According to TechCrunch, Apple released its annual app download rankings on Wednesday. For the U.S. market in 2025, OpenAI’s ChatGPT was the most downloaded free iPhone app, excluding games. It topped a list that included Threads in second place, followed by Google, TikTok, and WhatsApp. The AI app jumped from the No. 4 spot it held in 2024, when Chinese shopping app Temu was number one. Back in 2023, ChatGPT didn’t even crack the top ten despite launching on iPhone in May of that year.
The Search Shift Is Real
Here’s the thing: this isn’t just another app hitting number one. It’s a utility—an AI chatbot—beating the most essential social and productivity apps on the planet. Think about that list. Google, Maps, Gmail, YouTube. These are apps people need. And yet, more U.S. iPhone users in 2025 felt the need to install ChatGPT first. That’s a massive signal. It shows that asking a chatbot for answers isn’t a niche behavior anymore; for a growing chunk of people, it’s the default starting point. This is the clearest public data yet that OpenAI is successfully chipping away at Google’s mobile search dominance. Why scroll through ten blue links when you can just get a synthesized answer?
From Debut To Dominance
The trajectory tells its own story. No top ten in 2023, number four in 2024, number one in 2025. That’s a steep climb. And we saw it coming—ChatGPT was already the most-downloaded app globally back in March, beating TikTok and Instagram. So this year-end crown just confirms a trend that’s been building all year. It also highlights a strategic win for OpenAI: nailing that mobile experience early. They got the iPhone app out fast, made it free and easy to use, and basically turned every smartphone into a portal for their AI. Now the question is, what do they do with all these users? The monetization path from a free, top-downloaded app to a revenue powerhouse is the next big hurdle.
The Rest Of The Charts
While the AI story steals the headline, the other lists are a mix of old staples and new hits. Block Blast! was the top free game, which feels very on-brand for casual mobile gaming. Minecraft, a forever-app, took the paid game crown. On iPad, YouTube was the top free app, which makes sense for a bigger screen, and the drawing app Procreate led paid downloads. It’s a reminder that even in an AI-saturated year, the basics—watching videos, playing simple games, creating art—still drive a huge amount of our app behavior. But the center of gravity is shifting. And right now, it’s shifting toward a chat window.
