AI has Become Mainstream: Users Turn to ChatGPT About as Often as X and Reddit

With a rapidly growing user base, AI's utility has broadened significantly. Consumers are increasingly leveraging AI Assistants across a spectrum of needs, from enhancing productivity to providing entertainment, solidifying its mainstream status. Sensor Tower’s State of AI Apps Report 2025 dives deep into how consumer behavior is constantly changing around AI – and how to keep up.

Consumers are Getting More Comfortable with AI Assistants

Users are increasingly turning to their favorite AI Assistants, a strong indicator that these apps are becoming integral to consumers' daily routines. This trend is particularly noticeable for the largest AI players, including ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot. These apps are actively enticing users with new features and use cases to encourage more frequent engagement. Note that the slight decline in the average number of days used in June compared to May is largely attributable to June having one fewer day.

ChatGPT has quickly become more "sticky" for its users, with the average user turning to the app approximately 13 times each month. This frequency is similar to that of users on other popular apps like X and Reddit. For comparison, Threads, which launched around the same time as ChatGPT, has seen its average number of days used level out at around 9-10 per month.

Google remains the gold standard for mobile users seeking information, with users averaging more than 18 days of use per month in June 2025. It's notable that ChatGPT (and AI Assistants more broadly) have yet to fully replace search engines like Google when it comes to consistent usage.

ChatGPT Use Cases Expand as it Gains Broad Appeal

As ChatGPT has expanded its user base, its use cases have become more diverse. The top five prompt categories, all classified as Work & Education related, accounted for nearly half of all prompts in Q2 2024. By Q2 2025, however, these same top five categories only represented 37% of prompts.

Simultaneously, some more niche use cases have experienced the fastest growth over the past year. Examples of prompt categories falling under the "Other" classification include Conversational, Business & Entrepreneurship, Personal Finance, and Travel & Geography. This trend indicates that ChatGPT users are increasingly exploring novel ways to integrate the service into their day-to-day lives.

Over the last year, ChatGPT has experienced a dramatic shift, moving beyond its initial role as a purely technical tool for work and school toward more lifestyle and entertainment-oriented use cases. The share of prompts categorized under Lifestyle & Entertainment climbed from 22% in Q2 2024 to nearly 35% in Q2 2025.

It's important to note that ChatGPT remains a tremendously valuable resource for Work & Education related prompts. These categories still accounted for nearly 60% of all prompts in Q2 2025. While their growth rate is slower compared to Lifestyle & Entertainment categories, the total number of prompts for work and education continues to increase, indicating their sustained importance to users.

Understanding how consumers are engaging with LLMs like ChatGPT is now pivotal to a successful digital strategy. Early data is available for Sensor Tower's AI Chatbot Insights — learn more here.

Want More Insights on the Latest in AI? Read the Full Report

Read the State of AI Apps Report 2025 covering the latest on how AI is reshaping the mobile and digital advertising spaces, spanning 24 markets in a dynamic, interactive format covering:

• Audience Insights: See how the audience for AI has changed rapidly over the past few years and understand how to support demand for new user cases

• AI Across Verticals: AI is everywhere on mobile. See how top apps are adapting, proactively adding AI features to ward off competition from AI Assistants like ChatGPT.

• App Store Optimization: Discover the latest strategies to boost organic discovery, from screenshots to keywords to custom product pages

• Advertising Trends: Digital ad spend from Generative AI brands is picking up as top players compete for new users

• Advertising Strategies: Find out how top AI Assistants are trying to reach a more casual audience