Meta's AI App Muse Hits 10.9M Downloads in 40 Days, Outpacing Rivals on Retention
Meta's AI companion Muse achieved over 10 million downloads in its first 40 days, leveraging cross-platform promotion and heavy ad spend, while showing better user retention than ChatGPT and other competitors.
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According to data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, Meta's AI companion app Muse has recorded 10.9 million downloads in its first 40 days, with 10.2 million of those coming from the United States. This milestone places Muse among only 12 apps ever to reach this level of post-launch adoption, the last being Meta's own Threads in July 2023.
Muse's rapid growth is driven not only by Meta's ability to cross-promote across its family of apps—which serves 3.6 billion daily active users—but also by significant advertising investment. In October, Meta allocated 39% of its total advertising spend to promote Muse, up from 23% in September. This surge pushed Muse to rank as the 21st largest brand in the U.S. by advertising impressions, up from 73rd in September.
In terms of user stickiness, Muse outperforms its main AI rivals. In the U.S., Muse achieved a 30% retention rate after 7 days and 23% after 14 days. By comparison, competitors like ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok averaged 19% and 16% retention at the same intervals, respectively. Additionally, Muse's daily active users surpassed 2.5 million for the first time on October 16, marking a 15% week-over-week increase.
While Muse has seen breakout success on mobile, global comparisons require context. ChatGPT reached approximately 15 million global downloads in its first 40 days, significantly higher than Muse. However, this disparity partly reflects ChatGPT's wider availability in markets like Japan, Brazil, and Germany, whereas Muse is currently limited to the U.S. and Canada.