ChatGPT app removals jump 295% following Pentagon partnership news

Uninstalls of the ChatGPT mobile app in the United States surged by 295% day over day on Saturday, February 28, as users reacted to news of OpenAI's agreement with the Department of Defence, which, under the Trump administration, has been renamed the Department of War.

According to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, that spike marked a dramatic jump compared with ChatGPT's normal day-over-day uninstall rate of 9%, based on averages from the previous 30 days.

At the same time, downloads in the U.S. for OpenAI rival Anthropic's Claude rose sharply after Anthropic said it would not move forward with a partnership with the U.S. Department of Defence. Claude's U.S. downloads climbed 37% day over day on Friday, February 27, and then increased another 51% as of Saturday, February 28. Anthropic said it had been unable to agree to the contract terms because of concerns that its AI could be used to surveil Americans and support fully autonomous weapons, which the company argued are not yet safe enough.

The data suggests that at least some consumers sided with Anthropic's stance on the issue.

ChatGPT's own download momentum also appears to have been affected by the announcement of its Department of Defence partnership. In the United States, app downloads fell 13% day over day on Saturday, shortly after news of the deal became public. Those downloads continued to decline on Sunday, down another 5% day over day. Before the Pentagon partnership was announced, however, ChatGPT downloads had actually risen 14% day over day on Friday.

The fast-moving shift was also visible in Claude's position on the App Store charts. On Saturday, the app reached No. 1 in the U.S. App Store, where it remained as of Monday, March 2. That represented a rise of more than 20 positions compared with about a week earlier, on February 22, 2026.

Consumers also appeared to express their reaction to OpenAI's agreement through app ratings. Sensor Tower said 1-star reviews for ChatGPT jumped by 775% on Saturday, then increased another 100% day over day on Sunday. During the same stretch, 5-star reviews fell by 50%.

Other outside data firms reported trends that support Sensor Tower's findings.

Appfigures, for example, reported that Claude's total daily U.S. downloads on Saturday exceeded ChatGPT's for the first time. It also recorded a jump in Claude downloads in the U.S., although its estimate was even higher, putting the increase at 88% day-over-day on Saturday.

Appfigures also said Claude had become the No. 1 free iPhone app in six countries outside the United States: Belgium, Canada, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway, and Switzerland.

A third analytics company, Similarweb, said Claude's downloads in the U.S. over the last week were about 20 times higher than in January. However, it noted that not all of that increase should be attributed solely to the political controversy.