OpenAI’s Sora captures the top spot on Apple’s US App Store

Sora has made a notable entry into the mobile application market, with its iOS app garnering an estimated 164,000 installs within its first two days, September 30 and October 1. This initial performance positions Sora ahead of rivals such as Anthropic’s Claude and Microsoft’s Copilot in day-one downloads, while mirroring the debut success of xAI’s Grok. However, established players like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini iOS apps experienced even more robust launches, each securing at least 80,000 downloads on their respective first days.

It is important to note that Sora is currently invite-only, which may skew direct comparisons. Had the new video app been accessible to all users, it is plausible that its install figures could have been considerably higher.

To offer a more equitable comparison, Appfigures conducted an analysis focusing specifically on downloads within the U.S., supplemented by Canadian figures where apps were available at launch. This deeper dive revealed that ChatGPT and Gemini indeed outpaced Sora in day-one iOS downloads, recording 81,000 and 80,000 respectively. Sora tied with Grok, both achieving 56,000 day-one installs, and comfortably surpassed the launches of AI apps Claude, which saw 21,000 downloads, and Copilot, which registered just 7,000.

Beyond download numbers, Sora also swiftly ascended the U.S. App Store’s top charts, clinching the No. 3 overall position by its second day. In comparison, ChatGPT reached the No. 1 spot on its second day, while Grok secured No. 4, Gemini No. 6, Copilot No. 19, and Claude No. 78.