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Is Apple cheating you in the App Store? Elon Musk says yes, and he’s ready to take it to court now

Musk claims Apple’s ranking system is broken, and the fight could change how you find apps.

By Tsveta Ermenkova

Published: Aug 12, 2025, 9:09 AM

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A phone display with many different apps on it, with the App Store front and center.

AI companies aren’t just competing to make the smartest chatbot anymore – they are fighting to get onto your phone, grab your attention, and, of course, your money. Pretty much all the big names have apps for that: OpenAI has the ChatGPT app, Google’s got Gemini, and Elon Musk’s xAI runs the Grok app.

Right now, ChatGPT is sitting at the very top of Apple’s “Top Free iPhone Apps” chart in the US, while Grok is hanging out in sixth place. And apparently, Elon Musk isn’t thrilled about that – not one bit.

Musk claims Apple is “manipulating” its App Store rankings to give rival AI apps an unfair boost and says his company, xAI, is ready to take immediate legal action over it.

In a series of posts on his platform X, he accused Apple of “playing politics” by leaving both X and Grok off the App Store’s recommended app list – and insists a lawsuit is now unavoidable.

Hey @Apple App Store, why do you refuse to put either or Grok in your “Must Have” section when is the #1 news app in the world and Grok is #5 among all apps?

Are you playing politics? What gives? Inquiring minds want to know. https://t.co/3wenLZGtwG
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 11, 2025

The thing is… Musk hasn’t shown any proof to back this up. And it is not even clear if he’s actually filed the lawsuit yet or if this is just more of his public sparring.

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.

xAI will take immediate legal action.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 12, 2025

But Apple might not be completely innocent here. After all, the company has been under serious antitrust scrutiny before for its App Store rules, too. However, the past issues mostly centered around things like payment systems and how developers can talk to users, not how apps get ranked. So, this whole ranking controversy is new and we will see how it will play out.

Still, the irony here? Musk himself has faced similar accusations of “meddling” before. After he bought Twitter in 2022 and rebranded it to X, a 2024 study found that the platform’s algorithm had been tweaked to boost his own posts.

And OpenAI CEO Sam Altman even responded to Musk’s latest jabs by digging up a 2023 Platformer report claiming Musk had a special system built to make sure everyone saw his tweets.

This is a remarkable claim given what I have heard alleged that Elon does to manipulate X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn't like. https://t.co/HlgzO4c2iC
— Sam Altman (@sama) August 12, 2025

And that is not the only Grok-related controversy. Back in June, the chatbot was caught leaning on Musk’s own opinions when answering hot-button questions.

This isn’t exactly Musk’s first run-in with Apple or OpenAI. He co-founded OpenAI back in the day but later became one of its loudest critics, hitting them with lawsuits and even tossing out a massive $97.4 billion buyout offer – which the company unanimously rejected.

The drama really kicked up again after Apple partnered with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT to iPhones as part of Apple Intelligence. Musk’s response? Threatening to ban Apple devices from all his companies if OpenAI’s tech got baked directly into Apple’s operating systems.

So yeah… between App Store rankings, lawsuits, and old grudges, the AI turf war just got a little messier.

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Tsveta, a passionate technology enthusiast and accomplished playwright, combines her love for mobile technologies and writing to explore and reveal the transformative power of tech. From being an early follower of PhoneArena to relying exclusively on her smartphone for photography, she embraces the immense capabilities of compact devices in our daily lives. With a Journalism degree and an explorative spirit, Tsveta not only provides expert insights into the world of gadgets and smartphones but also shares a unique perspective shaped by her diverse interests in travel, culture, and visual storytelling.

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