A recent report from third-party analytics provider Apptopia suggests that ChatGPT’s mobile app may have reached its highest point in terms of growth. Their data shows that the rate of new user acquisition, based on global download percentage changes, began to decelerate after April.
The company analyzed global daily active user (DAU) trends and observed that growth has started to plateau over the last several weeks.
ChatGPT mobile app global daily active users.
Image Credits:Apptopia
Even though October is only halfway through, Apptopia projects an 8.1% decrease in global downloads compared to the previous month.
It’s important to note that these figures reflect the growth in downloads, not the total number. In terms of absolute new installs, ChatGPT’s mobile app continues to perform strongly, still attracting millions of downloads every day.
Nonetheless, a slowdown in download growth could indicate that the app’s expansion is losing momentum. For ChatGPT, this could be due to rising competition and modifications to its AI model’s behavior.
Looking closer, additional data shows that the average time spent per DAU in the U.S. has fallen by 22.5% since July, while the average number of sessions per DAU has dropped by 20.7%.
This suggests that American users are both spending less time in the ChatGPT app and opening it fewer times each day. Meanwhile, user churn in the U.S. has decreased and stabilized, meaning the app is now holding onto its core audience, with fewer users trying it briefly and then leaving.
OpenAI did not reply to requests for comment.
Image Credits:Apptopia
Apart from possibly reaching its maximum growth, other elements may have contributed to this trend. These include not just competition from Google’s Gemini, but also shifts in user engagement following an April update that aimed to make the chatbot’s AI less agreeable. This continued with the August launch of GPT-5, which was also reported to be less personable.
However, Apptopia points out that the downward trend in ChatGPT’s average time spent per DAU and average sessions per DAU began before Google’s Gemini surged in popularity in September, following the debut of Google’s new AI image model, Nano Banana.
Therefore, while Gemini’s rise may have affected some of the recent declines in ChatGPT’s main metrics, it does not fully account for the overall pattern, according to Apptopia.
Image Credits:Apptopia
Additionally, Apptopia notes that if only the average time per DAU was falling while session counts remained steady, it could mean users were simply getting faster at using ChatGPT. But since both metrics are declining, that’s not the case.
Instead, Apptopia suggests that the initial phase of experimentation with the ChatGPT app may be over, and it is now becoming integrated into users’ regular habits. People are likely turning to the app as needed, rather than using it more frequently as they did when it was first launched.
For OpenAI, this means the company will need to focus on marketing or introduce new features to reinvigorate these key metrics, much like other established mobile apps do. Relying solely on the novelty factor is no longer enough to drive further growth.



