Agentic AI
Meta's Muse AI agent reaches No. 2 on US App Store, but slower than Threads and ChatGPT
Meta's newly launched AI agent Muse has climbed to the second-most downloaded app in the US, though its debut pace trails both Meta's previous launches and OpenAI's ChatGPT.
TechCrunch — AI
Meta's entry into the consumer agentic AI race has generated Wall Street enthusiasm and industry chatter, but early adoption data suggests Muse is scaling more gradually than some of the company's recent app launches.
According to Sensor Tower, the AI assistant has accumulated more than 83,000 iOS downloads in the United States since its Tuesday debut, propelling it to the No. 2 position on Apple's App Store charts. The app is currently available only in the US and can also be accessed via web, WhatsApp, and Android—though Android performance has lagged significantly, landing at No. 338 in the Productivity category on Google Play.
How Muse's debut compares#
The adoption trajectory reveals a cautious start relative to Meta's other recent consumer bets. Threads, the company's Twitter alternative, drew 4.3 million US downloads on its first day alone. The Meta AI app, launched earlier, attracted 108,000 downloads during its initial rollout—meaning Muse took twice as long to reach that level.
The contrast with OpenAI's ChatGPT is even more striking. ChatGPT surpassed 500,000 US installs within its first week, suggesting an average daily rate of roughly 83,000 downloads—a milestone Muse is only now reaching. Despite this, Muse continues climbing the charts on iOS, having advanced from fourth position midweek.
Muse's strategic significance and competition#
Meta views agentic AI—systems that autonomously complete tasks on users' behalf—as the next major frontier in consumer technology. The company is positioning Muse as a flagship play in this emerging category, comparable in ambition to its broader pivot toward the metaverse.
However, Muse faces stiff competition. Instinct, a text-message-based AI agent, has emerged as the category leader among general-purpose tools aimed at everyday consumers. Valued at $2.5 billion after raising $350 million, Instinct is shipping features at a rapid pace: this week alone, it rolled out personal email addresses and announced the ability for users' agents to coordinate directly with friends' agents. The startup has also added Stripe and 1Password integrations, plus location-sharing capabilities.
Instinct's advantage may extend beyond momentum: by building a new social graph based on real-world relationships, it could ultimately prove more valuable than Meta's established friend network, which blends genuine connections with followers.
