This week, mobile marketers and app experts converged on the MGM Grand for the annual MAU Vegas conference for mobile app marketers, developers, game-makers, and more.

Over the course of three days, MAU Vegas expected over 2,500 international attendees, including growth marketers, product leads, founders, and engineers, per Business of Apps. The full agenda included sessions on AI, building customer loyalty, measurement marketing impact, and much more.

Here are a few key things to note about MAU Vegas 2026.

Bigger role for business strategy

As MAU Vegas has grown over the last few years, it's attracted a broader range of mobile marketers and business leaders.

“Last year, we were up 30% year-on-year, and this year we are currently tracking 34% ahead again,” said Angela Harar, VP strategy and growth at MAU Vegas on a recent MobileGroove podcast. “We have people who are primarily focused on user acquisition, but what’s rising are the people who say they’re just focused on pure business strategy.”

To grow customers and revenue, app developers need both a good app design and a winning strategy for taking the app to market. That’s why leaders with such diverse roles are participating in mobile marketing conferences such as MAU Vegas.

That has also shaped the agenda, which featured several sessions on shaping key business metrics and spaces for founders and investors to meet.

“App dev and design is growing this year because we’re seeing founders realize you can develop an app, but how are you going to get it to market?” said Harar. “And that’s where MAU comes into play. You have to be able to distribute [the app].”

This year's attendance reflected the growing overlap between app founders and potential investors.

“We had 47 investors registered last year, and as of today [May 14] we have 72,” Harar noted.

AI’s impact on the mobile market

Panels at MAU Vegas discussed AI’s impact on app development, scaling audiences, and integrating agentic features.

For example, Starti.ai presented on how AI-powered tools can automate “high-ROAS creative” with prompts. And IAB Tech Lab presented how agentic AI embedded in workflows supports mobile privacy, reducing regulatory and trust risk.

These new capabilities come at a time of increased competition in the mobile market driven by AI.

• This month, Google unveiled Gemini Intelligence, an agentic operating system layer coming to Samsung Galaxy and Android smartphones.
• In December 2025, OpenAI launched its ChatGPT app store, allowing users to run in-chat apps that don’t require downloading from the App Store or Google Play.

Improved experiences compete with incumbents in a limited space on users’ phones. The average number of apps installed by US smartphone users will drop nearly 1% (0.9%) this year, per EMARKETER’s August 2025 forecast.

“It’s becoming harder and harder, as we all know the proliferation of apps that have come out since AI has come into play,” said Harar.

Additionally, changing consumer behavior has affected mobile marketers the same that it has for the rest of the industry. MAU Vegas featured sessions focused on the emerging discipline of generative engine optimization (GEO), including one session hosted by AppTweak that explored raising visibility in app stores and understanding how consumer habits are shifting.

This was originally featured in the EMARKETER Daily newsletter. For more marketing insights, statistics, and trends, subscribe here.