OpenAI’s viral ‘Sora’ app lands on android – But there’s a catch you should know

On Friday, OpenAI announced that Sora, its AI-generated short-form video app, has officially launched on Android. Previously only available on iOS devices, Sora can now be downloaded by Android users in seven countries: the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Why is Sora available on Android now?

After its launch on iOS, Sora rapidly climbed Apple’s App Store charts, racking up over a million downloads in just five days. OpenAI cites this successful adoption, as well as high user demand, as key factors for bringing the app to Android.

What does Sora do and why does it matter?

Sora, for those unfamiliar, lets users create 60-second-long videos from text or image prompts. The company’s new Sora 2 model, which powers the app, also auto-generates a soundtrack for each video.

“The real delight of Sora for me is when I ask it to do something it has not seen, or cannot, and it finds a way to create a video that looks like it could have been shot,” OpenAI founder and CEO Sam Altman wrote in an announcement post. “Sora’s not perfect, but I think it’s the first AI demo I’ve shown people that’s genuinely going to go viral.”

The app’s first Android iteration brings all of the core Sora features: create your own “cameo” video in which you, or a friend, appear doing an activity; remix existing videos with new content; try different styles and filters; and share results directly to social-media services.

What other markets will Sora be available in?

While the Android launch has expanded Sora’s reach, a number of key markets are still on the waiting list. India(BHARAT) is a notable absence, and the company has not specified when it expects to arrive. In an early blog post on the new app, OpenAI simply states: “Availability in other regions will come in due course.”

How do I download Sora?

Downloading is a straightforward process: if you’re in one of the seven eligible countries, open the Google Play Store and search for “Sora” to find the free app.

Free vs Premium: Sora’s Tiers

Sora is available in two usage tiers. While free-tier users can generate regular-length videos, OpenAI Plus subscribers also have access to longer video options and faster generation speeds.

As with OpenAI’s existing Plus offerings, this marks the company’s hybrid monetisation approach to AI products: free-to-use apps with paid upgrades for power users.

Deep-fakes and copyright controversies: concerns about Sora

Despite the new app’s virality, however, it has also been met with some controversy. Since its iOS release, Sora has also seen reports of the app being used to create deep-fakes of historic figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., with the King Estate sending a takedown request for some of the videos.

OpenAI’s initial copyright stance also raised eyebrows: the app, by default, allows copyrighted material from third-party websites to be used as long as the rights holder does not opt-out. The company has since reversed this approach to an opt-in policy.

Why Sora’s launch matters for social-media creators

As a lightweight, no-frills app, Sora is an accessible introduction to the world of AI-generated videos. Social-media creators, marketers, and lay-users can all make use of the app for a range of purposes. While the app is not free from copyright and ethical issues, Sora represents a notable milestone for OpenAI, and the broader AI space, in terms of mainstream, consumer-level adoption of generative tools.