ByteDance’s chatbot Doubao lost 6.1 million monthly active users in May, down 1.81% from April, after the company previewed paid subscription tiers on its iOS app listing, according to AI tracker Aicpb.com.

Aicpb said its app rankings are based on monthly active users and are updated monthly using a standardized global methodology, though its rankings page does not disclose the underlying data sources.

In early May, ByteDance listed a standard plan at 68 yuan (US$10) a month or 688 yuan (US$100) a year, and a professional plan at 500 yuan (US$74) a month or 5,088 yuan (US$750) a year.

The paid features were not rolled out in the Doubao app, while ByteDance described the move as a test of value-added services.

The decline still left Doubao as China’s largest AI mobile app by Aicpb’s count, and separate QuestMobile data previously ranked it ahead of DeepSeek.

Consumer AI subscriptions have yet to gain traction in China, with most local large language models relying on enterprise and API revenue.

🔗 Source: South China Morning Post

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