News: 0180874528

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Anthropic's Claude Leaps to #2 on Apple's 'Top Apps' Chart After Pentagon Controversy (cnbc.com)

(Sunday March 01, 2026 @03:34AM (EditorDavid) from the good-for-business dept.)


Anthropic's Claude AI assistant "jumped to the No. 2 slot on Apple's [1]chart of top U.S. free apps late on Friday," [2]reports CNBC :

> The rise in popularity suggests that Anthropic is benefiting from its presence in news headlines, stemming from its refusal to have its models used for mass domestic surveillance or for fully autonomous weapons... OpenAI's ChatGPT sat at No. 1 on the App Store rankings on Saturday, while Google's Gemini was at No. 3... On Jan. 30, [Claude] was ranked No. 131 in the U.S., and it bounced between the top 20 and the top 50 for much of February, according to [3]data from analytics company Sensor Tower ... [And Friday night, for 85.3 million followers] pop singer Katy Perry [4]posted a screenshot of Anthropic's Pro subscription for consumers, with a heart superimposed over it.

Friday [5]Anthropic posted "We are deeply grateful to our users, and to the industry peers, policymakers, veterans, and members of the public who have voiced their support in recent days. Thank you. "



[1] https://apps.apple.com/us/iphone/charts

[2] https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/28/anthropics-claude-apple-apps.html

[3] https://app.sensortower.com/top-charts?category=0&country=US&date=2026-02-28&device=iphone&os=ios

[4] https://x.com/katyperry/status/2027619173325553765

[5] https://www.anthropic.com/news/statement-comments-secretary-war



It's due to XCode 26.3 (Score:2)

by Ronin Developer ( 67677 )

Agencic coding was announced with XCode 25.3.

Xcode now works with ChatGPT and Claude Code.

It requires the Pro version (vs free) of Claude.

Re: (Score:2)

by Rendus ( 2430 )

Yep, that's definitely why it's the #2 app (now #1 in the US actually) for the iPhone, for use with XCode.

100%.

They be dead. (Score:2)

by derplord ( 7203610 )

So they'll bleed even more money because tons of free users will make their servers bleed from the back fans.

I wonder how long the whole circular circlejerk economy is allowed to go on until it all burns down.

Re: They be dead. (Score:2)

by simlox ( 6576120 )

As long as investors believe in it, it keeps going. Just as with any other bubble.

Aren't you glad you're not getting all the government you pay for now?