The opening numbers
For the first 12 days after launch, Apptopia compared iOS performance in the US and Canada:
Worldwide, Muse reached 2.8 million installs in the same period. The app initially ranked second overall in the US App Store, then moved into first place, Business Insider reported Friday. Appfigures had previously reported that Muse passed 1 million downloads.
The audience beyond downloads
Muse also had more daily users in the US than ChatGPT had at the equivalent point after launch. Across iOS and Android, Apptopia estimated:
The platform mix still gives Muse an advantage, so Apptopia also isolated Apple devices:
Apptopia has no direct access to Meta’s internal data. Its figures are third-party estimates of downloads and daily users, so they should be treated as directional rather than definitive. Still, they point to the possibility that Muse could become Meta’s most popular app.
Meta’s distribution advantage
Meta has already demonstrated how much cross-promotion can change an app’s launch. Threads benefited from advertising and integration with Instagram and Facebook, and now has more than 500 million users.
Muse could receive similar support. The AI app may connect to Instagram and Facebook, while also operating inside WhatsApp. Apptopia’s audience data shows how large the overlap already is:
Apptopia cannot directly observe Meta’s advertising campaigns or cross-promotion tactics. Meta has not yet published its own first-launch data.
I think the more important signal here is not that Muse beat ChatGPT in a short, uneven window. It is that Meta can place an AI product inside services people already use. The numbers may say as much about distribution as they do about demand for Muse itself — and that makes the company’s missing internal data especially significant.
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