What do people actually use ChatGPT for?

ChatGPT is a genius tutor, a mid therapist, and a terrible artist, say users.

In March 2025, ChatGPT’s mobile app rocketed to over 64.26 million App Store and Google Play downloads worldwide, winning it top rankings among non-gaming apps.

In less than two years since its initial launch, ChatGPT has gone from novelty to a pocket-sized oracle used by hundreds of millions of users. Students, creators, professionals, and casual users alike are tapping into ChatGPT as a tool they depend on.

The app is used to write essays, fix code, translate texts, generate art, or provide advice on life. But which daily life tasks are the most commonly delegated to the AI assistant? InboxArmy, an email marketing agency, has analyzed nearly 89,000 Google Play reviews between July 2023 and April 2025 to map out how people are using ChatGPT on the go.

ChatGPT is used mostly as a personal tutor

The education use cases dominated the top list, with 41.49% of all specific mentions. And users love the app, with 89.41% of reviews in this category being positive, earning it an impressive 4.60-star average to match.

"I've been using this app for school projects and learning, and it's amazing! It helps me solve math problems with detailed explanations... It's like having a super-smart tutor available anytime," writes a user in a review.

Visual content keeps disappointing

The second-most mentioned category, with 18.58% of reviews, is visual content. However, users are not that satisfied with the quality of ChaGPT's effort in the field.

Nearly 43% of reviews are negative, dragging the average rating to a mediocre 3.33 stars. The complaints are loud and consistent – ChatGPT often spits out blurry and bizarre images.

"I looooove ChatGPT... The images ALWAYS come out messed up and poor quality," lamented one user in a 3-star review.

Replacing the internet search engine

Coming in at third place, ChatGPT is being used by users to search for information, often pushing traditional search engines aside. These tasks made up 9.4% of reviews, with 74.83% positive sentiment and a strong 4.31-star average.

The popularity of using AI while searching for information is not surprising – ChatGPT offers direct, summarized answers that are ready to use.

Self-help, work emails, and a little bit of code

Beyond homework and image generation, ChatGPT’s mobile app is also becoming a go-to tool for self-growth, work, and creativity.

Personal Improvement makes a strong showing at 7.29%, earning a 4.82-star average and 96.05% positive sentiment. Users are turning to it for journaling, goal-setting, and mindfulness exercises.

Professional communication isn’t far behind, with 6.23% of mentions and a 4.68-star rating, as users lean on the app for everything from writing emails to clarifying their thoughts at work. 5.0% of users use it for content creation, 4.31% for translation, and 2.73% to write code.

How is OpenAI doing?

2024 was a landmark year for OpenAI, marked by major tech moves and internal shakeups. The company rolled out GPT-4o with voice capabilities, partnered with Apple on its generative AI initiative, Apple Intelligence, and finally unveiled its long-awaited text-to-video model, Sora.

Behind the scenes, OpenAI grappled with internal turbulence. Most notably, the departures of co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever and CTO Mira Murati.

Legal trouble also piled on, with lawsuits from Alden Global Capital-owned newspapers over alleged copyright violations and an injunction from Elon Musk aimed at halting the company’s pivot to a for-profit model.

In 2025, OpenAI is facing a new challenge – fending off growing skepticism that it's losing its edge in the global AI race, especially as Chinese competitors like DeepSeek start to close in.