Meta’s Muse surpasses 10 million U.S. downloads in 40 days
Muse joins a small group of rapid-growth mobile apps
Meta’s AI companion, Muse, has reached 10.9 million downloads since its September debut, including 10.2 million in the United States during its first 40 days. Sensor Tower said only 11 other mobile apps have achieved the 10 million U.S. download milestone over the same post-launch period.
Senior Insights Analyst Kara Lee said the most recent comparable app was Meta’s Threads in July 2023. Many of the other apps to reach that scale were mobile games. Muse has remained a leading download destination: it held the No. 1 position on the U.S. App Store on every day except October 19, when Kick briefly moved ahead, and had regained the top place as of Tuesday. It was also No. 1 on Google Play over the preceding 30 days.
Promotion and advertising support the launch
Meta can market new products across a family of apps that has 3.6 billion daily active users. Threads drew on Instagram’s social graph and later gained distribution through Facebook and Instagram. For Muse, the company's early momentum followed the pattern established when Muse’s early U.S. App Store download surge placed the app near the top of the U.S. App Store after its initial download surge.
Sensor Tower’s figures also point to paid advertising as a major part of the campaign. Meta allocated 39% of its total advertising spend to Muse in October, up from 23% in the prior month. The app became the 21st-largest brand in the United States by advertising impressions for the month, compared with 73rd in September.
Retention exceeds the cited AI-app comparison
Early downloads do not by themselves establish lasting usage, but Sensor Tower reported stronger early retention for Muse than for the compared AI rivals. In the United States, Muse retained 30% of users after seven days and 23% after 14 days. ChatGPT, Claude and Grok averaged 19% seven-day retention and 16% 14-day retention in the firm’s comparison.
Muse also reached 2.5 million daily active users for the first time on October 16, a 15% week-over-week rise. The app is designed to handle a range of tasks on users’ behalf. Its U.S. launch performance exceeded the first-40-day U.S. download figures cited for ChatGPT at 3.7 million, Grok at 500,000 and Claude at 200,000.
Global comparisons require care. ChatGPT reached about 15 million global downloads in its first 40 days, but it was available across more markets, including Japan, Brazil and Germany. Muse is currently available only in the United States and Canada. For businesses evaluating AI-app launches, the figures show that distribution, advertising and early retention should be assessed together rather than treating download rank as a complete measure of adoption.