Apple on Wednesday released its annual list of the most downloaded apps and games of the year. In the US market, OpenAI’s ChatGPT topped the ranking of most installed free iPhone apps (excluding games) in 2025.
AI apps were followed by Threads, Google, TikTok, WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail, and Google’s Gemini.
ChatGPT ranked fourth last year, but lost the top spot to Chinese shopping app Temu. Despite the AI app being released on iPhone in May 2023 and having a strong debut, it did not make it to the top 10 list in 2023.
The fact that ChatGPT has outperformed social networking standbys and much-anticipated utilities like Google Maps shows how deeply AI is becoming part of people’s daily lives here in the United States. It also shows that OpenAI has the potential to break Google’s tight grip on the mobile device search market, as more people turn to chatbots for answers first.
There were signs that ChatGPT was climbing to number one earlier this year. ChatGPT became the most downloaded app in the world in March, surpassing other top apps such as TikTok and Instagram.
Apple also announced a list of top paid apps, top free and paid games for iPhone and iPad, and top Apple Arcade games.
Block Blast! was the top free game of the year, while Minecraft was the top paid game. On the iPad, YouTube was the number one free app, and users downloaded the creative app Procreate as the top paid game on the iPad. Roblox was the top free iPad game.
tech crunch event
san francisco
|
October 13-15, 2026
The complete list of top apps and games is below.
Popular free iPhone apps
ChatGPT Threads Google TikTok – Videos, Shop, Live WhatsApp Messenger Instagram YouTube Google Maps Gmail – Email by Google Google Gemini
Top Paid iPhone Apps
HotSchedules Shadowrocket Procreate Pocket AnkiMobile Flashcards Paprika Recipe Manager 3 SkyView® TonalEnergy Tuner & Metronome AutoSleep Watch Sleep Tracking in the Forest: Increase Productivity RadarScope
Popular free iPhone games
Block Blast! Fortnite Roblox Township Pokemon TCG Pocket Royal Kingdom Clash Royale Vita Mahjong Whiteout Survival Final War: Survival
Top paid iPhone games
Minecraft: Dream and Build! Ballatoro, Heads Up! Plague Inc. Geometry Dash Bloons TD 6 Stardew Valley Papa’s Freezeria To Go! Animal Crossing: New Horizons Pocket Camp C Red’s First Flight
Popular free iPad apps
YouTube ChatGPT Netflix Disney+ Amazon Prime Video TikTok – Videos, Shop, Live Google Chrome Goodnotes: AI Notes, Documents, PDF Canva: AI Photo and Video Editor HBO Max: Streaming Movies and TV
Top paid iPad apps
Procreate Procreate Dreams forScore ToonSquid Nomad Sculpt Shadowrocket AnkiMobile Flashcards Bluebeam Revu for iPad Teach a Monster to Read Feathers: Draw in 3D
Popular free iPad games
Roblox Block Blast! Fortnite Perfect Tidy Magic Tile 3: Piano Game Minigame: Calm & Chill Goods Puzzle: Sorting Challenge Hole.io Subway Surfers Township
Top paid iPad games
Minecraft: Dream, Build! Geometry Dash Stardew Valley Ballatro Bloons TD 6 Plague Inc. Animal Crossing Pocket Camp C Poppy Playtime Chapter 3 Purple Places – Classic Games Daddy’s Scilia to Go!
Top Apple Arcade Games
NFL Retro Bowl ’26 NBA 2K25 Arcade Edition Ballatro+ Snake.io+ Sneaky Sasquatch Hello Kitty Island Adventure Fruit Ninja Classic+ Bruins TD 6+ PGA Tour Pro Golf Solitaire (MobilityWare+)
