Sora’s first-week downloads rival ChatGPT’s iOS launch

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OpenAI’s latest app, Sora, has surged to near-record adoption, logging 627,000 iOS downloads in its first week — just shy of ChatGPT’s 606,000 downloads during its 2023 App Store debut. The data, shared by Appfigures, shows that despite its invite-only rollout, Sora’s growth nearly matched one of the most successful app launches in recent memory.

The app launched on September 30, 2025, in the U.S. and Canada, where Canada contributed about 45,000 installs. Even when isolating U.S. numbers, Sora achieved 96% of ChatGPT’s early performance, briefly topping the U.S. App Store chart by October 3.

Sora also outperformed other major AI app debuts, including Anthropic’s Claude, Microsoft Copilot, and xAI’s Grok, with daily downloads peaking at 107,800. Appfigures said Sora maintained between 84,000 and 98,000 daily installs through its first week, underscoring sustained user demand.

The spike is attributed to viral social media clips featuring Sora 2, the upgraded model capable of generating hyper-realistic videos and deepfakes from text prompts. While these capabilities drove user curiosity, they also sparked ethical debates after actor Zelda Williams condemned AI-generated videos depicting her late father, Robin Williams.

Despite the controversy, analysts say Sora’s rapid rise signals a new wave of consumer adoption for AI video tools, showing how generative models are crossing from novelty to mainstream entertainment.