OpenAI's Sora app surges to number three spot in downloads on App Store

OpenAI

OpenAI has managed to grab two spots in the App Store’s top three — but it still can’t shake off Google’s Gemini, which continues to hold the crown thanks to the viral pull of its Nano Banana image model.

On September 30, OpenAI launched Sora, a new social app built on a revamped version of its original video-generation model. Even though it’s invite-only, Sora wasted no time making waves: 56,000 U.S. installs on day one, and 108,000 on day two, according to AppFigures. That opening is on par with xAI’s Grok launch, though still trailing the debut of ChatGPT and Gemini, which each pulled in around 80,000 downloads on day one.

So much for AI fatigue. Despite endless claims that “normal people don’t care about AI,” the charts tell a different story: consumers are downloading AI apps in droves. And not just any AI apps — the ones topping the charts are multimodal, built around images and video rather than text alone. It suggests that when it comes to AI on phones, users crave visual and social experiences, not just clever text responses.

Gemini’s ongoing dominance is driven by Nano Banana, which has gone viral for its uncanny ability to generate images that mirror reference shots. OpenAI’s Sora, meanwhile, is aiming for similar momentum by mixing social features with cinematic video generation — but it’s already staring down controversy, from trademark fights to complaints about AI-generated “slop.”

Meanwhile, Elon Musk is busy suing Apple and OpenAI over Grok’s lacklustre traction. But the real story is simpler: Google and OpenAI are giving people features they actually want to use.

For now, Gemini still leads, but Sora’s early surge suggests this fight is only heating up.