U.S. app deletions of ChatGPT’s mobile application surged by 295% day-over-day on Saturday, February 28. This occurred as users reacted to reports concerning OpenAI’s collaboration agreement with the Department of Defense (DoD), an entity which, under the Trump administration, has been redesignated as the Department of War.
This information, supplied by market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, indicates a substantial leap when contrasted with ChatGPT’s average daily uninstall rate of 9%, calculated from observations over the previous thirty days.
Concurrently, U.S. downloads for Anthropic’s Claude, a rival to OpenAI, saw an uplift, climbing by 37% day-over-day on Friday, Feb. 27, and a further 51% by Saturday, Feb. 28. This surge followed Anthropic’s declaration that it would not engage in a partnership with the U.S. defense department. Anthropic cited an inability to reach consensus on the agreement’s conditions, expressing worries that AI could be employed for monitoring Americans and integrated into completely autonomous weapons, capabilities for which AI is not yet deemed securely prepared.
The gathered figures imply that a segment of users evidently preferred Anthropic’s stance on this issue.
Furthermore, the expansion of ChatGPT’s downloads was influenced by the reports of its DoD collaboration. U.S. downloads for the app decreased by 13% day-over-day on Saturday, soon after details of its agreement were disclosed. This decline persisted into Sunday, with a further 5% drop day-over-day. (Prior to the announcement of this partnership, the app’s downloads had actually expanded by 14% day-over-day on Friday.)
These swift shifts were also evident in Claude’s standing on the App Store; the application attained the top spot on the U.S. App Store on Saturday and remains positioned there as of Monday, March 2. This represents an ascent of over 20 ranks compared to its status approximately seven days prior (Feb. 22, 2026).
Users are also voicing their views regarding OpenAI’s agreement within the app’s feedback scores. Sensor Tower reported that 1-star evaluations for ChatGPT skyrocketed by 775% on Saturday, then further increased by 100% day-over-day on Sunday. Conversely, five-star reviews decreased during this identical timeframe, reducing by 50%.
Additional independent analytics firms corroborate Sensor Tower’s observations.
Appfigures, for example, observed that Claude’s aggregate daily U.S. downloads on Saturday unprecedentedly exceeded those of ChatGPT. This firm further noted an increase in Claude’s U.S. downloads, though its projections placed that number even higher: a rise of 88% day-over-day on Saturday.
It reported that Claude is presently the leading complimentary iPhone application in six nations, among them Belgium, Canada, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway, Switzerland, and the U.S.
Similarweb, another analytics firm specializing in market intelligence, stated that Claude’s U.S. downloads during the preceding week were approximately twentyfold higher than those recorded in January. However, the firm advised that this surge might be attributed to factors separate from the political concerns.
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