Phantom Tops iOS Rankings Amid Solana Surge

Phantom, a web3 wallet popular among Solana users, is topping the rankings in the iOS app store.

On Nov. 21, Phantom claimed the top spot in the “free utility apps” category, overtaking Google’s search app and Chrome browser. It also boasted the top 10 position among free iPhone apps for the first time, ranking sixth overall.

Notably, Phantom ranked above popular apps like Temu, Google, TikTok, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

“The definition of crypto is changing,” said Brandon Millman, CEO of Phantom. “Crypto used to be a single-player, highly financialized, brokerage-like experience,” “Now, we’re all living on-chain with our friends.”

Phantom, originally a Solana-focused wallet, now supports Ethereum, Bitcoin, Base, and Polygon, broadening its appeal to the growing crypto user base. In 2023, Phantom hosted 1.9 million monthly active users and processed over 170 million transactions. On April 29, it reported seven million monthly active users.

Phantom launched on iOS in January 2022. At the time, the company raised a $109 million Series B funding round that valued the platform at $1.2 billion.

Solana’s SOL token has enjoyed a meteoric rally of 342% over the past 12 months, according to CoinGecko, reflecting surging growth in the Solana ecosystem.

iOS update hurts users

However, not all iOS users are happy.

On Nov. 14, some iOS users reported being locked out of their wallets after a software update reset their apps. Users who had not backed up their recovery phrases were unable to restore their crypto holdings. Phantom issued an emergency update and urged users to store their seed phrases securely.

“We're aware that a small number of iOS users are experiencing app resets,” Phantom tweeted. “If you happen to be among them, you can restore your wallet using your recovery phrase. Please make sure you always back up your recovery phrase in a secure location.”

As a non-custodial wallet, Phantom cannot recover funds for users who lose their seed phrases.

Phantom’s rise coincides with broader crypto adoption and a bullish market, with Bitcoin tagging an all-time high of $98,310 several hours ago.

Coinbase, the largest U.S.-based exchange, also hit a milestone, becoming the number one finance app on the iOS App Store.