Anthropic’s Claude hits No. 2 on Apple’s top free apps list
In this illustration, the Claude AI app is seen in the app store on a phone in New York City on February 16, 2026. The Department of Defense used Anthropic’s Claude Ai, through the Palantir contract, to assist in the attack on Venezuela and capture former President Nicolás Maduro, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
Anthropic’s Claude AI assistant app rose to No. 2 on Apple’s list of top free apps in the U.S. late Friday, hours after the Trump administration tried to block government agencies from adopting the startup’s technology.
The rise in popularity shows that Anthropic is benefiting from its presence in the news headlines; This is due to its rejection of the use of its models for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons.
“The left wing nuts at Anthropic made a BIG MISTAKE trying to STRONGLY SHARE the War Department and force them to abide by the Terms of Service instead of our Constitution,” President Donald Trump wrote in a post on Friday Truth Social.
Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he wanted Anthropic to be labeled as a supply chain risk to national security, so no U.S. defense contractor would be able to utilize Anthropic vehicles.
“It is the Ministry’s prerogative to select the contractors that best suit their vision,” Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in a statement. he said. “But given the significant value Anthropic’s technology provides to our armed forces, we hope they will reconsider.”
Historically, other AI chat apps have been more popular with consumers than Claude. OpenAI’s ChatGPT hit the No. 1 spot in the App Store on Saturday. Google’s The twins were in 3rd place.
The Claude iOS app gained momentum this month. It ranked No. 131 in the U.S. on Jan. 30 and hovered between the top 20 and top 50 for much of February, according to data from analytics firm Sensor Tower. Data shows ChatGPT was ranked #1 for most of February.
Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees, Anthropic has gained momentum over the past year as a provider of models for coding and general enterprise use. OpenAI, which now has more than 900 million weekly users of ChatGPT, is responding to Anthropic’s rise in business by establishing partnerships with consulting firms such as Accenture and Capgemini.
On Friday night, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the startup had reached an agreement with the US Department of Defense to distribute its models.
After hours pop singer Katy Perry posted a screenshot Anthropic’s consumer Pro subscription has a heart superimposed on it.
WRISTWATCH: second. Pete Hegseth orders Pentagon to identify Anthropic supply chain risk
