cash to the group chat, with the option to use Apple Cash to request, send, and receive money directly within group conversations in Messages.

Tap to Pay on iPhone expanded to 34 additional markets last year — now covering most of Europe — and is live in a total of 50 markets, with more than 15 million merchants of all sizes across the world accepting contactless payments using just an iPhone.

Apple Maps expanded its Detailed City Experience to new locations like New Orleans, Singapore, and Monaco, showcasing 3D landmarks including a custom F1 Monaco Grand Prix experience, now totaling 34 cities live with Detailed City Experience. Maps brought its all-new map to Mexico and Thailand, offering users more accurate and detailed navigation, cycling directions, and more.

With iOS 26, Maps became more personalized and intelligent, with new features like Preferred Routes, which uses on-device intelligence for daily commutes, and Visited Places, which helps users recall past locations. Apple expanded its Share Item Location feature in Find My to 27 additional airlines, bringing the total to 36. This feature allows private and secure sharing of an AirTag's or Find My network accessory's location with an airline's customer service, reducing "truly lost" or unrecoverable luggage by 90 percent, according to SITA's WorldTracer global baggage management system.

In South Korea, users can now use the Find My app to locate their Apple devices and personal items on a map, as well as share their location with friends and family — all while protecting user privacy.

iCloud keeps users' most important information — like photos, files, and apps — secure and synced across all of their Apple devices. In 2025, Apple made it easier for users to connect with family and friends with the release of Apple Invites, which helps users create custom invitations to bring people together for any occasion. With Invites, users can RSVP from any device, and unlimited event creation is included with an iCloud+ subscription.

iCloud+ subscriptions can be shared with up to five other family members by creating a Family Sharing group where everyone's data will stay private and separate. iCloud leads the industry in using privacy-preserving security technologies, including two-factor authentication and Advanced Data Protection for iCloud, which uses end-to-end encryption.

Apple Arcade launched more than 50 new games in 2025, including hits based on entertainment and sports brands like SpongeBob: Patty Pursuit 2 and PGA TOUR Pro Golf. The service added popular PC games PowerWash Simulator and Cult of the Lamb. Over 500 updates were released for existing hits on Arcade, like Sneaky Sasquatch and Hello Kitty Island Adventure.

In 2025, Apple Fitness+ marked its largest expansion since the service's launch by rolling out to 28 new countries and regions — including Chile, Hong Kong, India, the Netherlands, Singapore, and Taiwan, with Japan coming early this year. To make Fitness+ more welcoming, the service introduced digitally dubbed workouts and meditations in Spanish and German, featuring a generated voice based on the actual voice of each of the 28 Fitness+ trainers. The service offers more than 8,000 workouts and meditations in 4K Ultra HD.

Apple Podcasts achieved record listeners, plays, and subscribers in 2025, celebrating 20 years. Podcasts drove innovation and growth, introducing new accessibility and discovery features: enhance dialogue, new playback speeds, automatically created chapters, timed links, and expanded transcripts to over 125 million episodes in 13 languages. Podcasts launched its "Best So Far" editorial list and awarded its Show of the Year to The Rest Is History — a first for a UK series.

Apple News solidified its position as the No. 1 news app in the U.S., Canada, and Australia, and No. 2 in the UK as it marked its 10th anniversary. News features over 3,000 publications and more than 600 titles with Apple News+. News+ expanded its offerings with the debut of Apple News+ Food, which includes 100,000 recipes from 60 publications in the U.S., the UK, Australia, and English-speaking Canada.

Apple One gives users access to Apple services in one simple monthly plan. Apple One Individual and Family plans — which include iCloud+, Apple Music, Apple TV, and Apple Arcade — are available in more than 100 markets across the globe, with Apple One Premier available in more than 20 markets.

The App Store ecosystem facilitated $1.3 trillion in developer billings and sales in 2024, with more than 90 percent of that commerce going directly to developers, with zero commission paid to Apple. Storefronts including the U.S., Japan, India, and China saw record visitors during the year.

According to Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Services, "As we look ahead, we'll continue to bring innovation and intelligent enhancements to Apple services, always guided by our commitment to privacy and a phenomenal customer experience."

The numbers reflect Apple's continued investment in its services portfolio, which has become increasingly important as the company seeks to diversify revenue streams beyond hardware sales. For the nine-month period ended June 28, 2025, Services revenue totaled $80.408 billion, compared to $71.197 billion in the corresponding period of 2024, representing growth of approximately 13 percent year-over-year.

The expansion of services comes as Apple faces increased scrutiny from regulators. French antitrust authorities fined Apple €150 million in early 2025 over App Tracking Transparency implementation. Apple has also adapted to Japan's competition law with app store and payment changes, implementing modifications to iOS platform for the Japanese market in response to Mobile Software Competition Act requirements.

