Meta’s Muse Is Outpacing ChatGPT Early. What the Numbers Actually Show

Meta’s new AI assistant, Muse, is off to a strong start on mobile.

In its first 12 days, Muse recorded an estimated 1.8 million iOS downloads in the US and Canada, compared with 1.3 million for ChatGPT during the same period after its mobile launch, according to market intelligence firm Apptopia.

That puts Muse ahead in the early comparison, but the numbers need some context.

Muse has the early download lead

The two apps did not launch under the same conditions.

ChatGPT initially arrived on mobile globally and was available only on iOS. Muse launched on both iOS and Android, but its initial availability was limited to the US and Canada.

So Apptopia narrowed the comparison to iOS users in the US and Canada during the first 12 days of each launch.

On that basis, Muse reached 1.8 million downloads against ChatGPT’s 1.3 million.

Muse also recorded about 2.8 million installs globally during its first 12 days, according to Apptopia.

The firm estimated 642,000 daily active users for Muse in the US, compared with 231,000 for ChatGPT at the equivalent stage. On iOS alone, Muse had an estimated 359,000 daily active users.

These figures are estimates rather than numbers released by either Meta or OpenAI.

Meta already has a distribution network

This is where Muse has an advantage that has little to do with the app itself.

Meta already controls some of the world's biggest social platforms. Muse can connect with Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, giving the company several established routes for putting the assistant in front of existing users.

Apptopia found that more than 95% of Muse users also use Facebook, while 63% use Instagram.

Meta has already used this kind of distribution strategy with other products. The company can place a new service in front of people who are already spending hours inside its ecosystem.

That could matter as AI assistants move beyond answering questions and start handling tasks for users.

Muse is built to do more than chat

Meta describes Muse as a personal AI agent, rather than simply another chatbot.

The assistant is designed to take action on a user's behalf, including sending emails, booking travel, filling out forms and handling other tasks. It runs through a dedicated virtual machine that Meta says separates the agent and user data from the rest of the device.

That changes the competition.

The race is increasingly about who can get an AI system to complete useful tasks reliably, not simply who can produce the best answer to a prompt.

The early numbers do not settle the race

Muse's initial figures are encouraging, but they do not establish that it has overtaken ChatGPT as a whole.

The comparison covers a specific 12-day window, a specific geography and, for the download comparison, a specific platform. Apptopia also does not have access to Meta's internal user figures.

There is another factor: Muse benefits from Meta's enormous existing consumer network, while ChatGPT has built its own user base across products and platforms.

For now, the numbers show something narrower and more useful: Meta has managed to generate unusually strong early demand for its AI assistant, and its existing social platforms give it plenty of room to push that adoption further.

For African users, particularly in markets where WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram are already deeply embedded in everyday communication and business, the bigger development may be what happens when AI assistants become part of those serv