Meta's AI companion Muse has passed 10 million downloads in the United States within its first 40 days of release, a threshold that only 11 other apps have crossed, according to market intelligence provider Sensor Tower. The app, which debuted in September, has drawn 10.9 million downloads overall, with 10.2 million of those in the U.S.

Kara Lee, a senior insights analyst at Sensor Tower, said just 11 other apps have reached that post-launch mark to date. The most recent was Meta's Threads, in July 2023. Lee noted that most of the apps to hit that scale were mobile games, including Fortnite, PUBG Mobile and Pokémon GO, and that Disney+ and Threads were the only non-game apps besides Muse in that group.

Meta has leaned on its other services to promote Muse, as it did with Threads, which was built on Instagram's social graph and had its content integrated into Facebook and Instagram. Muse is also getting a substantial push through paid advertising. Sensor Tower data shows Meta directed 39% of its total advertising spend toward marketing Muse in October, up from 23% the prior month, and the app now ranks 21st among U.S. brands by advertising impressions this month, compared with 73rd in September.

Sensor Tower's figures indicate Muse is holding onto users better than competing AI apps. In the U.S., Muse recorded a 30% retention rate after seven days and 23% after 14 days, while ChatGPT, Claude and Grok averaged 19% and 16% over the same periods. Muse's daily active users also reached 2.5 million for the first time on October 16, a 15% increase week over week.

The U.S. download figure puts Muse ahead of its rivals in the early going. ChatGPT drew 3.7 million U.S. downloads in its first 40 days, while Grok and Claude saw 500,000 and 200,000, respectively.

Globally, ChatGPT reached roughly 15 million downloads in its first 40 days, ahead of Muse. Sensor Tower's data indicates that comparison is uneven, since Muse is currently available only in the U.S. and Canada, while ChatGPT drew attention from markets including Japan, Brazil and Germany. Japan alone accounted for 25% of ChatGPT's global installs during that period, according to the firm.

Muse, which Meta describes as able to handle various tasks on users' behalf, reached No. 1 on the App Store after launch and at one point outpaced some metrics ChatGPT posted following its release.

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