Gemini overtakes ChatGPT on App Store, as its Nano Banana AI model drives downloads up 45%

Gemini’s mobile adoption has been soaring since the August launch of its Nano Banana image editor model, which has received positive reviews, particularly from users who say they can now more easily perform complex edits and create realistic images. The app has climbed to the top of global app stores’ charts and has seen a 45% month-over-month increase in downloads in the month of September so far, according to new data provided by app intelligence firm Appfigures.

Though the month is only half over, Gemini’s app has already gained 12.6 million downloads in September, up from 8.7 million in August.

Before this month, Gemini had only gotten as high as No. 3 on the U.S. App Store on January 28, 2025.

Shortly after Nano Banana’s release, Gemini reached the No. 2 spot on the U.S. App Store on September 8. It then became the No. 1 app on September 12, where it has remained, after knocking OpenAI’s ChatGPT down to No. 2. No other dedicated AI apps are in the top 10 on the App Store at this time.

Gemini also became one of the top five iPhone apps overall in 108 countries globally, Appfigures’ data indicates.

On Google Play, Gemini jumped from the No. 26 overall top app in the U.S. on September 8 to become the No. 2 app as of Monday. However, despite Android being Google’s own platform, ChatGPT remains in the top spot as of the time of writing.

Google has been touting Gemini’s growth, as more mainstream users have been trying out the new image editing features. For instance, Google Gemini and Google Labs VP Josh Woodward shared on X on September 8 that the app had gained 23 million first-time users since the Nano Banana model launched, and those users had shared over 500 million images.

The app’s rapid growth is also driving increases in consumer spending.

Of the $6.3 million Gemini generated this year on iOS devices, $1.6 million was from the month of August, with much of that coming in after the Nano Banana model’s release. That’s up 1,291% from January’s figure of $115,000, Appfigures estimates.

The app is also on track to at least match August’s number if not surpass it in September, as Gemini has pulled in $792,000 so far this month — roughly half of August’s total.

This year, Gemini’s app has been downloaded 103.7 million times, and has seen 185.4 million downloads to date since its launch on Android in February 2024 and its expansion to iOS later that year.

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