Meta’s AI personal agent app Muse has outpaced ChatGPT’s early performance in both downloads and daily active users less than two weeks after launch, adding momentum to the debate over whether AI agents are finally reaching mainstream consumers.
Muse logged 730,000 downloads in about five days, pushed cumulative downloads past 2.8 million within 12 days, and rose to the top of the U.S. iOS free app rankings last Friday, ahead of ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, and Grok from SpaceX AI. Meta shares jumped more than 11% on Monday, and Wells Fargo then raised its price target on the company to $796.
Muse posted stronger early download and daily user numbers
According to TechCrunch, citing market intelligence firm Apptopia, Muse recorded 1.8 million iOS downloads in the U.S. and Canada during its first 12 days, compared with 1.3 million for ChatGPT over the same period on a comparable basis.
A separate dataset from Sensor Tower showed Muse reached 730,000 downloads in about five days and had surpassed 2.5 million cumulative downloads as of Monday. Of that total, iOS accounted for about 1.5 million downloads and Android contributed about 1.1 million.
For comparison, Claude and Grok recorded 400,000 and 200,000 downloads, respectively, over the same 13-day window. ChatGPT still led Muse in that timeframe with 3.1 million downloads, but the release strategies were different: ChatGPT launched globally on iOS only at the time, while Muse is currently available on both iOS and Android, but only in the U.S. and Canada.
Daily active user figures were also strong. Apptopia said Muse had reached 642,000 mobile daily active users in the U.S., well above ChatGPT’s 231,000 over a comparable period. Even on iOS alone, Muse’s 359,000 daily active users were ahead of ChatGPT.
Meta is pitching Muse as an AI agent for ordinary consumers
Meta describes Muse as an AI personal agent tool for mainstream users. Its core functions include carrying out tasks across the web, such as filling out online forms and organizing email inboxes, with the aim of letting users manage and direct powerful digital assistants. The app runs on Meta’s Muse Spark family of AI models and is part of Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg’s push into the AI agent market.
On monetization, Muse offers a free base version alongside two subscription tiers priced at $20 and $100 per month. That gives Meta an AI revenue path outside its core online advertising business.
Meta also has a built-in distribution advantage. Apptopia said more than 95% of Muse users also use Facebook, while 63% use Instagram. Muse also connects with WhatsApp. Meta previously used a similar cross-platform funnel to scale Threads to 500 million users, and investors are watching whether Muse can follow a similar route.
Amazon blocks access while Shopify backs the app
Muse’s rapid expansion has already created friction in e-commerce. Amazon said it blocked Muse from accessing its shopping site, citing privacy and security risks. Amazon said Meta did not inform the company in advance that Muse would access its platform. It also said the agent bypassed personalization features built into Amazon’s shopping experience and appeared to capture and store user credentials and scrape account data.
In a statement, an Amazon spokesperson said: 「We believe third-party apps that make purchases from other merchants on behalf of customers should operate transparently and respect service providers’ decisions about whether they want to participate.」
Shopify has taken the opposite approach. Shopify Chief Executive Officer Tobias Lütke said Monday that Shopify will work with Muse to allow agentic checkout in stores on its platform. The partnership gives Muse support as it moves into e-commerce use cases.
Questions remain over whether the momentum will last
Despite the strong start, there are still doubts about whether Muse can sustain its momentum. OpenAI’s Sora and Meta’s own Vibes AI video tool both drew heavy download interest early on, but neither remained a breakout product over time.
Muse’s rise is also unfolding against a wider backdrop of pressure on the industry. Concerns around AI safety and cybersecurity have continued to weigh on the tech sector. Meta also recently agreed to pay about $17 billion to settle claims brought by multiple state attorneys general over allegations that Facebook and Instagram caused potential harm to children and teenagers.
Muse’s heavy reliance on personal user data has drawn scrutiny as well. As reported by CNBC, Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon said, 「So far, most agent-style applications have not really been aimed at ordinary people. Now apps such as Meta Muse are starting to appear, and they may have the potential to reach broader adoption.」 He also said, 「They care about security, but I’m not sure how much they care about privacy.」