July 14, 2026

ChatGPT Is #1 on Both US App Stores. The World Cup Semifinal May Push It Back Down.

ChatGPT sits at #1 on both the iOS and Google Play US free charts this morning, the World Cup semifinal at 3pm ET is already re-inflating the broadcast and prediction cluster, the rewards app Apple banned in April is back on the chart at #8, and Apple's Epic stay briefing is complete and waiting on the judge's ruling.

ChatGPT is #1 on both US app stores this morning

• Apple's live US free chart puts ChatGPT at #1, ahead of Netflix Game Controller (#2), TikTok Pro Events (#3), Depop (#4), and VibeShort (#5). Tech Dev Notes' US leaderboard shows ChatGPT at #1 on Google Play too, so it holds the top spot on both stores at once.
• The opening came from a vacuum. The World Cup's three-day match gap drained the broadcast and prediction apps that had been cycling through #1, Love Island's season ended Sunday and the app has fallen out of Apple's top 25, and Paramount+'s UFC 329 spike from Saturday has faded. App Pricing Lab's rank history shows ChatGPT bouncing between #2 and #7 over the past week as the sports noise rose and fell. With the noise temporarily down, it slipped through to the top.
• The whole AI cluster is climbing with it. Google Gemini sits at #10 and Claude at #11 on Apple's chart, and Tech Dev Notes logged both as climbers over the past 48 hours (Claude +3, Gemini +2). The reign may be short: France plays Spain in the World Cup semifinal at 3pm ET today, and the sports apps are already climbing back.

The rewards app Apple banned in April is back at #8

• Freecash, the "earn money by playing games and taking surveys" app from Berlin-based Almedia, sits at #8 on Apple's US free chart this morning. Apple removed it on April 13 for misleading marketing, citing rules against bait-and-switch tactics. Almedia appealed, and confirmed the reinstatement on June 17. Four weeks later it is back in the top 10.
• The backstory is the chart mechanic. Freecash peaked at #2 in the US in January and February on the back of TikTok ads and a reported $100M-plus user-acquisition spend, pulling roughly 6 million downloads a month. Appfigures called it an app that "tricked TikTok to the top of the App Store," and TechCrunch described it as data harvesting masquerading as a rewards app. Almedia says it now has 80 million registered users and has paid out over $300 million.
• The reason a "free money" app can afford to buy its way up the free chart: its real customers are game publishers paying to acquire engaged players, not the users clicking cash-out. Freecash is the middleman in a rewarded user-acquisition channel, and that revenue funds the ad spend that drives the downloads that drive the rank.

The World Cup semifinal re-inflation is already underway

• France plays Spain in Dallas at 3pm ET today, with a place in the July 19 final on the line. FOX carries it in English and Telemundo and Peacock carry it in Spanish. The three-day gap with no matches ended Monday, and the broadcast and prediction cluster is climbing back toward the top of the chart.
• Apple's live chart already has TikTok Pro Events at #3 (the standalone World Cup companion holding strong through the gap), Kalshi at #9, Polymarket at #13, and Peacock at #22. Appfigures' faster snapshot shows Kalshi, Peacock, and FOX One pushing back up the chart as semifinal markets go live.
• The pattern has held all tournament: World Cup apps seize the top of the chart on match days, then slide during gaps. Expect a spike this afternoon when the semifinal kicks off, the same reflex for Wednesday's England-Argentina semifinal in Atlanta, and a sharp reversion after the July 19 final ends the cycle.

An app that AI-generates its own comic dramas cracked the top 5

• VibeShort: AI Comic Dramas sits at #5 on Apple's US free chart this morning. It is part of the short-drama wave that includes ReelShort, DramaBox, and NetShort, but with a twist: instead of live actors, AI generates every scene as comic-style panels, which slashes production costs and lets new episodes drop every 24 hours.
• The app launched February 25 from AGILE QUADRANT MEDIA, a Hong Kong-registered studio, and passed 2.2 million downloads in its first three months. It pairs each animated episode with a text-novel adaptation in a read-and-watch dual mode, localized across 19 markets.
• The pricing is the short-drama playbook at its most aggressive: a weekly Pro Pass at $19.99, with intro offers down to $9.99 for the first two weeks, or $149.99 a year. Weekly auto-renewing subscriptions priced to convert on a cliffhanger, now applied to AI-generated content instead of filmed actors.

Apple's Epic stay briefing is complete. The judge now decides.

• Apple's reply brief was due yesterday, July 13, the final step in the briefing on its motion to pause the lower-court commission proceedings while the Supreme Court reviews the contempt finding. With Epic's opposition filed and Apple's reply due yesterday, the briefing wraps up and the case moves to Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers for a ruling.
• Epic's opposition calls this Apple's "third attempt to delay" and argues the lower court will have to set a commission rate regardless of how the Supreme Court rules on contempt, so the proceedings should start now. Apple argues the contempt label could prejudice the rate-setting and that the Supreme Court's decision could reshape the legal basis for any fee.
• If the judge denies the stay, Apple must file its external-link commission proposal within 24 hours of the ruling. If she grants it, the lower court goes on ice through the Supreme Court's review, with oral arguments likely in October 2026 and a ruling around June 2027. Right now Apple is charging zero commission on qualifying external-link purchases, still forgoing the 27% it tried to collect.

Depop climbed to #4 on the back of an AI listing tool

• Depop, the secondhand-clothing marketplace, is at #4 on Apple's US free chart this morning, an unusually high overall position for a resale-fashion app. It is #2 in the US Shopping category per Ember Picks, with 4.8 stars across nearly 900,000 reviews.
• The mechanic is an AI-assisted listing tool: a seller snaps a photo and the app writes the description and fills in the listing details, which lowers the friction to sell. That feeds a marketplace with roughly 600,000 new listings a day, and the Gen Z thrift culture that runs through TikTok keeps demand high. Back-to-school apparel shopping is already underway, and Circana notes the season now stretches from midsummer through Labor Day.
• The app is free with no in-app purchases. Depop takes a 10% fee on each sale, and most of its roughly 35 million registered users are under 26.

Tracking. Love Island USA has fallen out of Apple's top 25 after its Season 8 finale on Sunday, ending a month-long run that saw it hit #1 four times. Netflix Game Controller holds at #2. Paramount+ drained to #7 as the UFC 329 spike faded. Trump Accounts continues its slow post-July-4 drift outside the top 25.