# What kinds of apps are getting attention

Torii Research sorts every app into one of 14 themes and tracks each theme's share of every index edition. One theme per app; a share is the theme's apps divided by the apps listed in that edition. Canonical URL: https://www.toriihq.com/research/themes

## Shadow IT Index

AI-native apps were 30% of the July 2025 list and 25% of the October 2026 list. The biggest theme in October 2026 is Security and IT (21%). Security and IT grew the most: 3% of the list on average in the first three editions, 17% in the latest three.

| Theme | Jul 25 | Aug 25 | Sep 25 | Oct 25 | Nov 25 | Dec 25 | Jan 26 | Feb 26 | Mar 26 | Apr 26 | May 26 | Jun 26 | Jul 26 | Aug 26 | Sep 26 | Oct 26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Developer and data tools | 20 | 10 | 0 | 20 | 10 | 19 | 23 | 10 | 20 | 16 | 21 | 15 | 14 | 7 | 14 | 11 |
| Personal productivity | 10 | 20 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 13 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 9 | 13 | 14 | 14 |
| AI coding and building | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 16 | 17 | 25 | 18 | 20 | 11 | 4 |
| Sales, marketing, and CX | 10 | 10 | 11 | 40 | 0 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 16 | 13 | 21 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| Security and IT | 0 | 10 | 0 | 20 | 10 | 6 | 13 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 20 | 11 | 21 |
| Work suites and collaboration | 30 | 20 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Design and video | 0 | 0 | 33 | 0 | 30 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 4 |
| Ops, HR, and finance | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 10 | 0 | 15 | 14 | 0 | 4 | 11 |
| Personal and consumer apps | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 18 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 14 | 7 | 14 | 7 |
| AI agents | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 13 | 0 | 18 |
| AI content and media | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| AI notes and voice | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 4 |
| Browsers and search | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| AI assistants | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 |

AI-native share by edition: Jul 25 30%, Aug 25 10%, Sep 25 22%, Oct 25 20%, Nov 25 20%, Dec 25 44%, Jan 26 21%, Feb 26 28%, Mar 26 28%, Apr 26 45%, May 26 21%, Jun 26 30%, Jul 26 36%, Aug 26 53%, Sep 26 14%, Oct 26 25%.

## AI Breakout

AI-native apps were 90% of the July 2025 list and 87% of the October 2026 list. The biggest theme in October 2026 is AI assistants (27%). AI coding and building grew the most: 20% of the list on average in the first three editions, 29% in the latest three.

| Theme | Jul 25 | Aug 25 | Sep 25 | Oct 25 | Nov 25 | Dec 25 | Jan 26 | Feb 26 | Mar 26 | Apr 26 | May 26 | Jun 26 | Jul 26 | Aug 26 | Sep 26 | Oct 26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI assistants | 40 | 30 | 35 | 40 | 30 | 35 | 30 | 33 | 33 | 33 | 33 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 27 | 27 |
| AI coding and building | 15 | 25 | 20 | 20 | 25 | 20 | 27 | 27 | 30 | 27 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 27 |
| AI content and media | 20 | 15 | 15 | 10 | 10 | 15 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 13 | 10 | 10 | 13 | 10 |
| AI notes and voice | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 13 | 10 | 10 | 13 | 10 | 10 |
| AI agents | 0 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 13 |
| Ops, HR, and finance | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Work suites and collaboration | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Sales, marketing, and CX | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| Personal productivity | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Browsers and search | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Design and video | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |

AI-native share by edition: Jul 25 90%, Aug 25 90%, Sep 25 90%, Oct 25 90%, Nov 25 90%, Dec 25 90%, Jan 26 90%, Feb 26 90%, Mar 26 90%, Apr 26 90%, May 26 90%, Jun 26 87%, Jul 26 87%, Aug 26 87%, Sep 26 83%, Oct 26 87%.

