OpenAI’s Sora nearly matches ChatGPT’s launch with 627,000 iOS downloads in first week

OpenAI’s new video-generation app, Sora, is off to a strong start, reaching nearly the same level of first-week adoption as ChatGPT’s iOS debut, according to new data from app analytics firm Appfigures.

In its first seven days, Sora recorded 627,000 downloads on iOS, slightly surpassing ChatGPT’s 606,000 installs during its launch week in May 2023. While ChatGPT’s rollout was limited to the U.S., Sora launched in both the U.S. and Canada, giving it a slightly broader base. Appfigures estimates Canada accounted for about 45,000 downloads, meaning Sora’s U.S.-only total would have reached roughly 96% of ChatGPT’s first-week figure.

🤯 Invite-only and still outpacing ChatGPT’s launch.

Sora pulled 627K iOS downloads in 7 days.
That’s +21K over ChatGPT’s 2023 debut.

Hype alone can move App Store charts. pic.twitter.com/CYrHNPngwu

— Appfigures (@appfigures) October 7, 2025

Despite being invite-only, Sora’s debut has outperformed several other major AI app launches, including Anthropic’s Claude, Microsoft’s Copilot, and xAI’s Grok. The app climbed rapidly on Apple’s App Store charts — ranking No. 3 overall on launch day, September 30, and hitting No. 1 by October 3.

Appfigures’ data shows that daily installs peaked at 107,800 on October 1, before stabilizing between 84,000 and 98,000 daily downloads through October 6. That level of sustained interest is notable given that Sora is still in a restricted rollout phase.