Claude is gaining serious momentum on mobile, with daily downloads, installs, and usage climbing fast in the U.S. and abroad. The surge comes in the wake of Anthropic’s high-profile dispute with the Pentagon, after CEO Dario Amodei declined to let government agencies use the company’s AI for mass surveillance of Americans or for fully autonomous weapons. That refusal reportedly led to Anthropic being labeled a supply-chain risk, but the blowback appears to have had an unexpected effect: it pushed many consumers toward Claude.
Fresh mobile data suggests Claude is now being installed at a faster rate than ChatGPT in the United States. According to estimates from app intelligence firm Appfigures, Claude’s U.S. mobile downloads reached about 149,000 in a single day on March 2, compared with around 124,000 for ChatGPT. Downloads don’t tell the whole story, but they do highlight one important trend: more new users are adding Claude to their phones right now.
Even more notable is what’s happening with engagement. Market intelligence from Similarweb indicates Claude’s iOS and Android daily active users hit 11.3 million on March 2. That’s a sharp jump—up 183% since the start of the year when daily usage was roughly 4 million. The climb has also accelerated recently, rising from about 5 million daily active users at the beginning of February.
This rapid growth has helped Claude outpace several other AI apps in daily active users, including Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot. It still trails the largest rival, though: ChatGPT remains the clear market leader with about 250.5 million daily active users on iOS and Android on March 2. Still, the timing matters. Similarweb’s data suggests Claude’s biggest jump started later, aligning with headlines around Anthropic’s tense Pentagon negotiations. If the current trajectory continues through March, Claude could improve its position among the top AI apps.
The momentum isn’t limited to mobile. Similarweb also reports that Claude’s web traffic is rising quickly, even if it’s still smaller than the biggest AI services. In February, Claude’s web traffic reportedly increased 43% month over month and surged 297.7% year over year. Some of that expansion may be coming at competitors’ expense: during the same month, ChatGPT’s web traffic dipped 6.5% month over month. Gemini, meanwhile, saw a modest 2.1% increase, slower than its previous growth pace.
Anthropic has also been highlighting Claude’s breakout performance. The company says the chatbot is now seeing more than 1 million sign-ups per day after reaching the No. 1 spot on the U.S. App Store over the weekend—a position it continues to hold. Claude is also ranked No. 1 in 15 other countries, including Canada, the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Singapore, and more.
Anthropic adds that Claude has set a new internal sign-up record every day since early last week across every country where the app is available. While the company says it doesn’t comment on third-party analytics, a spokesperson noted that Claude’s daily active users have more than tripled since the beginning of 2026, and paid subscribers have doubled.
At the same time, indications point to increasing churn on rival platforms, with reports suggesting ChatGPT app uninstalls have been rising. Put together, the numbers show a rapidly shifting AI chatbot landscape—one where consumer trust, product preference, and public perceptions about AI safety and surveillance are increasingly shaping who wins the next wave of growth.
