Get unlimited access to everything VICE has to offer.

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

4 Magazines Delivered to Your Door

Already have an account? Sign in

Anthropic’s Claude Hits No. 1 in the App Store as Users Ditch ChatGPT Amid Recent Backlash

Bad business with the US government turned out to mean good business with the public.

Share on X (Opens in new window)X

Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Facebook

Share using Native toolsShareCopied to clipboard

After a tiff with the Pentagon, Anthropic found itself on the outs with the US government, and its arch-competitor, OpenAI, swooped in to pick up the pieces. And yet the tiff has been good business for Anthropic, which saw its Claude AI-powered app reach the top spot among free apps on Apple’s App Store for the first time, thanks (ostensibly) to users who approved of Anthropic’s stand against the Pentagon’s desire to use Claude for lethal purposes.

a swift run to the top

“The Claude iOS app has gained momentum this month,” read a CNBC article from February 28, 2026. “On Jan. 30, it was ranked No. 131 in the U.S., and it bounced around the top 20 for much of February, according to data from analytics company Sensor Tower. The data shows ChatGPT has held on to the No. 1 spot for most of February.”

OpenAI announced soonafter that it’d reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense that would allow the DoD to use its ChatGPT model.

Much of the public took Anthropic’s stand against the DoD’s demands and OpenAI’s unspecified acquiescence to the DoD as a sign that the two companies shared distinct value systems.

Having used ChatGPT and Claude extensively and consistently over the years (alongside their main competitors), I’d say the two are neck-and-neck in effectiveness. Swapping out ChatGPT for Claude is as easy as downloading a new app. Both have free versions and paid versions that cost about the same.

Deleting one app in favor of another that more closely matches one’s values is hardly a difficult hurdle to clear. When I reviewed Claude last year, I called it a gentler alternative to ChatGPT, thanks to Anthropic’s strong guardrails and ethical guidelines.

Share on X (Opens in new window)X

Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Facebook

Share using Native toolsShareCopied to clipboard

Claude Anthropic’s Claude Hits No. 1 in the App Store as Users Ditch ChatGPT Amid Recent Backlash 3 minutes ago By Matt Jancer

Anthropic’s Claude Hits No. 1 in the App Store as Users Ditch ChatGPT Amid Recent Backlash

Screenshot: Wildlight Entertainment How Highguard Became Gaming’s Next Concord in Just 45 Days 4 minutes ago By Brent Koepp

How Highguard Became Gaming’s Next Concord in Just 45 Days

All images courtesy of the author How I Perfected the Holiday Breakup 35 minutes ago By Amber Rawlings

How I Perfected the Holiday Breakup

DuckDuckGo’s Anonymous AI Now Lets You Edit Images 43 minutes ago By Matt Jancer

DuckDuckGo’s Anonymous AI Now Lets You Edit Images

Screenshot: CD Projekt Red Xbox Game Pass: Cyberpunk 2077 and Every Other Game in March 2026 Wave 1 an hour ago By Denny Connolly

Xbox Game Pass: Cyberpunk 2077 and Every Other Game in March 2026 Wave 1

ImageBROKER/Oleksandr Latkun/Getty Images A 19-Year-Old Ended Up in the ER After Beer Pong Caused a Seriously Weird Injury an hour ago By Ashley Fike

A 19-Year-Old Ended Up in the ER After Beer Pong Caused a Seriously Weird Injury

Screenshot: Capcom Leak: Resident Evil 1 Remake May Already Be in Early Development an hour ago By Denny Connolly

Leak: Resident Evil 1 Remake May Already Be in Early Development

AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/ Contributor/Getty Images When Delivery Drivers Lose Their Jobs to Robots, Some Become Robot Wranglers an hour ago By Luis Prada

When Delivery Drivers Lose Their Jobs to Robots, Some Become Robot Wranglers

Olha Danylenko/Getty Images This Is How Many Swipes It Actually Takes to Get a Match on Dating Apps 2 hours ago By Ashley Fike

This Is How Many Swipes It Actually Takes to Get a Match on Dating Apps

WhatsApp Officially Recommends One of Our Favorite VPNs 2 hours ago By Matt Jancer

WhatsApp Officially Recommends One of Our Favorite VPNs

Add your account details

© Vice