ChatGPT Tops US iPhone Free Apps in 2025

OpenAI's ChatGPT has emerged as the most downloaded free app on Apple's U.S. App Store for iPhone users in 2025, according to the company's year-end charts released in early December. The conversational AI tool surpassed social media platforms and utility apps, signaling a growing reliance on artificial intelligence for everyday tasks among American consumers.

Apple's rankings place ChatGPT at the top of the free iPhone apps list, followed by Meta's Threads in second, TikTok in third, WhatsApp in fourth, YouTube in fifth, Google Maps in sixth, Gmail in seventh, the Google app in eighth, and Instagram in ninth. Google's Gemini, another AI chatbot, rounded out the top 10. This marks a substantial rise for ChatGPT, which ranked fourth among free apps in 2024, when the Chinese shopping app Temu held the top spot. In 2023, despite its iPhone launch in May, ChatGPT did not enter the top 10.

The app's success on iPad devices was also notable, securing second place among free downloads behind YouTube, ahead of Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video. Apple's broader charts highlighted other trends: Block Blast led free iPhone games, while Minecraft topped paid games. For iPad, Roblox...