We checked 134 iPhone app niches in 38 days. Here is how many have money

How we counted

From September 6 to October 13, 2026 Appto did 36 morning research runs and wrote 167 dossiers. The same niche sometimes came up on different days. After merging the repeats we had 134 niches.

Every niche gets the same checks. Does at least one app in the topic make $100K a month. Are the leaders weak. Do newcomers break through. Could a chatbot replace the app. Is it easy to build. The checks add up to a score out of 13, and a niche passes from 8 points. A niche without money drops out whatever its score.

How we estimate revenue

Appto estimates revenue from the growth in App Store ratings, before Apple's commission. It is our estimate, not Apple data. In half of the cases the estimate is within 2x of the real figure, in four out of five within 3x, and for large apps it tends to run low. Ads, web sales and Google Play are not included.

How many niches passed

Two thirds of the niches passed, and one in five dropped out over money.

Outcome	Niches
Passed, 8 out of 13 or more	87
Money is there, but under 8 points	8
Dropped out over money	28
Dropped out for other reasons	11
Total	134

Appto data as of October 13, 2026. Research from September 6 to October 13, 2026, 36 runs, 167 dossiers.

This doesn't mean two thirds of any ideas are good. A topic only gets a dossier after the research has already seen signs of life in App Store charts and search. Many ideas drop out earlier and never reach this table.

How much money is in the niches

Most often the biggest app in a niche makes $300K to $1M a month. That is the case for 34 of the 134 niches.

The biggest app in the niche makes per month	Niches	Examples from the book
over $3M	19	weekly meal plan, ringtones from your own songs, which plane is overhead
$1M to $3M	24	guitar fretboard, strength training log, ISS and satellite passes
$300K to $1M	34	sleep sounds, party game on one phone, splitting bills
$100K to $300K	11	memorizing Bible verses
money confirmed, no amount in the dossier	18	backgammon with verifiable dice, sight-reading sheet music
not enough money, dropped out	28	sound meter, hidden camera finder
Total	134

Appto data as of October 13, 2026. Amounts are our estimate, not Apple data, before Apple's commission. The range describes the biggest app in the niche. Examples from the book 50 iPhone app niches, edition of October 13, 2026.

Niches with a giant above $3M a month are rarer, 19 of 134. Their leaders often have hundreds of thousands of ratings, like ReciMe with 297,815 ratings in the weekly meal plan niche (Appto book, October 13, 2026), and a newcomer needs a narrow angle. How to find one next to a leader with hundreds of thousands of ratings is worked out in the piece on the guitar fretboard trainer.

Why niches drop out

Money is the main reason. 28 niches dropped out because nobody in them makes enough. Among those checked after September 23, 2026 are a sound meter, a hidden camera finder, a lottery ticket checker, sourdough and home baking, earthquake alerts and a 3D knot guide.

Another 11 niches had money and still dropped out. The reasons repeat.

• The data can't be obtained legally or for free. Property boundary maps need a data license (September 27, 2026). A restock alert app runs into store terms that forbid automated page checks (October 12, 2026).
• Newcomers don't break through. In the local farms niche four 2026 apps gathered fewer than 50 reviews between them while the leader grew to 16 thousand (September 28, 2026). A family photo album for grandparents faces leaders with 377K and 104K ratings, both more than ten years old (October 13, 2026).
• One player holds the niche. That was the case for US immigration case status (September 25, 2026).
• The data answers a different question. Resale listings show what sellers ask for an item. People want to know what it actually sold for (September 26, 2026).

Which niches came back

112 niches came up once and 22 came back. A repeat means the niche surfaced again from fresh data on another day, when the research was looking in other categories.

• Recording snoring and sleep talk at night, 6 times from September 8 to 23, 2026.
• Sleep sounds and white noise, 5 times from September 6 to 10.
• Swipe to clean up your camera roll, 4 times from September 13 to 23.

Another 18 niches came up twice, among them the guitar fretboard (September 9 and 10), natal charts and transits, and invoices and estimates for tradespeople. All three passed.

Limits of the data

• The money bar changed. Through September 23, 2026 Appto only took a niche if someone in it made $1M a month. In 17 days of research that bar let through no niche Appto could build, so it was lowered to $100K. 9 of the 28 niches that dropped out over money were checked against the old bar and are worth a second look.
• The amount describes one app. The range shows the biggest app in the niche. The table doesn't say what the whole niche makes together.
• Games were not calibrated separately. The ratings-based estimate was checked on apps, and its accuracy for games was not measured.
• This is not the whole App Store. Categories are uneven. Health and Fitness gave 13 niches, News gave one.
• Data ages. Every dossier has its own date. Re-check a niche before you start.

Where to see the niches

The 50 niches that passed are collected in the book 50 iPhone app niches (edition of October 13, 2026). Each niche page has the money, the leaders and their weak spots, five screens for version 1 and a ready task for your agent. Five niches are free for your email.

The road from a niche to the App Store is covered in how to build an iOS app with AI. You can check your own topic on fresh data in Appto.