On Saturday, February 28, uninstalls of the ChatGPT mobile app in the US increased 295% overnight as consumers reacted to news of OpenAI’s deal with the Department of Defense (DoD), which was renamed under Trump Department of War.
This data comes from a market information provider Sensory Towerrepresents a significant escalate over ChatGPT’s typical daily uninstall rate of 9% measured over the last 30 days.
Meanwhile, US downloads of OpenAI competitor Anthropic’s Claude increased by 37% overnight on Friday, February 27, and by 51% on Saturday, February 28, after the company announced it would not cooperate with the US Department of Defense. Anthropic said it was unable to agree on terms of the deal amid concerns that AI would be used to surveil Americans and used in fully autonomous weapons, something that AI is not yet ready to do safely.
The data suggests that some consumers appear to have agreed with Anthropic’s stance on the matter.
Additionally, ChatGPT download growth was impacted by news of its partnership with the Department of Defense, with U.S. downloads dropping 13% overnight on Saturday, shortly after news of the deal became public. Downloads continued to decline on Sunday, dropping 5% overnight. (Prior to the partnership announcement, app downloads were growing 14% overnight on Friday.)
These rapid changes were also reflected in the Claude App Store rankings, as on Saturday the app took the first place in the US App Store and has remained there since Monday, March 2. This represents a jump of over 20 rankings compared to about a week earlier (February 22, 2026).
Consumers are also sharing their views on the OpenAI deal in app rankings, where one-star reviews for ChatGPT increased 775% on Saturday and then increased 100% overnight on Sunday, according to Sensor Tower. Over the same period, the number of five-star reviews dropped by 50%.
Other third-party data providers confirm Sensor Tower’s findings.
Applicationsfor example, he noted that Claude’s total US daily downloads on Saturday exceeded those of ChatGPT for the first time. It also saw an escalate in Claude downloads in the U.S., but estimates put the number even higher: up 88% overnight on Saturday.
It noted that Claude is currently the most popular free iPhone app in six countries outside the United States, including Belgium, Canada, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway and Switzerland.
Third market information provider, Similar networkstated that last week Claude downloaded about 20 times more files than in January, but this may be due to reasons other than political ones, he warned.