On 20 October 2026, TechCrunch, citing market-intelligence firm Sensor Tower, reported that Meta's AI companion app Muse reached 10.9 million downloads since its September debut — 10.2 million of them in the United States — within its first 40 days on the market.
That pace puts Muse in an exclusive club: Sensor Tower analyst Kara Lee said only 11 other apps have ever hit 10 million US downloads that fast, and almost all were mobile games (the only other non-game apps were Disney+ and Meta's own Threads). Muse also showed stronger retention than rival AI apps — about 30% of US users still active after 7 days and 23% after 14 days, versus a 19%/16% field average for ChatGPT, Claude and Grok — and its daily active users crossed 2.5 million for the first time on 16 October.
Muse's breakout is a reminder that distribution still wins in consumer AI: Meta marketed the app across a family of services with 3.6 billion daily users and routed 39% of its October ad spend toward it. As the companion market shifts from chat to agents that act on a user's behalf, our 2026 industry report tracks where engagement — and the money — is moving.