Meta’s Muse has passed ChatGPT’s early mobile-launch pace in a comparison designed to account for their different release strategies. Estimates from market intelligence firm Apptopia put Muse ahead on both downloads and daily active users during the first 12 days, giving Meta an encouraging opening for its newest AI app.
The result is not a direct disclosure from Meta. It is a third-party estimate built around selected markets, platforms and launch periods. That makes the comparison useful as an early signal rather than a definitive measure of long-term adoption.
A Narrower Comparison Gives Muse the Lead
ChatGPT and Muse did not launch under the same conditions. ChatGPT’s mobile app initially became available worldwide on iOS. Muse launched on both Apple’s App Store and Google Play, but only in the United States and Canada.
Apptopia narrowed the comparison to iOS downloads in the United States and Canada during each app’s first 12 days. Within that shared frame, Muse recorded an estimated 1.8 million downloads, compared with 1.3 million for ChatGPT.
The firm also compared US mobile daily active users at the same point after launch. Muse reached an estimated 642,000, while ChatGPT had 231,000. Because Muse was available on two operating systems, Apptopia ran an iOS-only activity comparison as well. Muse still led with 359,000 daily active iOS users.
Across its full release, Muse accumulated an estimated 2.8 million installs in 12 days. It also moved from second place to first in the overall US App Store ranking. Another analytics company, Appfigures, had earlier estimated that the app crossed one million downloads.
Meta’s Existing Networks May Be the Accelerator
Muse can connect with Facebook and Instagram and also works inside WhatsApp. TechCrunch notes that Meta used cross-promotion and product integration to expand Threads, which now has more than 500 million users. Muse could benefit from a similar distribution system.
Apptopia found substantial overlap between Muse’s audience and Meta’s existing products: more than 95 percent of Muse users also use Facebook, while 63 percent use Instagram. That does not prove those services caused the downloads, because the analytics firm cannot see Meta’s advertising or cross-promotion efforts directly. It does show that Muse is starting inside a large, familiar ecosystem rather than building an audience from an empty base.
The distribution advantage complicates a simple claim that one AI product is intrinsically more attractive than another. ChatGPT’s launch established a different market at a different time and under different platform constraints. The numbers compare early mobile momentum, not the underlying capability or eventual scale of the two services.
Strong Estimates Still Need First-Party Confirmation
Apptopia does not have access to Meta’s internal download or activity records. Its figures are estimates, and TechCrunch describes them as useful even if they are only directionally accurate. Meta had not shared its own adoption numbers after being asked for comment.
That limitation matters because small differences in methodology can change app-market estimates. It is also too early to know whether initial downloads become durable daily use. A high store ranking and large first wave can establish reach without proving retention.
Muse nevertheless appears to have improved substantially on the earlier snapshot that placed it second in the US iOS chart with more limited download figures. The new comparison adds active-use estimates and a matched iOS market, making the growth story more concrete while keeping its uncertainty visible.
For Meta, the immediate achievement is distribution: Muse has entered the mobile market at a pace comparable to the most prominent consumer AI launch. The harder test comes after the first 12 days, when internal figures, retention and sustained use will determine whether the app becomes another durable part of Meta’s portfolio.
