Meta’s Muse hits 10M U.S. downloads in 40 days, a milestone reached by only 11 other apps
TechCrunch Sarah Perez ● Covered by 2 sources
Meta’s Muse hit 10.2 million U.S. downloads in 40 days. Only 11 other apps have ever crossed that mark this fast, and most were games.
Based on reporting by TechCrunch, Sarah Perez — read the original for the full story.
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Meta’s Muse has done something almost no mobile app ever does: pull in 10 million U.S. downloads in its first 40 days. Sensor Tower says the AI companion has reached 10.9 million downloads overall since its September launch, with 10.2 million of them coming from the U.S. That puts it in a tiny club — just 11 other apps have hit that kind of post-launch scale, according to Sensor Tower senior insights analyst Kara Lee.
The pattern looks familiar if you’ve watched Meta launch products before. The company has a habit of using its own platforms to push new apps hard, and Muse is getting the same treatment Threads got. Meta’s family of apps now reaches 3.6 billion daily active users, giving it a giant built-in funnel. But this isn’t just distribution muscle. Sensor Tower says Meta is also pouring money into ads for Muse, with 39% of its total advertising spend in October going to the app, up from 23% last month.
That spending has moved the needle fast. Muse is now the 21st largest brand in the U.S. by advertising impressions this month, up from 73rd in September. It’s also holding users better than some of the best-known AI rivals: a 30% 7-day retention rate and 23% after 14 days in the U.S., versus averages of 19% and 16% for ChatGPT, Claude and Grok, per Sensor Tower.
And the app is still showing signs of life after the install rush. Meta says Muse reached 2.5 million daily active users on October 16, a 15% week-over-week increase. The app has also sat at No. 1 on the U.S. App Store every day except October 19, when Kick briefly took the top spot, and it has been No. 1 on Google Play over the past 30 days. ChatGPT still beat Muse globally in its first 40 days, but that comparison is messy because Muse is only available in the U.S. and Canada for now.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
Meta is doing what Meta does: throw distribution, money and app-store gravity at a product until the numbers get loud. The real test isn’t downloads, though — it’s whether people keep using an AI companion after the novelty wears off. For now, Muse looks less like a lab demo and more like a company with a very expensive megaphone.
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