On Tuesday, we told you that Elon Musk was threatening to sue Apple over how the App Store seemingly ignores Musk's "X" and his Grok AI app. In a tweet sent to Apple, Musk asked the tech giant why "X" and Grok is never found in the App Store's list of Must-Have apps. Musk pointed out that his social media site is the number one news app in the App Store, and Grok is number five among all apps. It is also number 2 in productivity, trailing only ChatGPT.
Currently, the Must-Have section contains apps like:
- TikTok (social media)
- Tinder (dating)
- Duolingo (language lessons)
- YouTube (video streaming)
- Bumble (dating)
- HBO Max (movies, television streamer)
- ChatGPT (AI)
- Hinge Dating (dating)
- Peacock (movies, television streamer)
- Audible (book and podcast streamer)
- Paramount+ (movies, television streamer)
- ESPN (sports)
- Snapchat (social media)
- Canva (AI photo, video editing)
- Crunchyroll (anime, music streamer)
- Amazon Prime Video (movies, television streamer)
- Twitch (live stream video games and more)
- YouTube Music (music streamer)
- LinkedIn (business networking)
- Dropbox (cloud-based storage)
- Amazon Music (music streamer)
Yes, Musk feels slighted because neither "X" nor Grok is included among these 21 apps. Per Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple responded to Musk's threat by saying. "The App Store is designed to be fair and free of bias. We feature thousands of apps through charts, algorithmic recommendations, and curated lists selected by experts using objective criteria. Our goal is to offer safe discovery for users and valuable opportunities for developers, collaborating with many to increase app visibility in rapidly evolving categories."
We should point out that neither "X" nor Grok is listed among the top 18 "Popular iPhone Apps." Nor are they among the 11 apps considered "Incredible iPhone apps," or the 31 apps under the "Editors' Choice Apps."
Perhaps the most important issue as far as Musk is concerned is that ChatGPT appears to be named on most of the lists where Apple has "editorial control," as pointed out by the multi-billionaire. Musk's theory is that ever since Apple entered into a partnership with ChatGPT parent OpenAI in June 2024, Apple has favored ChatGPT over other AI apps.
However, that argument has been shot down, ironically, by "X" members who pointed out that ChatGPT competitor DeepSeek topped the App Store at the start of this year. Perplexity did the same last month in India's App Store. Both of these events took place well after Apple agreed to partner with OpenAI.