Meta’s new Muse personal AI agent app has surged past OpenAI’s ChatGPT to become the top free app in the U.S. iOS App Store. The app launched on September 8, 2026, and within weeks had upended the pecking order among consumer AI tools.
Muse overtook ChatGPT atop the charts on a Friday in September 2026, according to technology and business news reporting. The milestone came fast: analytics firm Sensor Tower found that Muse racked up 730,000 downloads in its first five days on the market.
Downloads Keep Climbing
The momentum didn’t stop there. By the following Monday, Sensor Tower reported that Muse’s combined downloads across iOS and Android had climbed past 2.5 million, split roughly between 1.5 million on iOS and 1.1 million on Android.
That growth dwarfed rivals during the same 13-day window. Sensor Tower reported the following download figures:
- ChatGPT: 3.1 million downloads (still the overall leader)
- Muse: 2.5 million-plus downloads
- Claude: 400,000 downloads
- Grok: 200,000 downloads
Even though ChatGPT retained the lead in raw download totals over the full period, Muse’s rapid ascent was enough to knock it off the top of the App Store’s daily free-app ranking.
Wall Street Takes Notice
Investors reacted swiftly. Meta Platforms stock jumped more than 11% on a Monday in September 2026, and Wells Fargo raised its price target on the stock to $796, according to financial analysts cited in business news coverage.
Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon offered some context for why Muse’s debut resonated. Rasgon said most agentic AI tools so far haven’t been built for everyday users, but Muse looks like an attempt to change that.
Meta is monetizing the app alongside its free tier. The company offers Muse for free but also sells monthly subscriptions priced at $20 or $100, depending on usage.
What Muse Can Do
Unlike simple chatbots, Muse is built to take action on a user’s behalf. The app can autonomously send emails and book travel, according to Meta.
Powering those capabilities is a new model family. The app runs on Meta’s Muse Spark family of AI models, which the company built specifically for real-world agentic work.
Access to Muse isn’t limited to a single platform. Users can reach the app through a standalone iOS and Android app, via the web at muse.ai, or through WhatsApp, Meta said.
Meta has also pushed the app onto desktop computers. The company expanded Muse’s availability to include the Mac, though technology news reporting noted the desktop version doesn’t count toward App Store chart rankings since it’s downloaded from the web rather than an app store.
Amazon Pushes Back
Not every company has welcomed Muse’s agentic reach. Amazon has blocked the app from accessing its shopping site entirely.
Amazon’s stated reasoning centers on data and personalization concerns. The company said the agent bypasses its built-in personalization features and appears to capture and store customer data, according to reporting on Amazon’s response.
The standoff highlights a broader tension facing autonomous AI agents: as these tools gain the ability to act independently across the web, the platforms they interact with are beginning to draw boundaries. For now, Muse’s rapid rise shows no signs of slowing, even as questions about data practices and platform access remain unresolved.
