OpenAI’s recent agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense ignited criticism from users, momentarily propelling Claude to the highest position on the App Store. Here are the specifics.
### Claude ascended to the pinnacle of the App Store on March 1st
If you’ve been observing the standoff between Anthropic and the U.S. government, you’re aware that Anthropic was identified as a supply chain risk after it declined to accept two clauses in a multi-million-dollar agreement with the Department of Defense.
On the same day that the Pentagon’s deadline for Anthropic to agree to the terms concluded, OpenAI stepped in and signed the contract instead.
Although OpenAI asserted it had secured the safeguards that Anthropic sought but could not obtain from the DoD, this quickly prompted backlash among users, many of whom removed ChatGPT from their devices.
In just a few days, the number of ChatGPT uninstalls reportedly increased by 295%, while Claude achieved the top position on the U.S. App Store for the first time on March 1st.
The backlash, however, was fleeting. Earlier today, ChatGPT regained the top position on the U.S. App Store, with Claude in second place and Google Gemini in third.
### The LLM competition intensifies
This controversy couldn’t have arisen at a worse moment for OpenAI, as its once-secure lead in the LLM market has diminished significantly over the past year.
According to a report released last month by Apptopia, ChatGPT’s share of daily U.S. users dropped from 69.1% in January 2025 to 45.3% in January 2026. Concurrently, Google’s Gemini increased from 14.7% to 25.1%.
Apptopia’s report surfaced around the same time that Alphabet announced Gemini had reached 750 million monthly active users, up from 650 million in November.
In contrast, OpenAI confirmed at the end of last month that it had achieved 900 million weekly active users in a blog post that also revealed it had surpassed 50 million subscribers.
This came after Sensor Tower reported that while Gemini had experienced a 30% rise in MAUs between August and November, ChatGPT’s growth had only increased by 5%.
Meanwhile, Anthropic has concentrated its efforts over the past few years primarily on the enterprise and developer sectors, along with various studies and reports that have established it as a responsible reference in the AI market.
Following Anthropic’s Super Bowl campaign, which highlighted OpenAI’s choice to implement ads in ChatGPT, the company also experienced a spike in interest from everyday users, breaking into the US App Store’s Top 10 for the first time on February 13th.
Then came the Pentagon conflict, which is still resonating. True to its word, the company is pursuing legal action to challenge its classification as a supply chain risk and has garnered support from over 30 industry professionals, who submitted an amicus brief on its behalf earlier today.
Regardless, even though ChatGPT has returned to the top of the App Store, the past few days have positioned Claude as a credible alternative alongside Google Gemini.
Whether Anthropic will manage its strategy effectively to maintain the momentum remains to be seen.