Early data is pointing to a strong debut for Meta's new artificial intelligence app, Muse, with fresh estimates suggesting it may be outpacing the early growth that ChatGPT experienced when it first arrived on mobile. Market intelligence firm Apptopia has released figures indicating that Muse accumulated more downloads during its first 12 days of availability than OpenAI's ChatGPT managed in the equivalent window following its own mobile launch. The comparison is limited to the United States and Canada markets.

Beyond raw download counts, Apptopia's estimates also show that Muse is attracting more daily active users than ChatGPT had at a comparable point in its rollout. These figures have drawn attention from across the tech industry, given that ChatGPT's launch was widely considered one of the most rapid consumer app adoptions in recent memory.

Comparing Two Different Launch Strategies

Making a direct comparison between the two apps has not been straightforward, largely because they took different approaches to their respective releases. When ChatGPT became available on mobile, it launched globally but was initially restricted to Apple's iOS platform. Muse, by contrast, launched simultaneously on both Apple's App Store and Google Play, but limited its availability to users in the United States and Canada only.

To create a more accurate side-by-side comparison, Apptopia narrowed its analysis to iOS performance in the U.S. and Canada for both apps, looking only at the first 12 days after each app's release. Within that more controlled data set, Muse recorded approximately 1.8 million downloads, compared to ChatGPT's 1.3 million downloads over the same type of window. When factoring in all platforms and regions where Muse is available, the app has reached 2.8 million total installs globally within its first 12 days.

Climbing the App Store Charts

Muse's momentum does not appear to be slowing. The app launched at the No. 2 position on the overall U.S. App Store rankings and has since climbed to the top spot, according to reporting from Business Insider. That move placed Muse above ChatGPT in the rankings, a milestone that further underscores the app's rapid uptake. Separately, analytics firm Appfigures noted that Muse had crossed the one million download threshold around that same period.

Daily Active Users Tell a Similar Story

Download figures alone do not always tell the full story of an app's health, but Apptopia's data on daily active users paints a consistent picture. Looking at U.S. mobile app daily active users, Muse is currently registering around 642,000 users per day. ChatGPT, at the same point in its post-launch timeline, had approximately 231,000 daily active users in the same market.

To account for the fact that Muse is available on both iOS and Android while ChatGPT's early mobile presence was iOS-only, Apptopia also ran an iOS-exclusive comparison. Even in that narrower view, Muse comes out ahead, with around 359,000 daily active users on iOS - still exceeding ChatGPT's figures from the equivalent timeframe.

It is worth noting that Apptopia operates as a third-party analytics provider and does not have direct access to Meta's internal usage data. The figures it publishes are estimates derived from its own measurement methodologies. Even accounting for a degree of margin of error, the general direction of the data suggests Muse is off to a notably strong start.

Meta's Cross-Platform Ecosystem Could Be a Key Driver

Meta has demonstrated before that it knows how to leverage its existing platforms to accelerate the growth of a new product. The launch of Threads, Instagram's text-based social network, is the clearest recent example. Threads now counts more than 500 million users, a figure that was built in part through aggressive promotion and deep integration with Instagram and Facebook. Muse appears to be following a similar playbook.

The AI app is designed to connect with both Instagram and Facebook, and it also functions within WhatsApp, giving it access to an exceptionally large base of potential users across Meta's family of applications. That built-in distribution network represents a significant structural advantage over standalone AI apps that must build their audiences from scratch.

While Apptopia does not have direct visibility into Meta's internal promotional activities or advertising campaigns, the firm did observe that more than 95 percent of Muse's current users are also Facebook users, and approximately 63 percent are also Instagram users. Those figures suggest that cross-platform promotion is already playing a meaningful role in driving adoption, even if the exact mechanics are not fully visible from the outside.

Meta Has Not Released Official Numbers

Despite the attention Muse has attracted, Meta has not publicly disclosed any figures related to the app's early adoption. The company was asked to comment on the data but had not offered any official response at the time of publication. Until Meta shares its own metrics, third-party estimates from firms like Apptopia remain the best available window into how the app is performing in the market.

What is clear from the available data is that Muse has arrived with considerable momentum. Whether it can sustain that trajectory and establish itself as a long-term fixture among Meta's core products remains to be seen, but its opening weeks suggest the company may have another significant platform on its hands.