Apple reveals the most popular free iPhone apps of 2025 — and there’s a surprise runner-up to ChatGPT

Apple has already crowned the 2025 App Store Winners – a relatively short list of 17 apps and games with spotlights across each of its platforms (iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Vision Pro included). But today, the Cupertino-based tech giant is also sharing a bit of the people’s vote in the realm of apps.

We have the top 10 lists – along with extended rankings within the App Store – for the most downloaded apps and games on iPhone and iPad, split by free and paid. There’s even a list of the most downloaded Apple Arcade titles. And while we all could have guessed that OpenAI’s ChatGPT would be high up, it ranks as the number-one free app for the iPhone. Still, there are a few surprises as you look down the lists.

Coming in at number two on the most downloaded free iPhone apps is Threads – yes, the still-new platform from Meta that Mark Zuckerberg hopes will steal thunder from X (formerly Twitter and Bluesky). That means a significant number of people have downloaded it, whether they discovered it on their own or via recommendations from the Instagram app.

Instagram itself isn’t far down the list at number six, and TikTok – which remains in something of an awkward spot here in the United States – comes in at number four. You can see the full list below, but it’s worth noting that Google also had a strong presence in the top ten, with Gemini, YouTube, the main Google app, and Google Maps all making the cut.

On the iPad side, while Instagram finally arrived on the platform, it didn’t break into the top 10 free iPadOS apps. As expected, it’s a streaming-heavy list, with Disney+, HBO Max, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video all securing major slots. YouTube takes the top spot, and Google Chrome isn’t far down the list. The ever-popular GoodNotes – a note-taking app with a suite of AI functionality, including handwriting cleanup and extensive folder organization – also appears.

You can keep scrolling to see the full top 10 lists for the top free and paid iPhone and iPad apps, the top games for each, and the overall list of most downloaded Apple Arcade titles. It’s always fun, and often insightful, to browse these year-end lists to see what people use most – or, in some cases, download and only open once.