Meta Pushes Muse as AI App Downloads Surpass 3.4 Million

The estimates are only current as of Sensor Tower's Thursday figures and can lag behind real-world adoption. That means they do not fully capture the effect of Meta Connect, where Meta announced upcoming features including video chat with the Muse avatar, support for computer use on the Mac, a dedicated email address, more partners and connectors, and plans for smart glasses integrations.

Other market intelligence firms show similarly strong traction but much different totals. Apptopia puts Muse's total downloads to date at 4.3 million and estimates that 2.6 million of those were on iOS alone. Appfigures says it sees roughly 2.3 million installs as of Thursday, almost evenly split between iOS and Android. Muse is currently available only in the United States and Canada.

Sensor Tower also found daily active users for the Muse app climbed 27% on Wednesday after Meta Connect wrapped. Before the conference, Muse had already grown quickly. Sensor Tower estimated 2.8 million downloads in its first two weeks in the app stores, from September 8 to September 17, with average day-over-day download growth of 55%. ChatGPT averaged 24% day-over-day download growth in its first 10 days after launch, while download growth for Claude and Grok declined during their respective launches, according to Sensor Tower.

Muse reached the top of the U.S. App Store on Friday, September 18, and has held that ranking since, according to the report. It also reached the top spot on Google Play on September 19 and remains there. Much of Muse's traction is organic, but Meta is also using cross-platform promotion, marketing the app to existing Facebook and Instagram users. That resembles the cross-promotion that helped Instagram Threads reach 500 million monthly active users.

Meta's Head of Threads, Connor Hayes, recently told Business Insider that Meta's marketing approach for Muse differs from its approach with Threads. Threads involves user-generated content that Meta can match to users' interests when running cross-promotions, while Muse promotions are designed to show something the AI agent can do for a user based on Meta's understanding of what would be useful or helpful to that person specifically.

Sensor Tower's data indicates Meta rolled out house ads promoting Muse on September 9, one day after launch. Within 10 days, Muse received the majority of house advertising promotions across Meta's properties, ahead of promotions for Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Meta has also begun advertising Muse on mobile ad networks and other social networks, including Reddit, TikTok and YouTube. By Tuesday, September 22, Muse ranked among the top 10 brands by advertising spend, Sensor Tower said.

Meta's marketing alone does not account for Muse's growth. Ads promoting the app accounted for only 6% of ad impressions from launch through September 19, according to Sensor Tower.