Meta’s Muse Hits 10 Million, but Trust Is the Next Test
Meta’s Muse Hits 10 Million, but Trust Is the Next Test
Muse launched in September and quickly climbed to the top of Apple’s App Store. Within 40 days, it had reached 10.2 million U.S. downloads—10.9 million overall—and joined a tiny group of apps to cross the 10 million-download threshold so quickly.
The sprint was not entirely organic. Sensor Tower found Meta had devoted 39% of its October advertising spending to Muse, while its vast network of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger gave the new assistant an unusually powerful distribution channel. Still, the early retention figures offered Meta more than a launch-week spike: Muse held 30% of U.S. users after seven days, versus a 19% average for rival AI apps, and daily active users hit 2.5 million on October 16.
By Wednesday’s third-quarter earnings call, Mark Zuckerberg said more than 10 million people in the U.S. and Canada had set up a Muse agent. About 25% use it on a given day, he said, with retention improving among the earliest adopters.
Shopping has emerged as Meta’s most commercially promising use. More than a quarter of engaged users shopping through Muse made purchases averaging above $200, Zuckerberg said, citing unusual activity through Plaid’s payments connector: “They hadn’t seen activity like they’re seeing with their connector on any other service before.” Meta intends to keep Muse free for most people, taking fees on commerce while selling subscriptions and advanced capacity to heavier users.
The company also says people are linking email and calendars for productivity tasks, framing that behavior as confidence in its security tools. But the growth story runs alongside a sharper credibility problem: Forrester analyst Kate Winick said, “The more information Muse has, the more effective it can be, and overall trust in Meta remains low.” That tension will intensify as Meta prepares to put Muse on its smart glasses and turn a hit app into a broader personal-AI business.
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