New data published by the Government Digital Service shows how people used the GOV.UK website and app during 2025, highlighting rising mobile use, rapid early adoption of the GOV.UK app and a growing role for AI tools in directing users to government information.
The figures show that the GOV.UK website received around one billion visits and 2.3 billion page views over the course of the year, based on users who consented to analytics cookies. Officials said overall use is likely to be higher once visits that cannot be measured are taken into account.
Mobile access continued to increase throughout 2025, with smartphones accounting for 61 per cent of visits by December. The trend reflects a longer-term shift towards mobile-first access to public services and information.
The data also points to a change in how users are discovering GOV.UK content. GDS said it had seen a noticeable increase in referrals from AI-powered services such as ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google Gemini. ChatGPT was the most common AI referral source, suggesting that conversational search tools are becoming an important route to official government guidance.
High-demand services continued to drive traffic to the site. Pages related to the electronic travel authorisation system attracted more than 9.8 million visits during the year, while significant spikes in usage were also linked to major events such as the Autumn Budget and international travel disruption.
Use of the GOV.UK app grew quickly following its public beta launch in July 2025. By the end of December, the app had been downloaded more than 316,000 times, with early data indicating strong engagement among users.
GDS said 85 per cent of app users had customised their homepage with topics relevant to them, while 46 per cent were return users, regularly revisiting content through saved pages and previous searches.
Social media continued to play a supporting role in distributing government information. GOV.UK content generated almost 20 million views on X during 2025, around nine million views on Facebook, and millions more across Instagram and Threads.
Alongside the usage data, GDS highlighted progress on GOV.UK Chat, an AI-powered conversational service that has been tested in public pilots on the website and app. The service is expected to launch first within the app in 2026, giving users another way to access government services and guidance using natural language.