ChatGPT overtakes Instagram, TikTok as world’s most downloaded app for first time

The AI chatbot saw 46 million new installs in March across App Store and Google Play, a 28% increase from February and its strongest month ever.

In the first quarter it also recorded 148% growth from the same period in 2021.

Instagram followed closely with an estimated 46 million downloads as well but slightly fewer than ChatGPT. TikTok, which led in February, ranked third with 45 million. Facebook and WhatsApp completed the global top five.

Appfigures noted that with ChatGPT’s surge, this ranking could remain unchanged in the coming months.

The 10 most downloaded apps worldwide saw 339 million installs in March, up from 299 million in February.

ChatGPT on a smartphone with OpenAI's logo in the background. Photo from Reuters

ChatGPT’s spike came alongside several product enhancements, tech site TechCrunch reported.

In March it introduced the first major update to its image-generation capabilities in over a year, helping drive a viral trend of users generating Studio Ghibli-style images and memes. Studio Ghibli is the renowned Japanese animation studio behind films such as "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Spirited Away."

The app also saw upgrades to its AI voice feature and loosened certain image content moderation restrictions.

Despite these updates, Appfigures suggested that ChatGPT’s growing cultural status may have played a larger role in its rise.

"It’s starting to feel like ChatGPT is becoming a verb, a lot like how Google did in the 2000s, to the point where many don’t think ‘AI’ but rather ‘ChatGPT,’" Ariel Michaeli, founder and CEO of Appfigures, said.

"So when there’s excitement about AI, even about competition like Grok, Manus AI or DeepSeek, many who are not swimming in this topic come for AI but really download ChatGPT."