ChatGPT tops Apple’s 2025 download list as families juggle AI, social media and screen time – Deseret News
Apple’s year-end App Store charts say a lot about how Americans used their phones in 2025 — and this year, artificial intelligence, not shopping or social media, sat at the top of the screen.
According to Apple’s U.S. App Store rankings, the most downloaded free iPhone app of 2025 was ChatGPT, followed by Meta’s Threads, Google, TikTok and WhatsApp. Rounding out the top tier were Instagram, YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail and Google Gemini, another AI assistant.
That marks a big shift from just a year ago. In 2024, discount-shopping platform Temu was the No. 1 free iPhone app in the U.S., ahead of Threads, TikTok, ChatGPT and Google — a ranking that analysts said reflected a deal-obsessed moment for consumers.
This year’s list suggests users are leaning more into tools that answer questions, help with school or work, and keep them plugged into group chats and short videos.
The paid-app charts tell a slightly different story. The top paid iPhone apps in 2025 include worker-scheduling tool HotSchedules, network-privacy app Shadowrocket and creative favorite Procreate Pocket, along with sleep trackers, habit apps and even a stargazing tool.
For Utah families, the rankings land in the middle of an ongoing debate about kids, screens and what belongs on a teenager’s home screen. The state’s “App Store Accountability Act,” passed earlier this year, aims to strengthen parental control by requiring age verification and parental consent for minors’ app downloads and purchases.
At the same time, the American Family Survey — co-sponsored by BYU’s Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, the Wheatley Institute and the Deseret News — found that many Americans are ambivalent about new technology.
Almost a third of respondents said smartphones are a net positive for family life, but social media was viewed more negatively than positively. Opinions on AI were more positive than either social media or smartphones.
Those tensions show up in Apple’s charts. The top free list is dominated by social and messaging apps such as Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, WhatsApp and Telegram, video-heavy platforms like TikTok and YouTube, and AI tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini — the same technologies parents and lawmakers worry can erode attention spans, expose kids to harmful content or quietly shape their worldview.
If the most downloaded apps are about constant connection, endless scrolling and always-available AI, the work for families may be deciding when those tools actually support day-to-day educational, relational and spiritual life — and when they can get in the way.
