ChatGPT and Threads Maintain Download Momentum in March

Threads is maintaining its download momentum, while ChatGPT has moved to the top of the table in the latest app download charts from Appfigures for March 2025.

As you can see, Threads returned to the top 10 most downloaded listing last month, after dropping out in February, with Meta’s Twitter clone app still seeing strong interest on iOS.

It’s less popular on Android, which could point to regional popularity (Android is the dominant operating system in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America, while iOS sees more usage in North America and Oceania), but overall, Threads is still seeing solid growth momentum, based on download numbers at least.

Active users is a separate, and often very different calculation.

Meta reported that Threads was up to 320 million monthly active users in January, and based on these stats, it’s likely on track to exceed 350 million by Meta’s next performance update, which is scheduled for the end of this month. For comparison, X recently reported that it now has 600 million monthly actives.  

So it still has a way to go, but Threads is still seemingly growing at a steady rate.

In terms of other app trends, ChatGPT, as noted, remains popular, underlining the first-mover advantage that OpenAI has tapped into with its AI tools. Because arguably, Meta AI, and even X’s Grok, are just as good, if not better than ChatGPT, but launching first has made ChatGPT more synonymous with AI use.

Though with Google’s AI tools also improving, it’ll be interesting to see how long it can hold onto that spot.

Interest in Temu also remains high, despite the fact that its prices will soon be going up as a result of Trump’s tariffs (or maybe because of this), while TikTok dropped down the ranking, even though it saw more overall downloads in March (45m versus 42m in Feb).

But really, no major shifts. Meta’s apps continue to dominate overall, while the trends show that Threads is growing, and ChatGPT remains the key AI tool of choice.