A new AI app called Muse has arrived on mobile devices, and early usage numbers suggest it is off to a faster start than ChatGPT was when it first launched. Market research firms looking at app store data report that Muse has seen more downloads and has more daily active users in its first 12 days than ChatGPT did during its own early days. While it is difficult to compare these apps perfectly because they launched in different ways, the gap appears significant even when analysts look strictly at similar devices and regions.
Meta recently released Muse, an AI-powered app, for both Apple and Android phones. Analysts at the firm Apptopia tracked how many people downloaded the app and how many people used it every day during its first 12 days. They found that in the U.S. and Canada, Muse had 1.8 million downloads compared to the 1.3 million downloads ChatGPT saw in the same amount of time after it first arrived on Apple devices. Perhaps more importantly, Muse also has more people returning to use the app every day. Even when researchers isolated the data to compare only Apple users, Muse still showed higher daily engagement than ChatGPT did at the equivalent stage of its history.
The power of a built-in audience
When a new app is released, it usually has to fight for attention on a crowded app store. However, Meta has a massive advantage because it owns some of the most popular apps in the world, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. In the world of software distribution, this is often called cross-promotion. Because these apps are already on millions of phones, Meta can show a button or an advertisement for its new app to people who are already using its other services. This creates a shortcut for new users, who can simply tap a link to download the new tool without needing to search for it. The data confirms this advantage: most of the people who downloaded Muse are already regular users of Facebook and Instagram, suggesting that Meta is successfully funneling its existing audience into its new AI product.
This launch demonstrates that in the AI era, having the best technology is only half the battle. The other half is reach. While ChatGPT became a household name on its own, Meta is proving that its ability to place new tools directly in front of billions of people is a potent strategy for growth. If Meta can successfully link its AI tools to the platforms people already use for their daily digital lives, it could normalize the use of advanced AI for millions who might not have gone out of their way to try a standalone app. We are seeing a shift where AI is no longer a separate destination you visit, but a feature that is being woven into the social networks where people already spend their time.
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