Alibaba Debuts Free Qwen AI Assistant App on Major App Stores
- By IndiaStartupBuzz | November 18, 2025
Chinese tech giant Alibaba has officially launched the Qwen AI assistant app, marking a significant leap into the consumer AI market with a comprehensive, free-to-use AI assistant designed to support both personal and professional tasks. Powered by Alibaba ’s most advanced Qwen3 foundational AI model, the app is now available across iOS, Android, web, and PC platforms, allowing broad access to cutting-edge AI capabilities.
The Qwen app goes far beyond simple conversational AI, offering advanced functionalities such as deep research assistance, AI-powered coding support, camera-based features, and voice interaction capabilities. For example, users can instruct the assistant to generate full research reports, develop polished multi-slide presentations, write complex code, or analyze images—all in seconds.
This launch represents Alibaba’s commitment to embedding AI deeply into everyday life, aiming to serve as a “smart personal assistant that not only chats but gets things done.” Through Qwen, Alibaba envisions transforming how users interact with digital services, integrating lifestyle and productivity tools including maps, food delivery, travel booking, office software, e-commerce, education, and healthcare.
The beta launch has already garnered significant attention, with user traffic occasionally surpassing platform capacity on launch days, signaling strong early demand. Alibaba also plans to roll out an international version targeting users beyond China, positioning Qwen as a global competitor to other AI assistants like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and ByteDance’s Doubao.
Alibaba’s strategic investment of over $53 billion in AI and cloud infrastructure over the next three years supports this bold initiative, focusing on foundational model development and AI-native applications to fuel the next generation of intelligent services.
By providing Qwen at no cost, Alibaba challenges subscription-based AI models, aiming to democratize access to powerful AI tools and drive widespread adoption across industries and consumer segments.
