Meta’s Muse has reached a remarkable early milestone: the company’s AI agent passed 10 million U.S. downloads within 40 days of its September debut. Sensor Tower estimates that Muse had 10.9 million downloads worldwide during that period, including 10.2 million in the United States. The download milestone places Muse among just 12 mobile apps to reach that mark since Sensor Tower began tracking the category in 2015.
The company is entering unusually exclusive territory. Most of the other apps in that group are blockbuster games, including Fortnite, PUBG Mobile, and Pokémon GO. Outside gaming, the club includes Disney+ and Meta’s own Threads, which achieved the same 40-day U.S. milestone in 2023. Muse’s surge reflects both the reach of Meta’s ecosystem and an aggressive advertising push: Sensor Tower says Muse accounted for 39% of Meta’s total advertising spend in October, up from 23% the previous month.
Downloads, however, only tell part of the story. Muse retained 30% of U.S. users seven days after installation and 23% after 14 days, compared with average rates of 19% and 16% for ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok. The app also reached 2.5 million daily active users on October 16, a 15% week-over-week increase. Those figures suggest Muse is not merely benefiting from Meta’s promotion across its services, although its steep day-one visibility still gives the product a substantial advantage.
Meta launched Muse on September 8 in the United States for iOS, Android, and the web at muse.ai, with availability for AI glasses planned. Unlike a conventional chatbot, Meta positions Muse as an agent that can perform tasks on a user’s behalf. The company says it can open a browser, fill out forms, create action plans, continue working after the app is closed, and request approval before sensitive actions such as sending email or making a purchase.
That agent-first pitch is central to Muse’s attempt to stand apart from established AI assistants. Meta says the system runs inside a dedicated Muse Secure VM, with a separate Sentinel agent overseeing internet access and sensitive operations. Users can choose which services Muse can access, review an audit trail, disconnect integrations, and opt out of having their interactions used to train Meta’s AI models. The app is free for most users, while subscription plans are available for people who need more capacity.
The comparison with rival AI apps also needs some context. Muse is currently limited to the U.S. and Canada, while ChatGPT’s first 40 days included a much broader international audience and roughly 15 million global downloads. In the U.S. alone, though, ChatGPT reached 3.7 million downloads during its first 40 days, compared with 500,000 for Grok and 200,000 for Claude. Muse’s next challenge will be converting its launch momentum into durable daily use as advertising cools and Meta expands the service beyond its initial markets.
