A billion prompts later, ChatGPT rewrites the record books

In November 2022, OpenAI’s chat assistant ChatGPT reached 1 million users in just five days, becoming the fastest-growing consumer app ever.

Three years after its launch, it achieved another milestone, reaching 1 billion users in May 2026, according to the latest data from Sensor Tower. No other app has reached the 1 billion-user mark as quickly, including some of the world’s most popular platforms such as TikTok, YouTube and Instagram.

While its growth momentum remains unprecedented, ChatGPT’s dominance is increasingly being challenged by Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude, both of which are gaining market share.