Meta’s AI companion, Muse, has become one of only twelve mobile apps to surpass ten million downloads in the United States within its first forty days. Sensor Tower data shows that the app logged 10.9 million total downloads since its September launch, with 10.2 million coming from U.S. users. Senior insights analyst Kara Lee of Sensor Tower noted that only eleven other apps have achieved this post‑launch milestone, the most recent being Meta’s own Threads in July 2023. Most of the other apps in the club are mobile games such as Fortnite, PUBG Mobile and Pokémon GO, while Disney+ is the only other non‑gaming app besides Threads.
Meta’s ability to promote new products across its existing platforms has been a key factor in Muse’s rapid growth. Threads leveraged Instagram’s social graph and was integrated into both Facebook and Instagram, and Muse benefits from similar cross‑promotion across Meta’s ecosystem, which now reaches 3.6 billion daily active users. The company is also spending heavily on advertising to attract new users. Sensor Tower reports that Meta allocated 39 percent of its total ad spend to Muse in October, up from 23 percent the month before. Consequently, Muse climbed to the 21st‑largest brand in the U.S. by advertising impressions this month, after being 73rd in September.
Retention appears stronger for Muse than for rival AI chat apps. In the United States, the app retained 30 percent of users after seven days and 23 percent after fourteen days. Competitors such as ChatGPT, Claude and Grok posted average seven‑day retention of 19 percent and fourteen‑day retention of 16 percent, according to the same data. Muse also hit a new engagement milestone on October 16, when daily active users reached 2.5 million, a 15 percent increase week over week.
Since its debut, Muse has topped the U.S. App Store charts, briefly slipping to second place on October 19 when streaming service Kick overtook it, but it reclaimed the lead the following Tuesday. The app has also held the number‑one spot on Google Play for the past thirty days. In its first forty days, Muse outperformed ChatGPT’s U.S. download total of 3.7 million, while Grok and Claude managed only 500,000 and 200,000 U.S. downloads respectively. Globally, ChatGPT still leads with roughly 15 million downloads in the same period, a reflection of its broader availability. Muse is currently limited to the United States and Canada, whereas ChatGPT’s app attracted users in markets such as Japan, Brazil and Germany; Japan alone accounted for a quarter of its global installs during the first forty days.
Overall, Muse’s rapid adoption and higher retention rates suggest that Meta’s cross‑platform marketing and advertising push are paying off, positioning the AI companion as a strong contender in the crowded generative‑AI market.