Sora achieved 1M downloads faster than ChatGPT

After OpenAI’s video-generating app Sora rocketed to the No. 1 spot on the US App Store, it now, technically, has a bigger first week than ChatGate on iOS, according to new data from the app intelligence provider. appfigureIts estimates show that Sora saw 627,000 iOS downloads in its first seven days of availability, while ChatGPT had 606,000 iOS downloads during its first week.

Shortly after the publication of this article, Bill Peebles, head of OpenAI’s Sora, announced Sora reached one million downloads in less than five days (across all platforms, not just iOS). He said that Sora was faster than ChatGPT, despite being in invite-only mode.

ChatGPT was only available in the US during its first week, while Sora is currently available in the US and Canada at launch. Nevertheless, AppFigures data indicated that Canada contributed about 45,000 installs, so the Sora launch alone was about 96% of ChatGPT’s launch on iOS if the data were based only on US numbers.

This level of consumer adoption is notable because Sora requires an invitation to join, whereas ChatGPT was publicly available at launch. This makes Sora’s performance all the more impressive.

During its first day, Sora installed 56,000 iOS apps in a short period of time, making the app the No. 3 top overall app on the US App Store, AppFigures said. By Friday, October 3, it reached number 1. That surge already put Sora’s debut ahead of other major AI app launches, including Anthropic’s Cloud and Microsoft’s Copilot, and put it on par with XAI’s Grok launch.

A quick scan of social media provides plenty of anecdotes that support AppFigures’ data. Sora Video, which uses the new Sora 2 video model and gives users the ability to generate realistic deepfakes, is appearing everywhere. Users are even creating deepfakes of dead people, a use case that has inspired Zelda Williams, daughter of late actor Robin Williams, to ask people to stop sending AI-generated images of her father.

According to AppFigures, the app has seen steady adoption since its first day on the market, September 30, 2025. Its data shows that daily downloads on iOS reached a high of 107,800 downloads on October 1, 2025. It has since seen between 84,400 daily installs (on October 6) and 98,500 daily installs (on October 4).

While that’s not much higher than last week, it’s still a good number for an app that not everyone can still use.

This post was updated after its original publication on October 8 to include new information shared by OpenAI’s Bill Peebles.