Elon Musk says Apple has made it “impossible” for AI apps that aren’t ChatGPT to hit No. 1 on the App Store. The problem with that argument is that DeepSeek did exactly that earlier this year — and Musk’s Grok app may have as well.
XAI’s Grok app currently sits at #5 on the Apple App Store’s top free apps chart — four spots away from the long-dominant ChatGPT.
On Monday, Musk blamed Apple, suggesting without evidence that Apple has its thumb on the App Store scales. Apple partnered with OpenAI last year to integrate ChatGPT into iOS.
“Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store, which is an unequivocal antitrust violation,” Musk wrote on X. “XAI will take immediate legal action.”
Readers have since added context to Musk’s post in the form of a “community note,” pointing out that another AI app topped the App Store this year.
X.com/elonmusk
DeepSeek released its flagship R1 model on January 20. By January 26, the Chinese AI app reached No. 1 on the App Store, dethroning ChatGPT at the time.
On July 17, Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas posted a screenshot of the App Store in India to his X feed, showing Perplexity ranked No. 1 nationally, beating out ChatGPT.
According to Sensor Tower, Musk’s Grok app may have hit No. 1 a few months ago. When xAI made Grok-3 free on February 19, the market intelligence firm’s data indicates that the AI app topped the free app chart the following two days.
Screenshots from X users at the time show Grok in the No. 1 slot. A Polymarket bet from February asking, “Will Grok be #1 Free app on Friday?” has since been resolved “Yes.”
Both DeepSeek and Perplexity’s chart-topping stints occurred months after OpenAI announced its partnership with Apple in June 2024.
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“The App Store is designed to be fair and free of bias,” an Apple spokesperson wrote in a statement. “We feature thousands of apps through charts, algorithmic recommendations, and curated lists selected by experts using objective criteria. Our goal is to offer safe discovery for users and valuable opportunities for developers, collaborating with many to increase app visibility in rapidly evolving categories.”
XAI, Perplexity, and DeepSeek did not respond to requests for comment.
While other AI apps have taken over the top spot in the App Store for short periods, ChatGPT has had a long-standing hot streak and is massively popular. In a 28-day period between May and June, Similarweb found that ChatGPT was downloaded 29,551,174 times. That compares to 32,859,208 combined downloads for TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and X.
Even with its dominance, ChatGPT wasn’t the most downloaded app of 2024. It was Temu.
While Musk clearly wants to get Grok to No. 1 on the App Store — reposting a fan’s request that people rate the app 5 stars to “put Grok where it belongs, at the very top” — one of his other apps has hit No. 1 on a different Apple chart.
X, formerly Twitter, was the top free News app on Tuesday afternoon, with Reddit at the No. 2 spot.
Update, August 12, 2025 — Added Sensor Tower data indicating that the Grok app hit No. 1 in February.