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

Apple already crowned 2025 App Store Winners – a relatively short list of 17 apps and games with descriptions of each platform (including iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV and Vision Pro). But today, the Cupertino tech giant is also sharing some of the people's voices in the app space.

We have top 10 lists, as well as advanced rankings in the App Store, for the most downloaded apps and games on iPhone and iPad, divided into free and paid. There's even a list of the most downloaded Apple Arcade games. And while we all might have guessed that OpenAI's ChatGPT would be highly rated, it is considered the number one free iPhone app. However, if you look at the lists, there are a few surprises.

The second most downloaded free iPhone app is Threads – yes, the still new platform from Meta that Mark Zuckerberg hopes will steal the thunder from X (formerly Twitter and Bluesky). This means that a significant number of people downloaded it, whether they discovered it on their own or through recommendations from the Instagram app.

Instagram itself is close to sixth on the list, and TikTok, which still occupies an awkward position here in the United States, comes in fourth. You can see the full list below, but it's worth noting that Google also had a strong presence in the top ten along with Gemini, YouTubeGoogle's main app, and Google Maps everyone makes the cut.

On the iPad side, while Instagram has finally arrived on the platform, it didn't make it into the top 10 free apps for iPadOS. As expected, it's a jam-packed streaming list that includes Disney+, HBO Max, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video – all major slots. YouTube takes the top spot, with Google Chrome not far down the list. Also making an appearance is the ever-popular GoodNotes, a note-taking app with a suite of AI features including handwriting cleanup and extensive folder organization.

You can keep scrolling to see the full list of the 10 best free and paid apps for iPhone and iPad, the best games for each, and an overall list of the most downloaded Apple Arcade games. It's always fun and often educational to look back at these year-end lists to see what people use the most—or, in some cases, download and open only once.