Adapted by:
Ricardo Aguilar
WriterMobile tech writer and analyst. I studied Psychology, but I've been working in the consumer tech field for the last 10 years. Interested in motor projects and new forms of mobility.
Karen Alfaro
WriterCommunications professional with a decade of experience as a copywriter, proofreader, and editor. As a travel and science journalist, I've collaborated with several print and digital outlets around the world. I'm passionate about culture, music, food, history, and innovative technologies.
Analyzing the top apps is often a dull task. Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and WhatsApp—the crown has long belonged to one social media platform or another. But in March 2025, an app outside that category reached the top of the chart for the first time since 2013, the year Candy Crush Saga was the most downloaded app.
ChatGPT was the most downloaded app in the world in March. The latest Appfigures report highlights three interesting facts. ChatGPT racked up just over 46 million downloads.
This marks the first time in 12 years that a social media platform didn’t claim the No. 1 spot. Instagram also had around 46 million downloads but came in second.
Consumption dynamics between iOS and Android. ChatGPT led iOS downloads with 13 million, ahead of Threads and CapCut. Instagram remained dominant on Android, followed by TikTok, with ChatGPT in third place with 33 million downloads.
This snapshot reveals how app consumption differs by operating system—and how iPhone users may be turning to GPT for tasks they can’t do with Siri. Integrating OpenAI’s model into Apple’s voice assistant has fueled its popularity among iOS users.
The Ghibli factor. OpenAI’s March surge was not random. ChatGPT had stayed in the top 10 apps across platforms for months, but its March success can’t be explained without mentioning the obsession for Studio Ghibli-style images—a viral trend that drew in five million users in just one hour.
OpenAI’s release of image generation in its free tier went viral within hours, overwhelming servers and forcing limitations. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted on X: “It’s super fun seeing people love images in ChatGPT, but our GPUs are melting.”
The monetization challenge. OpenAI’s chatbot presents a paradox. It’s one of the most downloaded apps in the world, but its path to monetization remains uncertain. Operating costs are massive, and GPT-4 queries cost OpenAI millions of dollars daily.
OpenAI reports that most users rely on the free version powered by GPT-3.5. The company faces a difficult choice: restrict the free version too much and risk losing users, or keep it open and suffer unsustainable costs.
As of last year, GPT had around 10 million paying subscribers, with an additional million on its higher-priced enterprise plans.
Still not enough. OpenAI isn’t yet profitable, and it’s unclear whether it ever will be. One side effect of the ongoing trade war involves the rising cost of AI developments. Aisera CEO Muddu Sudhakar warned that higher costs for data centers will also drive up the price of running AI systems.
The competition isn’t helping either. Google’s Gemini models are less expensive and have outperformed rivals in benchmarks.
Adding to the challenge, GPT’s Pro subscription—which provides access to its best models, including Sora—isn’t cost-effective at $200 per month. The business model remains uncertain. According to Altman, GPT’s paying users are “using it a lot more than expected,” throwing off the company’s profitability projections.
Image | Sanket Mishra (Unsplash)
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