Shadow IT Index: November 2025
Desktop and design tools lead November's shadow IT, and none of the 10 apps claims SOC 2.
Updated October 7, 2026 · ChangelogSource: Torii Research, anonymized and aggregated usage data. Published November 5, 2025. Summary figures computed from the 10 apps in this report.
What kinds of apps
Every edition, by theme →Not in this edition, but in October 2025: Sales, marketing, and CX (40%), AI coding and building (10%).
Share of the 10 apps in this edition, by theme. Each app has one theme, assigned by Torii Research from what the product does; AI marks the AI themes. Select a theme to filter the list below. How themes work.
Top of the index
Ranked by Shadow IT index, then viral score.
All 10 apps
The most popular unauthorized apps in enterprise environments
Productivity
OneLaunch
Employees likely seek a better desktop user experience than company-provided tools · valuing the quick access to apps and a customizable environment for personal productivity.
About OneLaunch
OneLaunch is a powerful desktop customization tool and fast web browser (built on Chromium) for Windows 10 and 11. It adds a dock with built-in features like a search bar, shortcuts, and apps for weather, news, and more. It is not malware but is sometimes considered a potentially unwanted program (PUP).
Theme: Browsers and search
Vendor claims: GDPR
Design
OpenArt AI
Employees may find OpenArt's advanced AI features and ease of use solve creative needs quickly · bypassing slow approval processes or limitations in existing enterprise tools.
About OpenArt AI
OpenArt is an AI-powered art platform where users can create and edit images using pre-built models or by training their own. It offers a suite of advanced AI tools, including image generation, editing, and video creation features, to enhance creative projects.
Theme: AI content and media · AI-native
Vendor claims: none listed
Design
Wondershare
Employees may be using this for immediate creative or productivity needs that current · authorized enterprise solutions do not address or are too complex for quick tasks.
About Wondershare
Wondershare is a software company dedicated to redefining digital experiences. They offer powerful, simple software focused on creativity, productivity, and utility, used by millions of people in over 200 countries worldwide.
Theme: Design and video
Vendor claims: none listed
Productivity
Smallpdf
Employees likely use Smallpdf because existing corporate tools are too complex or lack the simple · all-in-one PDF management capabilities needed for daily tasks.
About Smallpdf
Smallpdf is an all-in-one PDF editor and document organizer, trusted by over a billion people. It offers more than 20 tools to simplify document management, including converting, compressing, editing, e-signing, merging, splitting, and scanning PDFs across web, desktop, and mobile devices.
Theme: Personal productivity
Vendor claims: ISO 27001, GDPR
IT & Security
Remote Desktop Manager
Employees may use it because the company's approved tools lack the necessary security and centralized access features for managing diverse remote connections efficiently · creating a productivity gap.
About Remote Desktop Manager
Remote Desktop Manager centralizes and secures remote connection technologies, machine data, password management, and access control. It supports numerous protocols like RDP, SSH, and VNC, helping IT departments enhance security, productivity, and reduce risk.
Theme: Security and IT
Vendor claims: GDPR
Design
GIMP
Employees likely use this free · cross-platform tool because it offers powerful · specialized image editing capabilities not available in standard company software or easily accessible through IT.
About GIMP
GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a free and open-source raster graphics editor. It is used for tasks like photo retouching, image composition, and original artwork creation. It is cross-platform and licensed under the GNU General Public License.
Theme: Design and video
Vendor claims: GDPR
Developer Tools
Zed.dev
Employees likely use this to collaborate more effectively and leverage modern AI tools not integrated into existing company-approved code editors · indicating a gap in current software offerings.
About Zed.dev
Zed is a next-generation, high-performance code editor available for macOS, Linux, and Windows. It is designed for collaboration and features native support for agentic editing, enabling fluent collaboration between humans and AI.
Theme: Developer and data tools
Vendor claims: GDPR
Productivity
ChatOn
Employees may use ChatOn because they need quick · versatile AI assistance for tasks like summarizing and drafting · which might be lacking or cumbersome in approved enterprise tools.
About ChatOn
ChatOn is a personal AI chat bot assistant that can summarize, rewrite, and translate documents, and answer questions about file content. It also features text-to-image creation, grammar checking, social media post generation, and image-to-text conversion.
