Sora imitators flooded Apple’s App Store, and some of them still exist

Sora Rapid adoption It led a number of App Store scammers to try to get in on the act. after He releases From the OpenAI mobile app dedicated to video creation Last week, Apple’s App Store was filled with fake products that also advertised as “Sora” or “Sora 2” — the latter a reference to the new underlying AI video model that was Issued alongside Mobile application.

These apps have somehow made it past Apple’s app review process. They already had public listings on the App Store, though using a brand name registered by OpenAI and fairly well-known in the tech industry even before the app debuted.

According to research provided to TechCrunch at our request through the App Intelligence platform Application formsThere were more than a dozen “Sora” branded apps published on the App Store after the official app launch. More than half of them specifically used “Sora 2” in their name. (One of Those have been spotted before Apple blogger and critic John Gruber called it the “App Store Scam of the Week.”)

Many of the apps weren’t newcomers either. Some have been on the App Store — sometimes under other names — since earlier in the year or even last year. The scammers, who also include those who live on Google Play, have seen around 300,000 mass installations so far, with north of 80,000 installs coming after the official Sora app launches. (OpenAI has Since announced The official Sora mobile app has been downloaded 1 million times for comparison.)

Almost all of the scammers updated after the launch of OpenAI’s Sora app to take advantage of consumer demand and searches, often by changing their names.

It’s unclear how these apps managed to get past Apple’s reviewers; Apple eventually pulled many of them from its App Store, Appfigures said.

Among the scam apps, the biggest was called “Sora 2 – AI Video Generator” — an apparent attempt to manipulate App Store searches for the keyword “sora.” It has seen more than 50,000 installations after the official launch of the app.

At the time of writing, a few Sora-branded apps remain in operation, despite the potential for consumer confusion. The first, “PetReels — Sora for Pets,” only saw a few hundred installs. Another game called “Viral AI Photo Maker: Vi-sora” tries to squeeze the word Sora in there, but it hasn’t gained traction either.

Performing slightly better is an app that uses the “Sora 2” branding in its name (Sora 2 – Video Generator Ai). It has pulled in north of 6,000 downloads and counting.

Collectively, the apps have earned more than $160,000, a good amount considering their short lifespan.

Apple has been asked to comment on how Sora-branded apps will operate and whether these remaining Sora-branded apps will be removed. No response was received before publication.