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Sora\u2019s rapid adoption<\/a> drove a number of App Store scammers to try to get in on the act. Following the launch<\/a> of OpenAI\u2019s invite-only, video-generating mobile app last week, Apple\u2019s App Store was flooded with fakes that also proclaimed themselves to be \u201cSora\u201d or \u201cSora 2\u201d \u2014 the latter a reference to the underlying new AI video model that was released alongside the mobile app.<\/p>\n These apps somehow made it past Apple\u2019s App Review process. They actually had public listings on the App Store, despite using a brand name that\u2019s trademarked by OpenAI and fairly well known in the tech industry even before the app\u2019s debut. <\/p>\n According to research provided to TechCrunch upon our request by app intelligence platform Appfigures<\/a>, there were over a dozen \u201cSora\u201d-branded apps that went live on the App Store after the official app\u2019s launch. Over half of them used \u201cSora 2\u201d in their names specifically. (One of those was spotted by<\/a> Apple blogger and pundit, John Gruber, who called it the \u201cApp Store scam of the week.\u201d)<\/p>\n Many of the apps were not newcomers, either. Some had been live on the App Store \u2014 sometimes using other names \u2014 since earlier in the year or even last year. The impostors, which include those live on Google Play as well, had seen around 300,000 collective installs to date, with north of 80,000 installs coming in after Sora\u2019s official app launch. (OpenAI has since announced<\/a> that Sora\u2019s official mobile app has been downloaded 1 million times, for comparison.)<\/p>\n Nearly all of the impostors had been updated just after OpenAI\u2019s Sora app launch to capitalize on consumer demand and searches, often by changing their name. <\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear how these apps were able to slip past Apple\u2019s reviewers; Apple did end up pulling many of them from its App Store, Appfigures said.<\/p>\n Of the imposter apps, the largest one was named \u201cSora 2 \u2013 AI Video Generator\u201d \u2014 an obvious attempt to game App Store searches for the keyword \u201csora.\u201d It saw more than 50,000 installs after the launch of the official app.<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco<\/span> As of the time of writing, a few Sora-branded apps are still live, despite the potential for consumer confusion. One, \u201cPetReels \u2014 Sora for Pets,\u201d has seen only a few hundred installs, however. Another one, \u201cViral AI Photo Maker: Vi-sora\u201d is trying to squeeze the word Sora in there but hasn\u2019t gained traction, either.<\/p>\n Doing slightly better is the app using the branding \u201cSora 2\u201d in its name (Sora 2 \u2013 Video Generator Ai). It\u2019s pulled in north of 6,000 downloads and counting.<\/p>\n Collectively, the apps earned more than $160,000 \u2014 decent money considering their short lives.<\/p>\n Apple was asked for comment on how Sora-branded apps were able to go live and if these remaining Sora-branded apps would be removed. It did not respond prior to publication. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 27-29, 2025<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n