ChatGPT was The Most Downloaded App Globally in March

With the exception of games, ChatGPT surpassed Instagram and TikTok, the typical rivals for the top slot, to become the most downloaded app globally in March. This is ChatGPT’s biggest month ever and the first time an application has topped the monthly download statistics. App analytics company Appfigures recently revealed that ChatGPT’s installations increased by 28% between February and March, reaching 46 million new downloads in that month.

Thirteen million iOS users and thirty-three million Android users downloaded the platform. With the same number of downloads overall, Instagram came in second, but its breakdown was different—41 million on Android and 5 million on iOS.

The application was now marginally ahead of Instagram, which dropped to the number two spot. TikTok came in at number three.

The first significant update to ChatGPT’s image-generation capabilities in more than a year occurred in March, which may have contributed to the increase in installs. As users learned they could create graphics and memes in the vein of Studio Ghibli, the well-known Japanese animation studio behind films like “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Spirited Away,” ChatGPT experienced a viral moment in late March and early April.

In March, OpenAI also improved ChatGPT’s AI voice capability and eliminated various protections related to picture content filtering guidelines.

Appfigures said that when comparing the first quarter of 2021 to Q1 2025, ChatGPT’s installations had increased by 148% year over year.

According to the AppFigures survey, ChatGPT barely beat Instagram in March with an estimated 46 million downloads worldwide. Thirteen million iOS users and thirty-three million Android users downloaded the platform. With the same number of downloads overall, Instagram came in second, but its breakdown was different—41 million on Android and 5 million on iOS. With 45 million downloads, including 8 million on iOS and 37 million on Android, TikTok ranked third.

But according to the company, the popular chatbot’s increase this month wasn’t primarily driven by new capabilities.

As Google did in the 2000s, “it’s beginning to seem like ChatGPT is becoming a verb, to the point where many don’t think ‘AI’ but rather ‘ChatGPT,'” stated Ariel Michaeli, founder and CEO of Appfigures. “So many people who are not interested in AI come for AI but actually download ChatGPT when there is enthusiasm about AI — even about competitions like Grok, Manus AI, or DeepSeek.” 

Other AI chatbots could find it more difficult to gain traction due to ChatGPT’s well-known brand. This is one of the reasons why ChatGPT performs better on this front than Claude from Anthropic. Additionally, Grok may outperform other ChatGPT competitors—not necessarily because it is superior, but rather because Elon Musk, a well-known marketer, and X, a sizable distribution platform, are behind it.

TikTok was still the top app in January and February of this year, whereas Instagram had previously been ranked No. 2 in both the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Concerns over a possible U.S. ban contributed to TikTok’s download boom early this year, as users hurried to download this application in case it vanished from app stores. Now, that restriction is on pause as President Trump works to reach an agreement with China, the home of TikTok parent company ByteDance, to allow U.S. customers to continue using the app.

Prior to this, Instagram was the top (non-game) app in 2024 and had been consistently surpassing TikTok for the top spot in international app stores. Instagram is still a favourite among American teenagers, and its market share in the US has been steadily increasing.

For example, according to a recent Piper Sandler poll of American teenagers, Instagram is the most popular social media app, with 87% of users using it each month, followed by TikTok (79%), and Snapchat (72%).

Other social applications, such as those from Meta, completed the top rankings in March. Facebook and WhatsApp completed the top five, while CapCut, Telegram, Snapchat, and Meta’s Threads joined Temu in the top 10.

March had a total of 339 million downloads of the top 10 applications, which is more than February’s 299 million.

Since its introduction, more than 130 million people have utilized the new tool, producing more than 700 million photographs overall, according to OpenAI’s Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap. According to Lightcap, “the viral traction demonstrates the power of providing creative tools to the masses.”