What Are the Most Downloaded Apps in 2025?

In 2025, that list told a very clear story.

ChatGPT climbed to the top as the most downloaded app of the year. CapCut, a short-video editing tool, landed in seventh place. Between them sit the usual suspects: TikTok, Instagram and other social platforms that live and breathe short, fast content.

Put together, these rankings are more than trivia. They're a mirror of how people spent their digital attention in 2025 - and a preview of what marketing will have to look like in 2026.

When an AI assistant like ChatGPT becomes the most downloaded app, it signals a shift in how people expect to get information. Users are getting used to asking a direct question and receiving a clear answer in seconds. That changes their patience level everywhere else.

If an AI can explain something in one message, customers will be less forgiving of confusing product pages, long FAQ sections or support emails that take days to arrive. In 2026, brands that still communicate in slow, vague, corporate language will feel out of sync with what people experience every day in their AI apps.

There's another layer to this. More and more users are starting their "research journey" inside AI tools instead of on Google. They're asking for product comparisons, summaries of reviews, ideas for gifts, lists of tools to solve a specific problem. That means your brand messages don't just need to work for humans anymore; they need to be written in a way that is easy for AI to understand, summarise and recommend. Clear structure, precise wording and honest value propositions will matter more than clever slogans.

CapCut quietly sitting at number seven tells its own story. A short-video editor doesn't rise that high unless an enormous number of people are recording, cutting and publishing short clips on a regular basis. In practice, this means 2025 wasn't just the year people watched more Reels and TikToks - it was the year they actively produced them.

For marketing, that has two consequences. First, user-generated content has moved from "nice extra" to default. Your potential customers are used to seeing real people talk about products in their own words, filmed on their own phones. That kind of content feels more trustworthy than a polished, studio-made ad. Second, the bar for speed has gone up. If individuals can script, shoot and edit a video on their phone in an evening, it's hard to justify brand content that takes four weeks of approvals to say much less.

TikTok and Instagram still dominate the attention graph, and together with CapCut they form a pipeline: discover, create, publish, repeat. People now search inside these platforms for ideas, tutorials, reviews and inspiration. For many younger users, typing a query into TikTok feels more natural than typing it into a traditional search engine. That shift will only grow in 2026.

So instead of thinking of TikTok and Instagram as "just social platforms", marketers need to see them as search engines with a personality. If your brand doesn't show up in that flow - as a video, a review, a how-to or a genuine recommendation - you're missing an entire discovery layer of the customer journey.

So what does all of this mean for marketing teams planning their next year?

First, your content has to be ready for both humans and machines. That doesn't mean turning everything into robot language. It means being precise about what you offer, who it is for and why it matters. Clear product benefits, structured information and honest copy will make it easier for AI tools to surface your brand when users ask questions about your category.

Second, short-form video is not optional anymore. The combination of TikTok, Instagram and CapCut in the top rankings shows that vertical, fast-paced video is now the native language of the feed. If your brand still relies mostly on static images and long text posts, you are effectively whispering in a room where everyone else is speaking loudly in video.

That doesn't mean you need cinematic production. In fact, the opposite is true. The videos that perform best often look like something a regular customer could have made: a quick product demo, a short explanation, a genuine reaction, a before-and-after. What matters is clarity, emotion and speed, not perfect lighting.

Third, you'll need a content engine that can move quickly. The marketing calendar of 2026 won't be built around one big spring campaign and a heavy Black Friday push. It will be built around constant testing: new hooks, new angles, new formats, week after week. The brands that win will be the ones that can produce and iterate without getting lost in internal bureaucracy.

And finally, you'll need to accept that the buying journey is now multi-layered. Someone might see your product in a short video, ask an AI to explain whether it's actually good, read a few human reviews, then finally click through to your shop. No single channel "owns" the conversion anymore. Social, AI, search, email and onsite experience all play a role in the same decision.

When you look again at the 2025 app rankings through this lens, they stop being a curiosity and start reading like a strategy memo. ChatGPT at number one is a sign that people expect instant, high-quality answers. CapCut at seven shows how strong the urge is to communicate in short video. TikTok and Instagram prove that attention is still concentrated where content is fast, visual and personal.

If you're planning marketing for 2026, those are the behaviours you're really planning for. The question is no longer "Should we try AI?" or "Should we test short-form video?" The question is: how quickly can we adapt our content, our workflows and our measurement to match the way people are already using their phones?

Because the apps on their home screens have already decided what "normal" looks like. Marketing's job in 2026 is to catch up.

One big change we'll see in 2026 is the arrival of ads inside tools like ChatGPT. Instead of classic PPC ads that show up as sponsored links in search results, these ads will appear directly inside the answers people get when they ask questions. That means if someone asks for "the best tool for X" or "good alternatives to Y" a brand might be shown as a suggested option inside that reply. This will make marketing less about just bidding on keywords and more about being truly relevant and easy to recommend. To appear in these AI-generated suggestions, companies will need to describe their products in a simple, honest and easy-to-understand way, so the AI knows exactly when to show their brand as a relevant option.

For companies planning 2026, these download rankings are more than just a list - they show what customers now expect. With ChatGPT at number one, people want fast, clear answers, so brands need simple, easy-to-read product pages, emails and support. CapCut's growth shows short videos are a must, so companies should feel comfortable making quick, honest, phone-recorded clips, not only polished ads. And because TikTok and Instagram shape how people search and discover products, brands need to be present there regularly, in a natural way. Adapting in 2026 isn't about chasing every trend - it's about matching how people already use their phones and make decisions.

At PrestaChamps, we pay attention to these shifts because they shape how real customers behave. We help webshops adapt to the digital habits people already have - faster content cycles, clearer messaging, AI-friendly structure and customer experiences that match the speed of the platforms they use every day. Our team doesn't just follow trends; we translate them into practical, measurable improvements for ecommerce brands. In a world where marketing changes faster than ever, we make sure our clients stay ahead of it, not behind.

Contact Us