Meta's Muse AI App Hits 3.4 Million Downloads After Connect Conference Push

Meta's AI app Muse has surpassed 3.4 million downloads since its September 8 launch, according to the latest Thursday estimates from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower — up from 2.5 million just days earlier. The surge follows this week's Meta Connect developer conference, where Meta unveiled a slate of upcoming Muse features and ramped up promotion of the app across its platforms.

Daily active users for Muse climbed 27% on Wednesday alone, immediately after the conference wrapped, per Sensor Tower data. The firm's numbers are estimates as of Thursday and likely undercount the app's actual post-conference momentum.

Other analytics firms show similar but not identical figures, underscoring the inherent variability in third-party download tracking. Apptopia puts total downloads at 4.3 million, with 2.6 million on iOS alone. Appfigures estimates roughly 2.3 million installs as of Thursday, split nearly evenly between iOS and Android. Muse is currently available only in the U.S. and Canada.

Early growth outpaced ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok

Before Meta Connect, Muse had already built strong organic momentum. Sensor Tower recorded 2.8 million downloads in the app's first two weeks (September 8–17), with 55% average day-over-day download growth — more than double ChatGPT's 24% day-over-day growth rate during its first 10 days after launch, according to Sensor Tower. Claude and Grok, by contrast, saw declining download growth during their respective launch windows.

Muse reached the top of the U.S. App Store on September 18 and has held that position since. It hit #1 on Google Play on September 19 and remains there.

New features announced at Connect

At this week's conference, Meta announced several additions coming to Muse: video chat with the Muse avatar, computer-use support on Mac, a dedicated email address for the assistant, expanded third-party partners and connectors, and planned integration with Meta's smart glasses lineup.

Marketing engine borrowed from Threads' playbook

Meta is applying cross-platform promotion tactics similar to those that helped Instagram Threads reach 500 million monthly active users, pushing Muse to existing Facebook and Instagram users. According to Meta's Head of Threads, Connor Hayes, the strategy differs in execution: rather than matching user-generated content to interests as with Threads, Muse ads are built to demonstrate specific tasks the AI agent can perform for a given user.

Sensor Tower found Meta began running house ads for Muse on September 9, one day after launch. Within 10 days, Muse ads outpaced house advertising for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp combined. Meta has since expanded paid promotion to Reddit, TikTok, YouTube, and other ad networks — by September 22, Muse ranked among the top 10 brands by ad spend, according to Sensor Tower.

Despite the heavy promotional push, paid ads account for only 6% of ad impressions driving downloads from launch through September 19, per Sensor Tower, suggesting organic word-of-mouth and app store visibility are doing most of the work.

What this means

Muse's launch trajectory suggests Meta may have found a formula that eluded it with prior AI efforts: pairing a capable underlying model with the same aggressive cross-platform distribution machine that built Threads into a scale product. The comparison to ChatGPT's slower early download growth is notable, though ChatGPT's launch in 2022 predates the current AI app category and lacked Meta's built-in user base of billions across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The real test will be retention, not installs — download spikes tied to conference hype and cross-promotion often fade once the ad pressure eases. Meta's announced roadmap of video chat, Mac computer-use, and smart glasses integration signals a bet that Muse becomes a persistent utility layer across its hardware and software ecosystem, not just a novelty chatbot.