ChatGPT becomes most-used smartphone app in South Korea in 2025

ChatGPT recorded the highest user growth rate among smartphone apps in South Korea in 2025, according to a survey by Wiseapp Retail.

The generative AI app from OpenAI saw its user base rise 196.6% between January and November, based on data from 4 million smartphone users.

Daiso Mall, the ecommerce platform for discount retailer Daiso, ranked second with a 31.9% rise, followed by Olive Young at 30.8%, and Monino, an asset-management service app for users of Samsung Group’s financial affiliates, at 28.1%.

ChatGPT also topped usage, averaging 16.7 million monthly users, ahead of Kakao Pay with 9.1 million, and Olive Young with 8.6 million.

🔗 Source: Yonhap

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Wiseapp’s mobile panel likely misses web use; operating system (OS) coverage is unknown

Wiseapp Retail’s panel covers 4 million smartphone users, but it does not say if it includes Android or iOS or both, though a March 2025 survey covered both 1.
Wiseapp’s July 2024 survey tracked 3.96 million users, 7.7% of Korea’s 51.2 million smartphone users, so the 16.7 million monthly active users (MAU) likely comes from a scaled sample rather than direct counts 2.
Mobile panels miss ChatGPT.com web use, so desktop users are not counted.
Use care when comparing ChatGPT’s 196.6% growth with retail apps, since app versus web mixes differ by category.

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) founders in Korea can reach 16.7 million MAU if the GPT Store launches locally

ChatGPT counts 16.7 million monthly users in Korea. Developers could reach them with custom GPTs (configurable ChatGPT versions that can be shared or published) if OpenAI’s GPT Store (a marketplace for those GPTs) is on apps, with rollout and monetization unconfirmed.
May 2024 usage covered all ages, and ages 20 to 40 made up 73%, supporting business-to-consumer (B2C) GPTs for productivity or education or entertainment 3.
business-to-business (B2B) teams can use an application programming interface (API) or build enterprise GPTs. In October 2024, usage time reached 51.6 minutes monthly, up 20 minutes year over year 4.
Confirm GPT monetization and local data residency (storing and processing data within Korea) before launch. OpenAI plans a Seoul office 5 and local data-storing features 6.