It’s officially been a year since ChatGPT launched, taking the world by storm as the survey preview turned into an everyday tool that brought AI chatbot technology to mainstream users. A large part of this effort was driven by the launch of the ChatGPT mobile app, whose May 2023 release on iOS put the chatbot in the hands of more consumers, followed later by a July 2023 release on Android. Now, on the technology’s first anniversary, new data shows that ChatGPT’s mobile app versions have surpassed 110 million combined installs and reached nearly $30 million in consumer spending, according to market analysis provided to TechCrunch by the service provider mobile information. data.ai.
ChatGPT mobile apps make money by selling ChatGPT Plus subscription through in-app purchases. The $19.99 per month service offers a variety of extra perks, including general access during peak hours, faster response times, and early access to new features and improvements. The subscription expanded to non-US users in February 2023, ahead of mobile app debut.
As an in-app purchase, the subscription is quite expensive given that it costs more than many music and streaming services, but consumer interest in accessing ChatGPS Plus has increased demand over time, data.ai says. In total, ChatGPT’s apps have generated approximately $28.6 million in global mobile consumer spending, though many more users have likely signed up via the web. However, other mobile app users may also have subscribed to different AI chatbot apps, some likely using ChatGPT’s API. For example, Poe, an app that lets you play with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other AI chatbots like Anthropic’s Claude and others in one interface, had 1.18 million monthly active users as of September 2023, according to app intelligence company Apptoppia.
Image Credits: data.ai
While data.ai’s analysis differs from others in ranking ChatGPT based on consumer spending, it still shows that it is not the top chatbot based on revenue. Ask AI, which surpassed ChatGPT for mobile, is ahead and offers several in-app purchase options at lower prices for premium features, ranging from one week to one year, as well as multiple tiers such as “premium” and “elite”.
Image Credits: data.ai
In addition to its monetization potential, ChatGPT’s mobile app downloads continue to grow following its spring and summer debuts on iOS and Android, respectively, now exceeding 110 million.
Within a week of its launch on Google Play, ChatGPT’s Android downloads set a record with around 18 million new installs — a number that has yet to be surpassed by any other mobile app, data.ai notes. Combined iOS and Android downloads now average over 4 million weekly. And they’ve maintained that number for the past five weeks.
Image Credits: data.ai
In terms of downloads, this puts ChatGPT ahead of other AI production apps like Character AI, Ask AI, Open Chat, Nova, ChatBot, AI Mirror, Imagine, Artimind and ChatBox, the data show.
Meanwhile, India and the US are almost tied as the country that accounts for the most ChatGPT downloads at 18% and 17.5%, respectively.
Image Credits: data.ai
However, an analysis of Android data shows that ChatGPT may not be the most commonly used AI app. Instead, it ranks third behind Character AI, where users can create personalized AI chatbots, and another similar AI app, Chai. These kinds of apps lend themselves to more sessions overall than the more utilitarian ChatGPT, although that could change with the launch of market-specific GPTs, data.ai suggested.
The company expects that by the end of 2023, ChatGPT will have added tens of millions more installs and revenue.
