From the early 2000s to 2010, consumer apps made by startups were more than just businesses—they were carefully crafted tools meant to make people's lives better.
During this golden age of consumer technology, leaders like Steve Jobs paid incredibly close attention to every detail, truly wanting to create tools that would make users happy and give them new abilities. When Facebook first started, it wasn't about making money from ads; it was about Mark Zuckerberg's dream to change how people connect with each other. Uber promised a much better way to get a ride than what was available before. Take Duolingo, for example, it transformed language learning into an engaging experience, which was a far cry from my childhood memories of dreading French classes. Technology was creating meaningful changes in our daily lives.
But things in the startup world slowly changed. B2B SaaS (business software) became the new favorite for investors because it offered steady income and big company profits.
The Jobsian idea of not making the year 1984 like George Orwell's novel "1984" and going head-to-head with giants like IBM got sidelined, and consumer apps fell out of favor unless they could show they were viral or addictive. The art of making products for regular people, the careful attention to how things worked, the close connection between makers and users became rare.
Few people focused on fixing everyday problems or making our personal lives better, even though technology had greatly improved how we work.
But there's good news: consumer apps are changing dramatically because of AI, with several important trends showing up in 2024-2025. One of the biggest changes is the huge growth in people spending money on AI apps, which reached $1.1 billion in 2024—growing 200% from the year before. This growth, led by AI apps like ChatGPT, Google Gemini or Claude shows that more and more people want to use AI apps for their personal lives.
An interesting trend is seeing AI apps pop up in surprising areas, especially in personal appearance and dating. AI Apps like LooksMax AI, Umax, and RIZZ have quickly become popular, showing that people are ready to use AI to improve themselves and their social lives. These apps have done well by charging affordable weekly fees, usually between $3.99 and $4.99.
As people keep spending more and more on AI apps, experts think these apps could soon be among the top 10 most used apps showing a big change in how people use and value AI technology.
Now, in 2025, we're seeing what looks like a rebirth of consumer apps, powered by AI technology becoming available to everyone. This new wave of consumer AI apps reminds us of the earlier days when products were carefully crafted, but with new modern features. Once again, we're seeing developers and entrepreneurs who aren't afraid to dream about changing how people use technology everyday in their personal lives, not just how businesses use it.
One way to add value to consumers lives is to help people think better. With all the distractions of modern technology, our shortened attention spans often cause us to lose our best ideas, moments, and thoughts to the next quick dopamine hit. Within aims to change that by letting users capture their spontaneous ideas, raw emotions, or deep thoughts whenever they arise. The app uses AI to organize these thoughts into neat digests and helps users connect the dots to craft profound insights by piecing together their best ideas.
