Following the release of OpenAI’s video generation app Sora, it quickly climbed to the top of the U.S. App Store charts, according to new data from app intelligence provider Appfigures. Technically speaking, Sora outperformed ChatGPT on iOS during its first week. Appfigures estimates that Sora achieved 627,000 iOS downloads within its first seven days, compared to ChatGPT’s 606,000 downloads in its debut week.
Shortly afterward, Bill Peebles, the lead for Sora at OpenAI, announced that Sora reached one million downloads across all platforms in under five days—surpassing ChatGPT's pace, despite being invite-only at the time. He noted that Sora's growth trajectory was even more remarkable given its restricted access model.
While ChatGPT was initially available only in the U.S. during its first week, Sora launched simultaneously in both the U.S. and Canada. Despite this broader availability, Appfigures data shows that Canada contributed approximately 45,000 installations. Therefore, based purely on U.S. figures, Sora’s launch week performance reached about 96% of ChatGPT’s iOS debut.
This level of consumer adoption is particularly notable because Sora requires an invitation to access, whereas ChatGPT was publicly available at launch. This makes Sora’s early success even more impressive.
On its first day alone, Sora gained 56,000 iOS installs, propelling it to the third most popular app on the U.S. App Store. By Friday, October 3rd, it had reached the number one spot. This surge positioned Sora’s launch above other major AI apps like Anthropic’s Claude and Microsoft’s Copilot, and on par with xAI’s Grok in terms of initial traction.
A quick look at social media reveals numerous anecdotes corroborating the Appfigures data. Sora videos, created using the new Sora 2 video model that allows users to generate hyper-realistic deepfakes, seem to be everywhere. Some users have even created deepfakes of deceased individuals, prompting Zelda Williams, daughter of the late actor Robin Williams, to publicly ask people to stop sending her AI-generated images of her father.
According to Appfigures, the app has maintained steady adoption since its initial launch on September 30, 2025. Data indicates that iOS downloads peaked at 107,800 on October 1st. Since then, daily installs have fluctuated between 84,400 (October 6th) and 98,500 (October 4th).