## Adoption Index

AI-native apps were 5% of the August 2025 list and 13% of the October 2026 list. The biggest theme in October 2026 is Work suites and collaboration (43%). AI assistants grew the most: 7% of the list on average in the first three editions, 13% in the latest three.

| Theme | Aug 25 | Sep 25 | Oct 25 | Nov 25 | Dec 25 | Jan 26 | Feb 26 | Mar 26 | Apr 26 | May 26 | Jun 26 | Jul 26 | Aug 26 | Sep 26 | Oct 26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Work suites and collaboration | 50 | 50 | 55 | 45 | 45 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 43 | 47 | 43 | 43 | 43 | 43 | 43 |
| Developer and data tools | 10 | 15 | 10 | 10 | 20 | 13 | 13 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 13 | 17 |
| Design and video | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| AI assistants | 5 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 |
| Sales, marketing, and CX | 10 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 |
| Browsers and search | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Ops, HR, and finance | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Personal productivity | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Security and IT | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| AI coding and building | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

AI-native share by edition: Aug 25 5%, Sep 25 5%, Oct 25 10%, Nov 25 10%, Dec 25 10%, Jan 26 10%, Feb 26 10%, Mar 26 10%, Apr 26 17%, May 26 13%, Jun 26 13%, Jul 26 13%, Aug 26 13%, Sep 26 13%, Oct 26 13%.

## The themes

- AI assistants (AI): General-purpose chat and research assistants built on large language models. 19 apps, most frequent: ChatGPT, Claude AI, OpenAI, Google Gemini, Grok, Perplexity AI.
- AI agents (AI): Agents that carry out tasks end to end, general or for one job (support, legal, security, recruiting). 17 apps, most frequent: n8n, Genspark, Fyxer, Grok Bot, Instinct.com, Manus.
- AI coding and building (AI): AI code editors and coding agents, app builders, and the models, APIs, and runtimes developers build on. 32 apps, most frequent: Cursor AI, Google AI Studio, Gemini Code Assist, ollama, Google Antigravity, Base44.
- AI notes and voice (AI): Meeting recorders, note takers, transcription, and voice dictation. 13 apps, most frequent: Granola, Fireflies.ai, Read AI, Fellow, Plaud.ai, superwhisper.
- AI content and media (AI): AI for images, video, audio, music, writing, and presentations. 17 apps, most frequent: ElevenLabs, Grammarly, Gamma App, Higgsfield, Midjourney, DeeVid.
- Work suites and collaboration: Office suites, chat, video calls, file storage, and team project tools. 40 apps, most frequent: ClickUp, Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, Atlassian, Google Workspace (G Suite), Jira.
- Personal productivity: Tools one person picks for their own work, such as notes, email clients, PDF editors, to-do lists, and time trackers. 36 apps, most frequent: Notion Mail, Adobe Acrobat, Obsidian, Doodle, Pocket, Rectangle.
- Developer and data tools: Code, cloud, databases, APIs, observability, and analytics. 56 apps, most frequent: GitHub, Postman, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Docker Hub, Google Cloud, Bruno.
- Security and IT: Password managers, VPNs, remote access, device management, and security tools. 30 apps, most frequent: 1Password, RCLONE, Bionic, NordVPN, uBlock Origin, Virtru.
- Browsers and search: Web browsers, including AI browsers, and search engines. 14 apps, most frequent: Google Chrome, ChatGPT Atlas, Firefox, Vivaldi, Apple Safari, Brave.
- Design and video: Design, photo, and video editing tools, and creative asset libraries. 18 apps, most frequent: Canva, Adobe, Figma, Artlist, CapCut, Picsart.
- Sales, marketing, and CX: CRM, prospecting, advertising, SEO, web analytics, and customer experience. 36 apps, most frequent: Salesforce, LinkedIn, Gong, Apollo, PandaDoc, Crystal.
- Ops, HR, and finance: Automation, e-signature, hiring and HR, finance, legal, and logistics. 28 apps, most frequent: Zapier, DocuSign, Juicebox AI, SignNow, AngelList, Avenue.
- Personal and consumer apps: Music, messaging, social, learning, investing, travel, and other apps mainly for life outside work. 26 apps, most frequent: Quizlet, Scribd, Spotify, BlueSky, Cabify, Discord.

Method: each app has one primary theme, assigned by Torii Research from what the product does, not from the vendor's category. AI-native marks apps in an AI theme plus AI-first apps in other themes (an AI browser, an AI recruiting tool). Shares count apps in an edition, not usage volume. Source: Torii Research, anonymized and aggregated usage data. Methodology: https://www.toriihq.com/research/methodology