Anthropic’s Claude rises to No. 2 in the App Store following Pentagon dispute

Source: TechCrunch

Background

Anthropic’s chatbot Claude has drawn attention amid the company’s fraught negotiations with the Pentagon. After Anthropic attempted to negotiate safeguards preventing the Department of Defense from using its AI models for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons, President Donald Trump directed federal agencies to stop using all Anthropic products, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that the company is being designated a supply‑chain threat【TechCrunch】(https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/27/pentagon-moves-to-designate-anthropic-as-a-supply-chain-risk/).

App Store Rankings

As first reported by CNBC, Claude is currently ranked number 2 among free apps in Apple’s US App Store, behind OpenAI’s ChatGPT (number 1) and ahead of Google Gemini (number 3)【CNBC】(https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/28/anthropics-claude-apple-apps.html).

Data from SensorTower shows that Claude was just outside the top 100 at the end of January, spent most of February somewhere in the top 20, and climbed from sixth place on Wednesday to fourth on Thursday, reaching second place on Saturday【SensorTower】(https://app.sensortower.com/overview/6473753684?country=US&tab=category_rankings).

Pentagon Dispute

Following the controversy, OpenAI announced its own agreement with the Pentagon that includes safeguards related to domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons, as described by CEO Sam Altman【TechCrunch】(https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/28/openais-sam-altman-announces-pentagon-deal-with-technical-safeguards/).