Gemini has surged past ChatGPT in mobile app popularity, climbing to the top of the U.S. App Store and achieving a 45% month-over-month increase in downloads during September, according to data from app intelligence firm Appfigures. The spike in adoption follows the August launch of Gemini’s Nano Banana image editor model, which has been widely praised for enabling users to perform complex edits and generate highly realistic images with greater ease. As of mid-September, Gemini had already amassed 12.6 million downloads—up from 8.7 million in August—making it the fastest-growing AI app on iOS this year. The app reached No. 1 on the U.S. App Store on September 12, overtaking OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which dropped to No. 2. Prior to this, Gemini’s highest ranking was No. 3, achieved on January 28, 2025. Globally, Gemini has become one of the top five iPhone apps in 108 countries, underscoring its rapid mainstream appeal. On Google Play, the app jumped from No. 26 in the U.S. on September 8 to No. 2 by early September, though ChatGPT still holds the top spot on Android. Google has highlighted the success of the Nano Banana model, noting that since its release, the app has attracted 23 million new users. These users have shared over 500 million images through the platform, according to Josh Woodward, VP of Google Gemini and Google Labs, who shared the figures on X. The app’s growing user base is also translating into stronger revenue. In August, Gemini generated $1.6 million in revenue on iOS—up 1,291% from January’s $115,000. So far in September, it has earned $792,000, nearly half of August’s total, suggesting it may match or exceed that figure by month’s end. Since its initial launch on Android in February 2024 and its later expansion to iOS, Gemini has been downloaded 103.7 million times this year and has now seen a total of 185.4 million downloads worldwide. The success of the Nano Banana model marks a pivotal moment in Google’s push to expand Gemini’s reach beyond chat-based AI, positioning it as a leading tool for creative and visual AI tasks.