Consumer demand for mobile AI chatbot applications beyond ChatGPT may be sinking. Earlier this month, Anthropic launched its first mobile app on iOS, providing access to Claude 3 for both free and paid users. Although the app offers the same functionality as its web version, as well as the ability to sync stories and upload photos, it only had a total of 157,000 downloads worldwide in its first week. Compare this to ChatGPT, which recorded 480,000 installs in the first five days of its US launch, when its app was also available only on iOS.
Unlike ChatGPT, Claude has not become a fresh App Store hit. Although the ChatGPT application he rose to the top of the App Store, becoming one of the best-selling releases of 2023 (and last year!), Claude’s reception has been much cooler so far.
According to data from app analytics firm Appfigures, Claude’s highest position among Apple’s most popular free iPhone apps in the U.S. was No. 55 on May 4, a few days after its debut on the first of the month. As of Friday, the app is no longer among the most popular free iPhone apps in the US. Instead, it now ranks 51st on the list of most popular free productivity apps in the US, up from 5th in the category, which it also held on May 4.
For comparison, Claude was ranked 50th on the Productivity chart seven days after its release. However, seven days after launch, ChatGPT was already in third place overall, and also in first place in terms of productivity.
Claude downloads are driven by three key markets: the US with 50% of Claude installs, followed by Japan and the UK with 11% and 8% respectively. Data shows, however, that interest in the fresh AI app plummeted after Claude’s arrival, as downloads quickly dropped from five to four digits within a week of launch. The decline suggests that there may not be the same level of consumer demand or brand recognition for this ChatGPT rival.
To be fair, ChatGPT launched at a time when the market was primed for an official AI companion.
Prior to its arrival, other third-party apps took advantage of growing consumer interest in AI tools by calling themselves “ChatGPT” or “AI chatbot” to trick users into thinking they were official OpenAI products. While most of these apps were essentially polarware with costly AI access subscriptions, the most popular apps still managed to attract millions in consumer spending before ChatGPT debuted in the App Store. The existence of the app has also helped with ChatGPT brand name recognition – something Claude from Anthropic lacks.
Claude also suffers from more competition in the AI space than ChatGPT did when it initially launched on iOS. Google has since introduced AI to all of its products, including Assistant and iOS search app. He changed the name and modernized his own Bard AI chatbot for Gemini. Meanwhile, aggregators like Quora’s Poe allow AI enthusiasts to play with ChatGPT, Claude, and a range of other AI models in one place.
