Meta’s AI agent Muse has had 10.9 million downloads since its September debut, 10.2 million of them in the United States, TechCrunch reported on 20 October 2026, citing data from Sensor Tower. That puts Muse among only a dozen mobile apps to reach 10 million US downloads in their first 40 days, according to the report.
By the same data, ChatGPT had 3.7 million US downloads in its first 40 days, Grok 500,000 and Claude 200,000. Sensor Tower’s figures also cover Meta’s marketing: Meta put 39% of its total advertising spend behind Muse in October, TechCrunch wrote.
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The key insight: As we read it, Sensor Tower’s figures show Muse with both more installs and longer retention than its rivals: 30% after 7 days against a 19% rival average, as TechCrunch reported.
Only 11 other apps have reached this kind of post-launch milestone, said Sensor Tower’s Senior Insights Analyst Kara Lee, as quoted by TechCrunch. The most recent was Meta’s Threads in July 2023, and the others were largely mobile games, Lee noted.
Muse’s daily active users reached 2.5 million for the first time on 16 October, a 15% week-over-week increase, according to the report. Muse held the No. 1 rank on the US App Store on every day except 19 October, when streaming app Kick briefly beat it, and it has been No. 1 on Google Play over the past 30 days, TechCrunch wrote.
US downloads in each app’s first 40 days, per Sensor Tower data reported by TechCrunch (20 Oct 2026): Muse 10.2M, ChatGPT 3.7M, Grok 500,000 and Claude 200,000. Sensor Tower also puts Muse at 39% of Meta’s total advertising spend in October.
Meta’s Advertising for Muse
Per Sensor Tower’s data, Meta allocated 39% of its total advertising spend to marketing Muse in October, up from 23% in September. Muse ranks as the 21st largest brand in the US by advertising impressions this month, up from 73rd in September, TechCrunch reported.
TechCrunch tied the result to Meta’s ability to market new apps across its other services, as it did with Threads. Meta’s family of apps today includes 3.6 billion daily active users, TechCrunch wrote. TechCrunch added that Meta is also heavily investing in advertising to drive new users to Muse.
Retention Against ChatGPT, Claude and Grok
In the US, Muse had a 30% retention rate after 7 days and 23% after 14 days, according to Sensor Tower’s data as reported by TechCrunch. Its rivals, ChatGPT, Claude and Grok, averaged a 19% 7-day retention rate and a 16% 14-day rate, the report said.
Globally, ChatGPT reached around 15 million downloads in its first 40 days, ahead of Muse, TechCrunch wrote. It added that the comparison is not even: Muse is available only in the US and Canada for now, while Japan alone accounted for 25% of ChatGPT’s global installs in its first 40 days.
As we read it, Muse is following the Threads route: TechCrunch tied the result to Meta’s ability to market new apps across its other services, and Sensor Tower puts Muse at 39% of Meta’s total advertising spend in October.
As we read it, the retention numbers matter more than the install count: TechCrunch wrote that marketing an app and retaining users after the initial shine wears off are two different things, and Sensor Tower’s 14-day figure for Muse is 23% against a 16% rival average.
As we read it, the next limit is access, not reach: JPMorgan has barred outside agents like Muse, and RBC’s chief executive said the bank is considering blocking Muse from customer information, as we reported.
TechCrunch, 20 October report
“Still, marketing an app and retaining users after the initial shine wears off are two different things”
Three Implications
PAID REACH Sensor Tower puts Muse at 39% of Meta’s total advertising spend in October, up from 23% in September, TechCrunch reported.
DAILY USE Muse’s daily active users reached 2.5 million for the first time on 16 October, a 15% week-over-week increase, according to the report.
TWO MARKETS ONLY Muse is available only in the US and Canada for now, TechCrunch wrote.
The framework puts it this way: “Pricing power leaves the model and lands on whoever controls the surface and its reusable workflows.”
As we read it, Muse’s 40-day curve rests on surfaces Meta already controls, a family of apps with 3.6 billion daily active users per TechCrunch, while banks control whether the agent reaches their accounts. The framework was published in July 2026 and does not discuss Muse.
What Is Not Established
The download, retention and advertising figures are Sensor Tower’s third-party estimates, not numbers published by Meta. The report gives Meta’s Muse advertising as a share of its spend, not as a dollar amount. The 40-day comparison counts US downloads only, and Muse is available only in the US and Canada.
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By Sensor Tower’s count, Muse reached 10.2 million US downloads in 40 days, against 3.7 million for ChatGPT over the same span, with Meta putting 39% of its October advertising behind it. As we read it, the figures show both a distribution push and users staying longer than on rival apps, while JPMorgan has barred outside agents and RBC weighs a block on customer data.
A note on sourcing. This piece is built on TechCrunch’s 20 October report of Sensor Tower data, read in full, and on our own earlier pieces on Muse. All download, retention and advertising figures are Sensor Tower’s estimates as reported by TechCrunch, not figures published by Meta. Nothing here is financial or investment advice.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
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