ChatGPT faced a sudden wave of backlash in the U.S. after news broke that OpenAI had struck a deal with the Department of Defense, now rebranded under the Trump administration as the “Department of War.” The reaction was swift, and it showed up clearly in mobile app behavior.
According to new market intelligence data, U.S. uninstalls of the ChatGPT mobile app surged 295% day-over-day on Saturday, February 28. That’s a dramatic jump compared with the app’s typical day-over-day uninstall rate of about 9% over the prior 30 days, indicating an unusually strong consumer response tied to the announcement.
At the same time, OpenAI rival Anthropic appeared to benefit from the moment as users looked for an alternative. U.S. downloads of Anthropic’s Claude rose 37% day-over-day on Friday, February 27, then accelerated to 51% on Saturday, February 28, after Anthropic said it would not partner with the U.S. defense department. The company explained that it couldn’t agree to the deal terms, citing concerns about potential domestic surveillance and the risk of AI being used in fully autonomous weapons—something it argued the technology isn’t ready to do safely.
The data suggests that a noticeable segment of consumers favored Anthropic’s stance. Claude’s momentum wasn’t limited to downloads, either. The app climbed to the No. 1 spot on the U.S. App Store on Saturday and remained there as of Monday, March 2. That rise represents a leap of more than 20 ranking positions compared with about a week earlier (February 22, 2026).
Meanwhile, ChatGPT’s U.S. download growth moved in the opposite direction following the defense partnership news. Downloads dropped 13% day-over-day on Saturday and continued sliding on Sunday, down another 5% day-over-day. That reversal stands out because just one day earlier—Friday—downloads had been up 14% day-over-day, before the partnership became public.
User sentiment also spilled into app store ratings. Data indicates ChatGPT 1-star reviews spiked 775% on Saturday, followed by another 100% day-over-day increase on Sunday. Over the same stretch, 5-star reviews fell by 50%, a sign that many unhappy users weren’t just uninstalling—they were leaving negative feedback to make their objections visible.
Other analytics firms reported similar shifts. One noted that Claude’s total daily U.S. downloads on Saturday surpassed ChatGPT’s for the first time, with Claude’s day-over-day U.S. download increase estimated even higher—at 88% on Saturday. The same data set also showed Claude reaching the No. 1 free iPhone app position in multiple countries, including Belgium, Canada, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway, Switzerland, and the United States.
A third provider said Claude’s U.S. downloads over the past week were roughly 20 times higher than in January, though it cautioned that not all of that surge should automatically be attributed to politics alone, suggesting other factors may also be contributing to the app’s rapid rise.
Taken together, the numbers paint a clear picture: OpenAI’s defense-related partnership triggered an immediate and measurable consumer reaction in the U.S., while Anthropic’s public refusal to pursue a similar deal helped push Claude to new heights in both downloads and app store rankings.
