Meta’s AI companion app, Muse, has achieved rapid early adoption: Sensor Tower reports that since its September debut the app has been downloaded 10.9 million times globally, with 10.2 million of those installs occurring in the United States. That means Muse passed the 10 million U.S. downloads mark within its first 40 days on the market.
A rare post-launch milestone
Sensor Tower Senior Insights Analyst Kara Lee says only 11 other apps have previously reached this level of U.S. downloads in the same post-launch timeframe. The most recent comparable example was Meta’s Threads in July 2023. Lee noted that most apps that scale this quickly tend to be mobile games — examples include Fortnite, PUBG Mobile, and Pokémon GO — while among non-game apps only Threads and Disney+ reached similar early scale.
Cross-promotion and advertising spend
Meta’s ability to promote new apps across its family of services has supported Muse’s rapid growth; the company used similar tactics with Threads. In addition to cross-promotion, Meta has significantly increased paid advertising to drive Muse installs.
According to Sensor Tower, Meta allocated 39% of its total advertising spend to promote Muse in October, up from 23% in September. Muse also rose to become the 21st largest brand in the U.S. by advertising impressions in October, up from 73rd in September.
Retention and daily active users
Marketing can bring users in, but keeping them is a separate challenge. Sensor Tower’s data indicate Muse is retaining users at higher rates than competitors such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok. In the U.S., Muse recorded a 30% retention rate after 7 days and 23% after 14 days; by comparison, the competitors averaged a 19% 7-day retention and a 16% 14-day retention.
Muse also hit a daily activity milestone: on October 16 the app reached 2.5 million daily active users for the first time, marking a 15% week-over-week increase.
Comparison with rivals and availability
Since launch Muse rose to No. 1 on the App Store and at times outpaced some metrics seen by ChatGPT after its own launch. Sensor Tower reports ChatGPT had 3.7 million U.S. downloads in its first 40 days; Grok and Claude had about 500,000 and 200,000 U.S. downloads, respectively, in that period.
Globally, ChatGPT scaled to about 15 million downloads in its first 40 days, which is a larger figure than Muse’s global performance. However, that comparison is not direct: ChatGPT was available in more markets at launch (including Japan, Brazil, and Germany), while Muse is currently available only in the U.S. and Canada. For example, Japan accounted for roughly 25% of ChatGPT’s global installs during its first 40 days.
App store rankings
Muse has maintained the top spot on the U.S. App Store for nearly every day since launch, except October 19 when the streaming app Kick temporarily overtook it; Muse reclaimed No. 1 shortly after. Muse has also ranked No. 1 on Google Play over the past 30 days.
Overall, Muse has reached significant download and engagement milestones in its first weeks, aided by Meta’s cross-service promotion and increased advertising; sustaining user engagement over the longer term remains the next test.
