Beware phony Sora apps on the Apple App Store

Demand remains high for Sora, OpenAI’s new invite-only AI video app for iOS users. So high, in fact, that scammers are rushing to meet the demand.

As TechCrunch reported, fake Sora apps have escaped Apple’s App Store review process. TechCrunch reported that at least a dozen copied apps were on the App Store after Sora launched, although most of those listings have since been removed. As of this writing, we have not found any copycat apps using the Sora name, although there are other AI video apps claiming to grant access to the underlying Sora 2 generative AI video model.

However, on the Google Play app store, some fake Sora listings are still online. We’re not talking about unrelated, existing apps that use the Sora name in some way, but lists with names like “Sora 2 Video Maker.”

For now, the Sora app is only available on iOS to users in the United States and Canada, “with plans to quickly expand to other countries,” according to OpenAI. The application is free to download even without an invitation code, but you won’t be able to do anything without an invitation.

If you download Sora, it’s easy to find, as it’s still the #1 app in the App Store. Before downloading, make sure it is provided “by OpenAI”.

Credit: Screenshot: Apple

Credit: Screenshot: OpenAI

Sora is an AI video generator with a built-in social feed, and enthusiastic OpenAI fans are always looking for invites. The app is currently in the middle of a copyright drama. In the days after the app’s launch, the Sora feed was dominated by videos of copyrighted characters like SpongeBob, various Pokémon, and Rick and Morty.

We’ve been testing the app here at Mashable to see how it compares to other AI video models like Google Veo 3 and LumaAI’s Ray3, and we’ll have more coverage soon.

In the meantime, be wary of unknown apps you find on app stores. Don’t assume that just because an app appears in the store it is safe to download.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, filed a lawsuit in April against OpenAI, alleging that it violated Ziff Davis’ copyrights in the training and operation of its AI systems.