The company announced several payment and distribution changes during 2025, including enabling direct iOS subscriptions for platforms like Substack with in-app purchases. Apple also announced tax and pricing updates affecting global developers on August 21, 2025, with modifications to Value-Added Tax rates in Estonia, Romania, Philippines, and Vietnam.

Apple's payment infrastructure underwent significant transitions. JPMorgan Chase took over Apple Card in a $2.2 billion banking shift announced on January 7, 2026, with a 24-month transition timeline providing buffer for systems integration and customer migration.

The company's streaming service experienced pricing changes during the year. Apple TV+ subscription price increased 30% to $12.99 monthly on August 21, 2025, marking the third price increase in three years. According to a report from The Information, the streaming service loses more than $1 billion annually while approaching 45 million subscribers.

Apple's advertising platform continued expanding throughout 2025. The company announced that Apple Search Ads would expand with multiple placements arriving in 2026, adding new positions in search results while maintaining the same ad format. Search results ads at the top position deliver more than a 60 percent average conversion rate, according to Apple's data spanning November 2024 through October 2025.

Developer participation in Apple's ecosystem expanded with new distribution models. Apple launched the Mini Apps Partner Program on November 14, 2025, introducing 85% revenue share on qualifying In-App Purchases versus standard 30% App Store commissions. The program enables embedded web-based mini app distribution within native host applications.

Timeline

• January 2025: Services revenue reached $26.3 billion in Q1 2025, marking new highs with 14% growth
• February 12, 2025: Apple TV app arrived on Android devices, marking significant expansion after more than four years
• April 14, 2025: Apple rebranded advertising division from "Apple Search Ads" to "Apple Ads"
• June 30, 2025: Apple Music opened 15,000-square-foot studio in Los Angeles for 10th anniversary
• June 28, 2025: Services revenue reached $27.423 billion in fiscal Q3, up 12% year-over-year
• August 21, 2025: Apple TV+ increased price to $12.99 monthly, up 30% from $9.99
• August 21, 2025: Tax and pricing updates announced affecting developers globally
• October 3, 2024: Apple Search Ads expanded to 21 new countries including Turkey and Morocco
• October 17, 2025: Apple secured exclusive Formula 1 broadcast rights in U.S. starting 2026
• November 12, 2025: Apple launched Digital ID using U.S. passports for airport verification
• November 14, 2025: Mini Apps Partner Program launched with 85% revenue share
• December 2025: Apple TV eclipsed all prior viewership records with 36% increase in monthly engagement
• December 2025: Apple Podcasts unveiled most popular shows with 2025 year-end charts
• 2025: App Store averaged 850 million weekly users globally throughout the year
• 2025: Apple Pay eliminated well over $1 billion in fraud globally over the past year
• 2025: Shazam generated over 1 billion recognitions per month
• 2025: Apple Music had its best year ever for listenership and new subscribers
• January 7, 2026: JPMorgan Chase announced takeover of Apple Card in $2.2 billion shift
• January 12, 2026: Apple announced 2025 services results
• March 2026: Formula 1 exclusive U.S. broadcast partnership begins

Summary

Who: Apple Inc., led by Eddy Cue (senior vice president of Services), achieved record-breaking performance across its services division, affecting developers, content creators, banks, airlines, and over 850 million weekly App Store users.

What: Apple services reached unprecedented milestones in 2025, including 850 million average weekly App Store users, over $1 billion in fraud blocked by Apple Pay, $100 billion in incremental merchant sales generated through Apple Pay, 36% increase in Apple TV monthly engagement, record-breaking Apple Music listenership, and $27.423 billion in Services revenue during fiscal Q3 2025. The company expanded Apple Pay to 89 markets, Apple Maps to 34 cities with Detailed City Experience, Apple Fitness+ to 28 new countries, and Apple Search Ads to 21 new countries.

When: The results cover calendar year 2025, with specific milestones including June 30 studio opening, August 21 pricing updates, October 17 Formula 1 announcement, November 12 Digital ID launch, December viewership records, and January 12, 2026 announcement of results.

Where: Global operations spanning 175 App Store storefronts across 44 currencies, 89 markets for Apple Pay, 36 airlines for Find My integration, 50 markets for Tap to Pay on iPhone, 34 cities with Detailed City Experience in Apple Maps, and expanded services in countries including Japan, Chile, Hong Kong, India, Netherlands, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey, Cyprus, and Morocco.

Why: The services expansion matters for marketing professionals because it demonstrates Apple's continued shift toward recurring revenue streams beyond hardware sales, with Services growing 12-13% year-over-year and reaching $80.408 billion for nine months ended June 2025. The advertising business expansion through rebranding to Apple Ads and geographic expansion creates new marketing opportunities. Payment innovations including bank-provided installments, rewards integration, and fraud prevention capabilities affect commerce strategies. Streaming platform growth with exclusive sports rights and record engagement impacts media planning. The ecosystem changes including Mini Apps program with 85% revenue share, Digital ID implementation, and expanded app distribution models alter developer economics and user acquisition strategies.