In a notable shift in the app landscape, ChatGPT has emerged as the world’s most downloaded app in March, surpassing the usual frontrunners, Instagram and TikTok. This achievement marks ChatGPT’s first time at the top of the monthly download charts, with its biggest month ever, as reported by app intelligence provider Appfigures. The app saw a significant 28% increase in installs from February to March, reaching 46 million new downloads.

As a result, ChatGPT has taken the lead, with Instagram dropping to the second position, followed by TikTok at number three.

Several notable upgrades in March likely contributed to the increased adoption of ChatGPT, including a major upgrade to its image-generation capabilities, which had not been updated in over a year. This upgrade led to a viral moment for ChatGPT, as users discovered they could generate images and memes in the style of Studio Ghibli. OpenAI also removed some content moderation safeguards for images and enhanced ChatGPT’s AI voice feature.

According to Appfigures, ChatGPT’s installs have experienced a remarkable 148% year-over-year growth when comparing the first quarter of 2021 to Q1 2025.

However, Appfigures speculates that new features were not the primary driver behind this month’s growth for the popular chatbot.

“ChatGPT is becoming synonymous with AI, much like Google did in the 2000s,” said Appfigures founder and CEO Ariel Michaeli. “When there’s excitement about AI, many people download ChatGPT, even if they’re interested in competing services like Grok, Manus AI, or DeepSeek.”

ChatGPT’s brand recognition may be a significant obstacle for other AI chatbots to overcome. This could be why Anthropic’s Claude has struggled to keep up with ChatGPT, while Grok might perform better due to its association with Elon Musk and the large platform provided by X.

Meanwhile, Instagram had previously held the second position across both the Apple App Store and Google Play in January and February, with TikTok maintaining its lead at number one.

TikTok’s download growth earlier this year was partly driven by concerns over a potential U.S. ban, which led to a surge in downloads. However, with the ban currently on hold, TikTok’s growth may be slowing down.

In contrast, Instagram has been steadily growing in popularity, particularly among U.S. teens. A recent survey by Piper Sandler found that Instagram is the most-used social app, with 87% monthly usage, compared to 79% for TikTok and 72% for Snapchat.

In March, other social apps from Meta, including Facebook and WhatsApp, rounded out the top charts, with CapCut, Telegram, Snapchat, and Meta’s Threads also making the top 10, alongside Temu.

The total number of downloads for the top 10 apps in March was 339 million, exceeding the 299 million downloads in February.