Theme: AI assistants · AI-native
Vendor claims: none listed
Operations
Crown Castle
Employees may use it because existing enterprise tools lack the specialized features needed for managing shared telecommunications infrastructure · requiring a more tailored solution.
About Crown Castle
Crown Castle Inc. is a telecommunications company specializing in shared communications infrastructure in the U.S. It owns and operates cell towers, fiber, and small cells to support wireless networks, enabling connectivity for businesses and communities.
Theme: Ops, HR, and finance
Vendor claims: GDPR
Design
Doodly
Employees likely use this tool because it offers a significantly faster and simpler method for producing professional-looking videos than cumbersome · complex company-approved alternatives.
About Doodly
Creates engaging whiteboard animations using an intuitive drag-and-drop interface. Users can produce captivating videos quickly and effortlessly, requiring no prior technical skills to achieve professional-quality results.
Theme: Design and video
Vendor claims: none listed
Source: Torii Research, anonymized and aggregated usage data. Published November 5, 2025. Summary figures computed from the 10 apps in this report.
What the data says
OneLaunch, OpenArt AI, Wondershare, and Smallpdf top the index with the maximum Shadow IT score of 100. Every other app scores 92 or higher.
Design (4) is the largest category, including OpenArt AI, Wondershare, and GIMP.
GIMP and Remote Desktop Manager have the highest viral scores, at 9.1 and 8.8. Only Smallpdf claims two of SOC 2, ISO 27001, and GDPR.
Based on anonymized, aggregated usage data from October 1 to 31, 2025.
Bottom line
Shadow IT isn’t sneaking in this month, it’s sprinting. Desktop customizers and quick-creation tools dominate (OneLaunch, OpenArt, Wondershare, Smallpdf), many scoring a 92 to 100 Shadow IT Index, clear proof convenience is beating procurement. Power users are also adding developer and access tooling like Zed.dev and Remote Desktop Manager with high viral momentum (RDM 8.8, Zed.dev 7.2), raising stakes for secrets and privileged connections. Compliance gaps are common, most entries lack SOC 2/ISO, with Smallpdf a notable ISO 27001 outlier. Bring these apps into scope fast: discover and tag, block risky data entry, and guide users to approved alternatives with evidence-backed guardrails.
The data
Show the full data table (10 rows)
| Rank | App | Category | Theme | AI-native | Shadow IT index | Viral score | SOC 2 claimed | ISO 27001 claimed | GDPR claimed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | OneLaunch | Productivity | Browsers and search | No | 100 | 4.5 | No | No | Yes |
| 2 | OpenArt AI | Design | AI content and media | Yes | 100 | 3.1 | No | No | No |
| 3 | Wondershare | Design | Design and video | No | 100 | 3.1 | No | No | No |
| 4 | Smallpdf | Productivity | Personal productivity | No | 100 | 2.8 | No | Yes | Yes |
| 5 | Remote Desktop Manager | IT & Security | Security and IT | No | 96 | 8.8 | No | No | Yes |
| 6 | GIMP | Design | Design and video | No | 92 | 9.1 | No | No | Yes |
| 7 | Zed.dev | Developer Tools | Developer and data tools | No | 92 | 7.2 | No | No | Yes |
| 8 | ChatOn | Productivity | AI assistants | Yes | 92 | 3.1 | No | No | No |
| 9 | Crown Castle | Operations | Ops, HR, and finance | No | 92 | 3.1 | No | No | Yes |
| 10 | Doodly | Design | Design and video | No | 92 | 3.1 | No | No | No |
Free to quote with attribution to Torii Research and a link to this page. A plain-text version is at shadow-it-index-november-2025.md.
How to read this index
- Adoption
- The percentage of monitored organizations where the app was adopted during that month: a monthly figure, not a running total. The list is ranked on this number where it is available.
- Shadow IT index
- How often the app is left as "discovered" rather than sanctioned through SSO or procurement, normalized to 0 to 100.
- Why it surfaced
- The app's top functional tags. Open an app for its full profile across every edition.
Definitions in the glossary; formulas and limitations on the Methodology page.
Changelog
- ClarificationStandardized the data source description.
- UpdateAdded takeaways from this edition's data.
- UpdateMoved from toriiresearch.com; title standardized.
