According to recent data from app intelligence company Appfigures, OpenAI’s ChatGPT surpassed long-standing chart leaders Instagram and TikTok to become the most downloaded non-gaming app worldwide in March 2025.
OpenAI’s ’s ChatGPT hits record-breaking 46 million new downloads in March
In March, ChatGPT had 46 million new downloads, which was a 28 percent rise over February and its highest number to date.
For the first time, the OpenAI-created AI chatbot app has topped the monthly global app download charts. In contrast, TikTok dropped to No. 3, and Instagram dropped to No. 2.
This reorganisation demonstrates how customer behaviour is changing, particularly in the competition for supremacy among productivity and content apps.
ChatGPT’s new updates contribute to a surge in downloads
A number of significant product updates that were released in March also coincided with ChatGPT’s surge in popularity.
Most notably, OpenAI unveiled its first significant improvement to its picture production capabilities in more than a year, allowing users to produce memes and images inspired by the well-known Japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli. In late March and early April, this viral use case generated a lot of social media activity.
The app’s creative and conversational utility for users was further expanded with enhancements to its AI voice assistant and a loosening of image moderation rules.
Although additional features undoubtedly aided the app’s progress, Appfigures contends that brand dominance was more significant.
OpenAI’s CEO expresses optimism on ChatGPT
Aril Michaeli, the company’s CEO, said that ChatGPT is fast becoming the go-to platform for people interacting with AI products.
Michaeli said, “It’s starting to feel like ChatGPT is becoming a verb, a lot like how Google did in the 2000s.”
“When there’s excitement about AI — even competition like Grok or DeepSeek — many users ultimately download ChatGPT because of its brand recognition,” he added.
ChatGPT creating a challenging landscape for competitors
For rivals, this brand power creates a difficult environment. Even promising substitutes like Manus AI and Claude from Anthropic are finding it difficult to match ChatGPT’s popularity.
Elon Musk’s Grok, which was incorporated into X (previously Twitter) and has celebrity support and distribution advantages, might have a better chance.
The effectiveness of ChatGPT is indicative of larger patterns in the use of AI. According to Appfigures, ChatGPT’s downloads increased by 148 percent in Q1 2021 compared to Q1 2025.
The app’s increasing popularity indicates that mainstream mobile users are becoming more at ease and accustomed to using AI tools.
Meta’s Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp remain among top five
Despite ChatGPT’s dominance, Meta’s app family remained well-represented in the top charts.
Facebook and WhatsApp continued to be among the top five worldwide, along with Instagram, and other Meta apps like Threads and CapCut were among the top ten.
TikTok’s 2025 boom fuelled by US prohibition concerns
TikTok’s 2025 boom was fuelled in part by worries about a possible U.S. prohibition, which led to a spike in downloads. For the time being, though, such worries have diminished as talks between U.S. officials and ByteDance, TikTok’s parent firm, continue.
Global app engagement is clearly increasing, as seen by the fact that the top 10 non-game applications were downloaded 339 million times in March compared to 299 million in February.
Telegram, Snapchat, Meta’s Threads, and e-commerce platform Temu were among the other highly ranked apps, in addition to ChatGPT, Instagram, and TikTok.