ChatGPT Becomes World’s Most Downloaded App in March

ChatGPT became the world’s most downloaded app in March, excluding games, topping the usual contenders for the No. 1 spot, Instagram and TikTok. This is the first time the app has topped the monthly download charts and ChatGPT’s biggest month ever. According to new data, ChatGPT’s installs jumped 28% from February to March to reach 46 million new downloads during March, app intelligence provider Appfigures recently reported. That put the app slightly ahead of Instagram, which fell to the No. 2 position. TikTok followed at No. 3. Perhaps helping to drive installs, ChatGPT saw some notable upgrades in March, including the first major upgrade to its image-generation capabilities in over a year. This led to a viral moment for ChatGPT in late March and early April as users discovered they could generate images and memes in the style of Studio Ghibli, the popular Japanese animation studio behind movies like “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Spirited Away.” OpenAI also removed some safeguards around content moderation policies for images in March and upgraded ChatGPT’s AI voice feature. Appfigures noted that ChatGPT’s installs have grown 148% year-over-year when comparing the first quarter of 2021 to Q1 2025.