• Elon Musk's X post alleges without evidence that Apple rigged the App Store against non-ChatGPT AI apps.
• A "Community Note" on Musk's post points out that DeepSeek went No. 1 in January — months after Apple's OpenAI deal.
• Perplexity was the No. 1 app on Apple's App Store in India in July.

Elon Musk says Apple has made it "impossible" for AI apps that aren't ChatGPT to hit No. 1 on the App Store. The problem with that argument is that DeepSeek did exactly that earlier this year — and Musk's Grok app may have as well.

XAI's Grok app currently sits at #5 on the Apple App Store's top free apps chart — four spots away from the long-dominant ChatGPT.

On Monday, Musk blamed Apple, suggesting without evidence that Apple has its thumb on the App Store scales. Apple partnered with OpenAI last year to integrate ChatGPT into iOS.

"Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store, which is an unequivocal antitrust violation," Musk wrote on X. "XAI will take immediate legal action."

Readers have since added context to Musk's post in the form of a "community note," pointing out that another AI app topped the App Store this year.

DeepSeek released its flagship R1 model on January 20. By January 26, the Chinese AI app reached No. 1 on the App Store, dethroning ChatGPT at the time.

On July 17, Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas posted a screenshot of the App Store in India to his X feed, showing Perplexity ranked No. 1 nationally, beating out ChatGPT.

According to Sensor Tower, Musk's Grok app may have hit No. 1 a few months ago. When xAI made Grok-3 free on February 19, the market intelligence firm's data indicates that the AI app topped the free app chart the following two days.

Screenshots from X users at the time show Grok in the No. 1 slot. A Polymarket bet from February asking, "Will Grok be #1 Free app on Friday?" has since been resolved "Yes."

Both DeepSeek and Perplexity's chart-topping stints occurred months after OpenAI announced its partnership with Apple in June 2024.

XAI, Apple, Perplexity, and DeepSeek did not respond to requests for comment.

While other AI apps have taken over the top spot in the App Store for short periods, ChatGPT has had a long-standing hot streak and is massively popular. In a 28-day period between May and June, Similarweb found that ChatGPT was downloaded 29,551,174 times. That compares to 32,859,208 combined downloads for TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and X.

Even with its dominance, ChatGPT wasn't the most downloaded app of 2024. It was Temu.

While Musk clearly wants to get Grok to No. 1 on the App Store — reposting a fan's request that people rate the app 5 stars to "put Grok where it belongs, at the very top" — one of his other apps has hit No. 1 on a different Apple chart.

X, formerly Twitter, was the top free News app on Tuesday afternoon, with Reddit at the No. 2 spot.

Update, August 12, 2025 — Added Sensor Tower data indicating that the Grok app hit No. 1 in February.

• Another dating surveillance app is climbing Apple's App Store.
• TeaOnHer is essentially a gender flip of the original Tea app.
• The app lets men post anonymously about women.

The viral Tea app, which lets women post anonymously about men, has a new rival: TeaOnHer. In a gender flip, the new app is for men.

TeaOnHer is largely a copy of the original, but for men instead of women. Its description in Apple's App Store is nearly identical to that of the other Tea app, which is officially called Tea Dating Advice.

TeaOnHer has climbed up Apple's App Store chart for free apps this week. As of Friday, it's the No. 3 spot. That's right behind Tea, which is at No. 2. (ChatGPT is at the top.)

The app describes itself as an "essential safety companion" and touts features like "verified reports about dating experiences to help you identify red flags." According to its app store listing, TeaOnHer users are also allowed to post anonymously or with pseudonyms.

Sensor Tower, a marketing intelligence firm, estimated that the TeaOnHer app had been downloaded over 165,000 times as of Thursday since the app launched earlier this month.

TeaOnHer has not gotten as positive a reception from app users as the original so far. The new one has an average rating of 2.0 in the App Store, while the old one has 4.6.

The new app has already been facing security concerns, much like the Tea app it's replicating.

Business Insider spoke with security researcher Kasra Rahjerdi, who spotted a flaw in the TeaOnHer app's security that revealed content from users' posts, including reviews men had posted and images of women posted to the feed. Rahjerdi was able to view this information via TeaOnHer's publicly accessible API, he said.

TechCrunch reporters also found a "security flaw that allows anyone access to data belonging to TeaOnHer app users," the outlet reported on Wednesday. The data included users' verification selfies and driver's licenses, usernames, and email addresses, according to TechCrunch. Business Insider was unable to independently verify this flaw.

TeaOnHer did not respond to requests for comments. Business Insider also contacted Xavier Lampkin, whose name appears in TeaOnHer's API and is listed on LinkedIn as the CEO of TeaOnHer's developer, Newville Media Corporation. Lampkin did not respond.

Last week, the Tea app (officially called Tea Dating Advice) experienced a data breach that exposed about 72,000 images, which similarly exposed users' selfies and driver's licenses. Tea confirmed the breach and later confirmed that private messages were also exposed.

Lawsuits filed by users of the Tea app quickly followed.

"We are working to identify any users whose personal information was involved and will be offering free identity protection services to those individuals," a Tea spokesperson previously told Business Insider.

"Every single one of these apps promise privacy, promise anonymity, promise secrecy, and so forth, but they're ultimately still applications — they still have to authenticate users," Tom Tovar, CEO of app security company Appdome. "Anonymity does not equal security."