[008]Worth chasingGoogle Play · global (mainly India / Southeast Asia / Middle East)Free + interstitial adsData as of 2026-11-08
The counterexample: palm-reading and party-game apps on Google Play run on paid acquisition and interstitials. Small teams shouldn't chase them.
D
Don't chase the Google Play trending palm-reading, tarot, and imitation-challenge apps: the installs are bought, and the money comes from interstitial ads squeezed out of users.2026 palm-reading apps launched in 19 total 23.2M installs, and none reached a top grossing chart; the business runs on Vietnamese app factories and batches of sock-puppet accounts. If you want this category, there's only one path: build the original, iOS first, sell subscriptions, and run no interstitials, like France's FoliesAPP. Even its #1 spot was taken by a Hanoi copy of the same thing.Long shot · grade and title drawn from the full text · next check 12-01
| Background | At the end of October, the GP rising chart was flooded with AI palm reading, tarot, and 'imitation party' apps, which looks like new demand. |
|---|---|
| Upside | None: growth comes from paid acquisition, not demand. Established subscription apps already hold this lucrative business. |
| Demand | People will pay for palm reading, but the money sits with subscription apps like Palmee and Life Palmistry, which have been around for years. The reviews for new apps say "it's all ads." |
| Competition | Amobear and other Vietnamese factories + bulk sock-puppet accounts; one tarot template across 8 accounts and 7.72M installs |
| Revenue | 0 new palm-reading apps have charted; AI Palm Reading has 2.67M installs, estimated cumulative ad revenue $1–80k (est.) |
| Growth | Cheap traffic + interstitials: in India one install costs $0.02, and it pays back after 40 ad views; in the US it takes 260 (Adjust 2024 median, estimated) |
| Window | Doesn't exist: the factory can ship another copy anytime. If Google Play's 5-27 account rules get enforced, sock-puppet accounts will disappear in batches |
| Who it's for | Studios that already have paid acquisition teams, ad-monetization scale, and developer account reserves. Not for solo indie devs |
Latest
- 11-08Reva (AI astrology) from India's ShareChat group reached 7.64M installs in 58 days and charted #182 overall in the Malaysia Top Grossing chart. It's the first app in this batch of AI fortune-telling apps to reach a grossing chart. But it's a big company's paid-user-acquisition play, and a small team can't copy it.
- 11-07India's Reva astrology app from ShareChat's Askk made 58M installs in 7.64 days and debuted at #182 on Malaysia's top grossing overall chart; meanwhile AI Palm Reading added 1.35M installs in one week and MemeMix added 1.56M, and neither is on any grossing chart. Big companies are coming in with paid-acquisition budgets; indie developers have no room.
- 11-06Paid acquisition continues: AI Palm Reading added 1.35M installs in one week (2.67M total), and MemeMix Challenge 1.56M in a week (9.18M total), and neither has reached any grossing chart. Meanwhile, Reva - Personal AI Astrologer from India's ShareChat group reached 7.64M installs within 58 days of launch and debuted at #182 on Malaysia's top grossing overall chart. Only companies with big-brand budgets can buy their way onto grossing charts, not small teams.