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It's the most wonderful time of the year, and as we wait for Santa Claus to squeeze himself down the cyber chimney and leave us some goodies under our tech trees, we can barely move for end of year reviews, gadget wishlists, and having to find that perfect Secret Santa gift for Karen from finance.
As a truly wild 2025 comes to an end, it's time to sit back and bask in the glow of the fireplace DVD while supping a mug of eggnog and looking back on the past 12 months. From the return of President Donald Trump to the White House to the rescue of NASA marooned astronauts, we've had Elon Musk's spectacular falling out with the POTUS, fears that 3I/ATLAS is an alien mothership, the assassination of Charlie Kirk, JD Vance memes, iPhones refurbished as Trump phones, and the ever-looming threat that artificial intelligence is going to wipe us all out.
What a year it's been, but as we head into the festive season and the various Spotify Wrapped and Pornhub Year in Reviews reveal how we've been passing the time in 2025, Apple has also revealed its most popular apps.
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Confirming the top free apps of 2025, OpenAI's ChatGPT came out on top for Apple users. This is no surprise considering how the AI chatbot has embedded itself in our everyday lives since its humble November 2022 launch, but with it, there are some concerns.
The rest of the most-downloaded free apps include Threads in second place and Google in third, with the equally divisive TikTok taking fourth and the Top 5 being rounded out by WhatsApp.
TechCrunch notes that ChatGPT is still on the up, having climbed from fourth place in 2024 – where Temu took the crown.
It's also soared up the charts, considering it didn't even rank in the Top 10 in 2023.
Still, there are wider concerns about ChatGPT and its booming popularity, especially in the aftermath of Disney just signing a $1 billion deal with OpenAI.
It's no secret that OpenAI has faced some unpleasant headlines in 2025, especially with it being linked to several deaths and the father of the late Adam Raine telling Congress that things need to be more regulated.
Elsewhere, ChatGPT was implicated in fuelling the 'delusions' of Connecticut-based Stein-Erik Soelberg, who killed his mother after becoming convinced she was spying on him.
In November 2025, seven new lawsuits were filed in California, involving claims of wrongful death, assisted suicide, and involuntary manslaughter, with both OpenAI and Sam Altman named as defendants.
The suits allege that OpenAI knowingly released GPT-4o before it was ready, despite internal warnings that were supposedly “dangerously sycophantic and psychologically manipulative."
If all of that wasn't enough to contend with, there's the ongoing saga between OpenAI and the New York Times.
While Altman and co. are sure to be happy that ChatGPT is topping the charts for Apple, it comes at a time when there's more scrutiny than ever, and there are some particularly beady eyes looking at the AI giant's every move.
