Claude reached the number one spot on the US Apple App Store on Saturday, overtaking OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The app ranked outside the top 100 at the end of January and climbed steadily throughout February. Anthropic reported that daily signups broke all-time records every day this week. Free users increased more than 60% since January, and paid subscribers more than doubled in 2026.
The surge in popularity coincides with a public dispute between Anthropic and the US government. President Donald Trump directed federal agencies to stop using all Anthropic products. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth designated the company a supply-chain threat. These actions followed Anthropic’s attempt to negotiate safeguards preventing the Department of Defense from using its AI models for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons.
OpenAI subsequently announced its own agreement with the Pentagon. CEO Sam Altman claimed that deal includes safeguards related to domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons.
According to SensorTower data, Claude was outside the top 100 free apps at the end of January. The app climbed from sixth place on Wednesday to fourth on Thursday before reaching first on Saturday.
