OpenAI's Sora app has launched.

Not a full public rollout—just in the U.S. and Canada, and accessible only with an invite code. Even under these restrictions, it racked up 164,000 iOS downloads in its first two days. According to Appfigures data, it skyrocketed to No. 3 on the U.S. App Store's overall rankings.


Day one saw 56,000 downloads. While that trails OpenAI's own ChatGPT and Google's Gemini (both around 80,000 on debut), it matches xAI's Grok and far surpasses Claude's 21,000 and Copilot's 7,000.

The ranking tells an interesting story. By day two, Sora hit No. 3 overall. ChatGPT once claimed the top spot immediately, while Grok peaked at No. 4, Gemini at No. 6, and Copilot lagged at No. 19.

The invite system acts like a filter—keeping casual users out while retaining those genuinely interested. Those 164,000 downloads carry different weight. OpenAI's App Store description reads, "Explore, play, and share your imagination in a community built for experimentation." This sounds less like a pure tool and more like a budding social product. Analysts suggest they might be testing social media waters with Facebook's early playbook: gated access plus fresh content streams.

It's too early to call Sora a success. But an invite-only app attracting this level of attention quickly proves one thing: curiosity about AI-generated video runs far deeper than expected. Imagine the numbers if doors swung wide open.

Data sourced from app intelligence provider Appfigures.