Meta's Muse Beats ChatGPT's Early Mobile Numbers in US and Canada, Appfigures Says

Meta's new AI agent Muse is pulling in more U.S. and Canadian users than ChatGPT did in the same window after its mobile debut, according to estimates from app analytics firm Appfigures. The figures cover downloads and daily active users, giving Meta its first hard signal that a late entrant can still gain ground in consumer AI. That Meta is competing on distribution rather than model quality alone is the part that matters.

Appfigures tracks app store activity and models usage from that data, so its numbers are estimates rather than audited counts. Neither Meta nor OpenAI has published comparable first-weeks figures for their respective apps, which leaves the analytics firm's read as the main public yardstick for now. The comparison is also period-matched: Muse's opening stretch against ChatGPT's equivalent stretch, not against ChatGPT's current scale.

The structural advantage is obvious. Meta can push Muse through the same install base that already carries Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, and it has done exactly that with prior AI features. ChatGPT's early mobile run depended on building a habit with users who had to seek the app out. Muse gets handed to people who were not looking for an AI agent at all.

Downloads are the easier number to inflate and the less interesting one over time. Daily active users tell you whether people came back after the first launch, and that is where early spikes for new AI apps have historically faded. Appfigures' estimate puts Muse ahead on both measures in the matched window, but the matched window is short and the retention curve beyond it is unknown.

The result lands as Meta continues folding generative features into its core apps while OpenAI defends a lead it built on brand recognition and developer mindshare. A strong opening in two English-speaking markets does not settle the global picture, where ChatGPT has a years-long head start and where Meta's own rollout of Muse is still uneven. Google's Gemini sits in the same fight with its own distribution through Android and Search.

What to watch is whether Muse's daily actives hold through the next few months, once the launch push inside Meta's apps quiets down. If they do, the consumer AI race becomes a distribution contest that Meta is built to win. If they slide back toward ChatGPT's early curve, the launch bump will look like what it may be: a well-placed notification, not a changed habit.