Google’s Gemini has edged past ChatGPT on Apple’s U.S. App Store to become the No. 1 free iPhone app. ChatGPT is now in second place, and Threads lists third. Meanwhile, on iPad, Gemini is the top free app as well, ahead of Netflix and ChatGPT, indicating just how much momentum this title has across Apple’s devices.
Why Gemini reached No. 1
What looks like a high-impact creative upgrade is the catalyst: Google’s “Nano Banana” image editor, built right into the Gemini app. The feature enables users to effectively warp photos with natural language prompts that include changing backgrounds, clothing, re-styling scenes (say into watercolor or anime), as well as blending elements from different images — all of them without leaving the same consistent look for a person or pet through a sequence of frames.
Crucially, the edits are iterative. You can continue polishing an image of a subject — adding clouds to a sky, eliminating clutter from a table or placing a car on an empty street — without destroying the identity of your subject. By relying on-device processing through Google’s lightweight models, the app minimizes latency and keeps the workflow fluid, something that makes a difference when users are testing or sharing results rapidly.
That kind of “instant creativity” is a growth engine you can always count on. App intelligence firms like data. ai, Sensor Tower and Appfigures have consistently observed spikes in installs when big feature drops land — particularly those that provoke social sharing. It’s Gemini’s image tools that hit just the right spot: easy to try, simple to show off and free.
A months-long climb
It wasn’t as though Gemini simply ascended to the top overnight. The app has seen an odd climb since its debut, showing just how unpredictable the App Store’s leaderboards can be. Trackers of Apple’s charts that were taken at the time and that are archived via the Internet Archive show Gemini hovering in the mid‑40s at one point and sinking to the mid‑60s on another date, then bouncing back up to the mid-20s before this latest leap to No. 1.
These shifts fit into larger trends, though. Third‑party analytics have always linked the spikes in chart volatility to a cocktail of new features, marketing pushes, and App Store merchandising. Or to put it another way, achieving No. 1 comes down as much to sustained product cadence as a single headline feature.
What it means for ChatGPT — and you
ChatGPT’s descent to second isn’t a tumble into irrelevance, it’s one of the most popular AI apps on iPhone and still ranks highly on iPad. But the surge of Gemini shows how quickly loyalties can change when a rival sends something that feels immediately useful, pleasurable and shareable through inboxes.
For iPhone users, the real story is causation. Between Search, Photos and Maps—you’ll find Google’s apps integrated throughout Apple’s platform (though not without trade-offs) on both iPhone and iPad—Gemini is now the anchor of Google’s overall ecosystem. It can plug into daily tasks (share sheets, widgets, and shortcuts) without replacing Siri. For creative work, on‑device generation can also help sow privacy and expedite iteration. Google has emphasized safety guardrails and watermarking for AI imagery through its SynthID system, a focus that has become more pertinent as generative content spreads outside the app.
The top‑chart cameo by Threads on iPhone and Netflix’s strong showing on iPad serve as a useful reminder: AI apps are not competing in a silo. They’re fighting for attention across social, streaming and gameplay —overall mobile time spent—so a single breakout feature becomes even more important when trying to scale the ranks.
Will the lead last?
App Store rankings cycle constantly, so retention is the more telling metric: how many of those people who tried Gemini using it after the initial buzz. Historical trends, as monitored by Sensor Tower and data. aiSurges to the top of a chart can evaporate within days — unless there’s follow-up, intelligent onboarding and good word of mouth.
Expect the rivalry to escalate. OpenAI is still releasing multimodal enhancements and fun tools of its own, and Google has made it clear they are willing to ship on a fast cadence. If the last week is any indication, the answer will depend on which app provides the next “wow” moment that everyday iPhone users can take for a spin in seconds — and share just as quickly.
