Internet - China: China Mobile App Radar: Apr’26 in review

Research evidence excerpt

Internet - China: China Mobile App Radar: Apr’26 in review

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Internet - China

China Mobile App Radar: Apr’26 in review

Industry Overview

Key app data trends in Apr’26 21 May 2026

We track various mobile app engagement data, per QuestMobile, to help gauge user Equity

behavior trends across AI/social/digital entertainment/ecommerce/verticals. For Apr’26, China

we observed 1) AI chatbot: Doubao (ByteDance) DAU recovered in late May close to a Internet/e-Commerce

new high. DeepSeek time spent per DAU was notably higher post V4 model, now the Alex Liu >>

highest among peers. 2) PDD DAU kept the lead over Taobao, with a widening time Research Analyst

spent lead. 3) Within the online music space, ByteDance’s Soda Music DAU is now Merrill+852 3508Lynch5090(Hong Kong)

higher than all TME major apps, with time spent catching up quickly. 4) Travel category alex.liu3@bofa.com

saw a weak-than-seasonal time spent recovery post CNY. 5) Xiaohongshu time spent Miranda Zhuang, CFA >>

Research Analyst

looks to have plateaued since late 2025; Bilibili time spent is still seeing healthy growth. Merrill Lynch (Hong Kong)

miranda.zhuang@bofa.com

AI: engagement divergence, with leader widening lead Joyce Ju >>

Doubao weekly DAU/total time spent grew to 155.8mn/12.4bn in the week of May 4, Merrill Lynch (Hong Kong)

followed by DeepSeek’s 29.8mn/3.5bn, Yuanbao’s 9.0mn/605mn, and Qwen’s joyce.ju@bofa.com

28.5mn/716mn. On per-user level, most AI apps show upward trends in daily user time Joanna Du >>

spent and daily sessions. Doubao’s daily time spent/number of sessions per user Merrill Lynch (Hong Kong)

increased to 11 mins/6 times in the week of May 4. DeepSeek’s daily time spent/number joanna.du@bofa.com

of sessions per user grew to 17 mins/8 times in the week of May 4.