The news: Meta’s Muse app hit 10 million US downloads in 40 days, making it one of only about a dozen apps to accomplish that milestone. The only other nongaming apps to do so are Disney+ and, most recently, Meta’s Threads, per Sensor Tower data provided to EMARKETER.

• Muse has recorded 10.9 million downloads since its September launch, including 10.2 million in the US.
• The app has a 30% retention rate after seven days and a 23% retention rate after 14 days; that compares with a 19% seven-day rate and 16% 14-day for rivals ChatGPT, Claude, and Grok.

Substantial promotional spending helped drive adoption. Meta allocated 39% of its total advertising spend to Muse in October, up from 23% in September.

What it means: Muse may be turning an experiential feature consumers occasionally try into one they use regularly. This is a departure from Meta AI’s weaker trial rate, suggesting Muse’s more specific identity and use cases are attracting consumers.

• While nearly 90% of US internet users have heard of Meta AI, just 28.3% have tried it, per EMARKETER data. Meanwhile, 56.7% have tried ChatGPT, and 46.1% have tried Gemini.
• Muse is showing a different pattern, with rapid adoption and stronger early retention.

Still, fast starts don’t guarantee long-term success. Threads reached the same early download milestone, but we expect its user growth to slow from 12.6% in 2026 to 8.4% by 2030. And Muse lacks a major asset held by Google Gemini—access to people’s emails, calendars, and location—giving it less context for AI-powered answers and actions.

“Meta isn’t in an especially good position to compete in AI. Yes, it has great distribution, as the launch of Muse has shown. But people don't typically turn to Facebook or Instagram for search or productivity, and those are the two biggest use cases for consumer AI—so for Meta to succeed in AI, its audience would have to build entirely new habits,” said Nate Elliott, principal analyst at EMARKETER.

Recommendations for brands: Test Muse as an emerging consumer discovery channel, measuring whether early engagement leads to repeat usage, awareness, brand consideration, and conversions before committing substantial resources.

• Audit how Muse surfaces brand and product information against competitors like ChatGPT and Claude on a monthly basis, as model behavior is rapidly evolving.
• Use consumer behavior data to assess whether Muse’s use cases align with how target audiences actually use AI or whether traditional digital platforms may be more effective.

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