Meta's new AI app Muse demonstrated stronger launch results in its first 12 days after release than ChatGPT from OpenAI managed over a comparable period following its debut. According to data from analytics firm Apptopia, cited by RBC-Ukraine, Meta's new service has already topped mobile app download charts. The product's success came as a surprise, given that ChatGPT had held the status of the fastest-growing AI app on the market for over a year.
Comparison Methodology: How Conditions Were Levelled
An exact comparison of the launch metrics of both apps had long been complicated by differences in their launch strategies. OpenAI released the mobile version of ChatGPT in many countries worldwide from the very start, but exclusively on the iOS platform. Meta, by contrast, launched Muse on two platforms at once — iOS and Android — but limited access to the US and Canadian markets only. To level the playing field for comparative analysis, Apptopia specialists examined download metrics on iOS in the US and Canada over the first 12 days after each service's release. It was precisely under these comparable conditions that Muse showed a significant lead.
Engagement Figures: 642,000 vs. 231,000
Analysts recorded a higher level of audience engagement for Muse compared to ChatGPT at a comparable stage of launch. A comparison of the number of daily active users (DAU) on mobile devices in the US revealed a substantial gap in Meta's favour: on the 12th day after release, Muse's daily active user count reached 642,000, whereas ChatGPT's figure stood at just 231,000. Even when the sample is narrowed down to the iOS operating system alone, Muse continues to lead — 359,000 daily active users versus a significantly lower result for its competitor over the same time frame.
Cross-Promotion Strategy: A Lesson from the Threads Launch
Experts attribute Muse's rapid spread to the use of a proven cross-promotion strategy that Meta had previously applied successfully when launching the Threads messenger. Integrating AI tools into the company's largest platforms allows it to tap into a ready-made multi-million-user audience without additional advertising spend. The Muse AI app is closely tied to Meta's ecosystem and operates within Facebook, Instagram, and the WhatsApp messenger. According to Apptopia data, more than 95 percent of Muse users already have an active Facebook account, and 63 percent are regular Instagram users. Thus, a significant portion of the audience arrives at Muse not through marketing campaigns, but through existing habits of interacting with ecosystem products.
Caveats and Data Limitations
It is important to note that Meta itself refrains from publishing official internal data on the number of users of its new service. All the figures cited are based on analytics from the third-party firm Apptopia, which estimates metrics based on download and activity data from the App Store and Google Play. This means that Meta's actual internal metrics may differ from the publicly available estimates. Nevertheless, the consistency of Apptopia's data with the trends recorded by other analytics platforms makes the conclusions about Muse's lead during the launch period fairly reliable.
