<div id="readability-page-1"><div> Claude’s daily active users are on the rise on mobile devices, as are its new app installs, following the company’s fallout with the Pentagon. After Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei refused to allow the government to use its AI systems for mass surveillance of Americans or to power fully autonomous weapons, the AI model provider behind Claude was marked as a supply-chain risk. However, Anthropic’s stance led many consumers to favor the model, data shows. App intelligence provider Appfigures reports that the U.S. downloads of Claude’s mobile app continue to surpass those of ChatGPT. The most recent figures from March 2 show Claude with 149,00 daily downloads, compared with 124,000 for ChatGPT, the company’s estimates indicate. <figure><img height="383" src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/appfigures-claude.png/query-dz02ODA?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" width="680" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/appfigures-claude.png/query-dz02ODA"/><figcaption>Image Credits:Appfigures</figcaption></figure> While download figures offer a window into how many new users are installing the app for the first time, active users offer insight into how many people are actually using it. On that front, another market intelligence provider, Similarweb, found that Claude’s app on iOS and Android devices saw 11.3 million daily active users on March 2, up 183% from the start of the year when usage was around 4 million, and up from 5 million daily active users at the beginning of February. Claude’s growth put it ahead of other AI apps by daily active users, like Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot, but not other top rivals like ChatGPT. This is partially due to the fact that Claude’s jump in usage began later in the month, timed around the news of Anthropic’s tense negotiations with the Pentagon. If these trends continue throughout March, it could rank higher. <figure><img height="415" src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/5f0d33eb-20cd-4a6a-a646-4fdd4c86c465.png/query-dz02ODA?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" width="680" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/5f0d33eb-20cd-4a6a-a646-4fdd4c86c465.png/query-dz02ODA"/><figcaption>Image Credits:Similarweb</figcaption></figure> Of course, ChatGPT still dominates the market by a significant factor, as its daily active users on March 2 were 250.5 million across iOS and Android. Similarweb also reports that Claude’s web traffic has been growing. While it’s still far behind other top AI providers in terms of web traffic, Claude’s web traffic was up 43% month-over-month in February, and up 297.7% year-over-year. At least some of this growth could be at the expense of ChatGPT, whose web traffic dropped 6.5% month-over-month during the same time period. Gemini also saw a slight bump of 2.1%, which is slower growth than in previous months. <figure><img height="418" src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/ab3ffc2f-7899-4a95-bb77-980360736758.png/query-dz02ODA?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" width="680" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/ab3ffc2f-7899-4a95-bb77-980360736758.png/query-dz02ODA"/><figcaption>Image Credits:Similarweb</figcaption></figure> Anthropic itself has been touting Claude’s progress, noting that its AI chatbot is now seeing more than 1 million sign-ups per day after becoming the No. 1 app on the U.S. App Store over the past weekend — a position it still holds. The app is also No. 1 in 15 other countries, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Switzerland, and the U.K. The company noted, too, that Claude has broken its own signup record every day since early last week, in every country where Claude is available. ChatGPT’s app uninstalls, meanwhile, have been growing, an earlier report found. Anthropic was asked for comment, but one was not available at the time of publication. </div></div>

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Claude's daily active users and app installs are increasing following Anthropic's refusal to allow the Pentagon to use its AI for surveillance. As a result, Claude's mobile app downloads surpassed ChatGPT's, with 149,000 daily downloads compared to ChatGPT's 124,000. Daily active users rose to 11.3 million, a 183% increase since the start of the year. Claude's web traffic also grew by 43% month-over-month in February. Anthropic reports over 1 million daily sign-ups, making Claude the top app in the U.S. App Store and in 15 other countries.

- Claude's daily active users on mobile devices increased significantly, reaching 11.3 million by March 2, up 183% since the year's start, with 149,000 daily downloads surpassing ChatGPT's 124,000.  
- This growth follows Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's refusal to allow the government to use its AI for surveillance, which appears to have attracted consumer support.  
- Despite Claude's rise, it still trails ChatGPT, which reported 250.5 million daily active users, although Claude's app became the No. 1 in the U.S. App Store and 15 other countries.

Claude’s consumer growth surge continues after Pentagon deal debacle