This Is How Much Your Boyfriend Is Spending on AI Girlfriends

[littlemissmartypants]

Romantic AI companion apps have brought in nearly half a billion dollars as users pay for virtual partners, flirting, and digital intimacy.

Written by Jason Nelson
Edited by Guillermo Jimenez

Show me the mony. Image: Unsplash/Decrypt

Jul 13, 2026
People are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on AI girlfriends, and the trend doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.

According to data provided to Decrypt by analytics firm Appfigures Intelligence, NSFW and romantic AI companion apps across Apple’s App Store and Google Play have generated 165.3 million downloads and $427.3 million in consumer spending worldwide since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022.

“The rankings are categorized by type and reflect either downloads or gross consumer spending before Apple/Google extract their platform fees, typically 30%,” Head of Insights and Media Relations at analytics firm AppFigures, Randy Nelson, told Decrypt.

According to Nelson, Appfigures identified 214 NSFW and romantic AI companion apps, which generated $162.8 million in consumer spending during the first half of 2026.
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https://decrypt.co/373395/how-much-your-boyfriend-spending-ai-girlfriends

It's not just AI slop running up the light bill and draining the aquifer.