Grok's unfiltered AI companion, known for its unpredictable and often NSFW responses, has drawn significant media attention. However, it's the latest xAI model - Grok 4 - that has recently driven substantial revenue growth for the application.
xAI, Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, launched Grok 4 on July 9 at midnight. By Friday, July 11, iOS revenue for Grok surged by 325% to $419,000 according to Appfigures data, a sharp increase from the $99,000 recorded the day before the new model's release.
Following the model launch, Grok continued generating above-average revenue for several days, accumulating over $367,000 in total income before declining to $310,000 by July 14.
Daily downloads for the Grok iOS app also experienced a notable boost, rising 279% to 197,000 installations by July 11, compared to just 52,000 downloads before Grok 4's introduction.
However, after the AI companion feature was added on July 14, the growth in downloads and revenue became less pronounced. While curiosity about the companion may have driven more installations, this functionality hasn't yet become a major revenue driver despite its exclusive availability to "SuperGrok" subscribers who pay $30 monthly.
Global iOS downloads for Grok increased by 40% to 171,000 daily installations the day after the companion's launch, but revenue only rose 9% to $337,000.
The impact on revenue is evident, though significantly less pronounced than the effect of launching a new AI model.
The recent introduction of Grok's premium subscription services, priced at up to $300/month and launched concurrently with Grok 4, explains why even minor increases in paid subscriber numbers can dramatically boost iOS revenue.
The company announced three subscription tiers: Grok 4, Grok 4 Heavy, and a new $300/month plan called SuperGrok Heavy, currently the most expensive offering in the market. xAI claims this top-tier plan provides early access to Grok 4 Heavy and other new features, but its price point exceeds similar plans from major AI providers like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic.
Notably, while Grok initially referenced Elon Musk's X posts for answers, xAI has since implemented changes to address this issue.
Interest in the new model significantly boosted Grok's rankings in the US App Store, making it the third most popular overall app immediately after launch and the second most popular productivity app on July 12.
This interest has declined somewhat in the past week - the app now ranks 17th overall but remains second in the productivity category, according to Appfigures data.
Appfigures clarified that they focus on iOS data analysis as this dataset is currently more comprehensive than Android device data. Google Play data is only available up to July 14 due to the extended processing time required by Appfigures' analytical models.
