Apple on Wednesday released its annual list of the most downloaded apps and games for the year. For the U.S. market, OpenAI’s ChatGPT topped the ranks of free iPhone apps (not including games) with the most installs in 2025.
The AI app was followed by Threads, Google, TikTok, WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail, and Google’s Gemini.
ChatGPT made it to No. 4 last year, but the top spot was taken by Chinese shopping app Temu. In 2023, the AI app didn’t make the top-10 list despite being released on the iPhone in May 2023 to a strong debut.
The fact that ChatGPT is outpacing social networking standbys, and much-needed utilities like Google Maps, indicates how deeply AI has penetrated people’s everyday lives here in the U.S. It also demonstrates the potential for OpenAI to disrupt Google’s tight hold on the search market on mobile devices, as more people turn to a chatbot for answers first.
There were signs that ChatGPT was on its way to No. 1 earlier in the year — it became the most-downloaded app globally in March, outpacing other top apps like TikTok and Instagram.
Apple also released its list of the top paid apps, the top free and paid games for iPhone and iPad, as well as the top Apple Arcade games.
Block Blast! was the top free game this year, while Minecraft took the crown as the top paid game. On iPad, YouTube was the No. 1 free app, and users downloaded the creativity app Procreate as the top paid game on iPad. Roblox was the top free iPad game.
Techcrunch event
San Francisco
|
October 13-15, 2026
The full …