Sora Reaches 1M Downloads On iPhone Faster Than ChatGPT

OpenAI confirmed that the Sora iPhone app reached one million downloads in five days of its September 30 launch, faster than the ChatGPT iOS app. What's impressive is that Sora managed to reach that milestone so fast despite the limitations. OpenAI released Sora only in the U.S. and Canada, but downloading the app in these markets would not guarantee access. Users would need an invite (an access code) to start using the app. Sora isn't available on Android.

OpenAI's head of Sora, Bill Peebles confirmed the achievement on X on Thursday, saying that the team is "working hard to keep up with surging growth," and teasing that "more features and fixes to overmoderation" are on the way. Peebles' comments came after separate reports highlighted the popularity of Sora compared to the ChatGPT iPhone app.

sora hit 1M app downloads in <5 days, even faster than chatgpt did (despite the invite flow and only targeting north america!)!

team working hard to keep up with surging growth. more features and fixes to overmoderation on the way!

— Bill Peebles (@billpeeb) October 9, 2025

TechCrunch looked at app tracking data to point out that the Sora app had experienced a stronger first week in the App Store than ChatGPT: Sora saw 627,000 downloads in the first seven days compared to 606,000 downloads for the ChatGPT app. The Sora app's actual performance was even better than the estimates, given Peebles' remarks above.

As per TechCrunch, Sora saw significant demand from the first day, topping 56,000 downloads. That was enough to make Sora the third most popular app in the U.S. App Store. By October 3, Sora became the most popular app, as Sora videos spread on social media, generating plenty of interest. Sora 2 clips went viral on traditional social media as soon as OpenAI made the new AI video generation model available to users. People kept sharing their creations, while others posted invite codes on X and other places so more people can gain access.

Sora is a social network where users can consume and create AI-only short-form video content. One standout feature of the Sora app is the ability to include real people in videos or cameos. You can add yourself as a cameo, or use someone else's, as long as that person agrees to make their cameo available to anyone. Sam Altman made his cameo available to anyone when OpenAI unveiled Sora 2 and the Sora app. This week, billionaire Mark Cuban said on X that his Sora cameos are open. "Have at it," he encouraged users, and people quickly put him in Sora clips. Peebles retweeted Cuban's message, including a follow-up where Cuban offered an invite code for the Sora app.

Life after Shark Tank is tough. pic.twitter.com/znpfYx6gia

— Dare W (@darewecan) October 9, 2025

The Sora app leaked before the official announcement, and it felt like something that shouldn't exist; the source of more unwanted AI content, sometimes referred to as AI slop. But the Sora app has a surprising appeal, as well-known Apple pundit John Gruber pointed out. "I don't want to predict if Sora is a fad or has staying power, but so far I enjoy it in a way that I haven't enjoyed a new social network in years," he said. "It's just fun to dash off a stupid video with no more work than a quick text prompt, and the friends I'm following are making some damn funny clips every day."

Sora's surprising ascent to the top of the App Store is all the more interesting when you factor in the competition. The Gemini app was briefly the most downloaded iPhone app, riding on the popularity of the Nano Banana image generator. Separately, Meta announced its own social feed for AI-only content a few days before Sora's arrival.