Meta AI App Muse Crosses Ten Million U.S. Downloads in First Forty Days

Meta's new artificial intelligence companion app, Muse, has reached 10.2 million downloads in the United States within its first 40 days on the market, according to data from market intelligence provider Sensor Tower. Total global downloads stand at 10.9 million since its debut in September. This milestone places Muse in an exclusive group, as only 11 other apps in history have crossed the 10 million U.S. download mark in their initial 40-day window, a list that includes Meta's Threads app from July 2023.

Marketing And Growth

Sensor Tower senior insights analyst Kara Lee noted that most other apps reaching this scale were mobile games. Meta has driven this growth by cross-promoting Muse across its family of apps, which reaches 3.6 billion daily active users, and by heavily investing in paid advertising. Meta allocated 39 percent of its total advertising spend to market Muse in October, up from 23 percent in September. As a result, Muse is now the 21st largest brand in the U.S. by advertising impressions for October, climbing from 73rd place the previous month.

User Retention And Rival Comparison

Muse is also outperforming its AI competitors in user retention. The app recorded a 30 percent retention rate after seven days and a 23 percent retention rate after 14 days in the U.S. In comparison, rival AI apps like ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok saw an average seven-day retention rate of 19 percent and a 14-day rate of 16 percent. Daily active users for Muse hit 2.5 million on October 16, marking a 15 percent week-over-week increase. For comparison, ChatGPT recorded 3.7 million U.S. downloads in its first 40 days, while Grok and Claude reached 500,000 and 200,000 downloads respectively.

App Store Ranking

The app claimed the number one spot on the U.S. App Store for nearly every day since its release, except for October 19 when the streaming app Kick temporarily surpassed it. Muse has since returned to the top position and has also held the number one rank on Google Play over the past 30 days.

Context

Major technology companies often leverage their existing massive user bases and large advertising budgets to propel new standalone applications to rapid early adoption. High initial download numbers do not always guarantee long-term success, making user retention metrics a key indicator of whether a new tool will maintain a lasting audience.