Meta's personal AI agent Muse climbs to No. 1 among free apps on Apple's US App Store, ahead of ChatGPT; Muse launched on September 8

Business Insider 2026-09-20 Georgia Hennessy

Context & Ripple Effects

Muse moved from a US launch on a dedicated Meta cloud VM to a Mac app that can manage files and draw from other apps within 10 days, after arriving on iOS, Android and the web. Its free allowance and $20 and $100 monthly compute tiers created a low-friction path to broad consumer distribution.

The App Store result makes that multi-surface rollout more consequential than a model release alone: Meta has put Muse ahead of ChatGPT in a prominent consumer acquisition channel. Meta executives also said they were opening Muse connectors to developers, framing the agent as a route into third-party services rather than only a standalone chatbot.

First-order effects

Meta gains the leading free-app position in Apple’s US store, while ChatGPT loses that visible ranking advantage to Muse.
Muse’s early audience has an on-ramp from a free weekly token allowance to Meta’s paid compute tiers, making conversion and sustained use the immediate commercial tests.

Second-order effects

Developers offering Muse connectors gain a potential distribution channel to Muse users; Meta’s connector program makes integration breadth a competitive lever against ChatGPT.
The announced Meta-Stripe partnership around agentic payments gives businesses a reason to prioritize Muse-compatible transaction flows if consumer adoption translates into recurring agent use.

Third-order effects

If App Store acquisition converts into retention, personal AI agents will compete less on model access alone and more on cross-device workflow control, connectors and payments.
Apple’s App Store becomes a key consumer distribution gatekeeper for standalone agents, even as Meta tries to extend Muse beyond the phone through web, desktop and third-party services.

The trend: Consumer AI competition is shifting toward agents that combine broad device availability with third-party service access, using app-store distribution to build an operating layer for tasks.

Discussion

@drorpoleg Dror Poleg on x
Zuck is back [embedded post]
@finkd Mark Zuckerberg on x
Opening access for developers to build Muse connectors. You bring the API — Muse brings the agent, the browser, and the context of what the person actually wants. People reach your service just by asking for it, and their agent takes it from there. New connectors are live today. …
@alexandr_wang Alexandr Wang on x
someone today said i had the best social team for the muse launch bruh this is all me out here rawdogging these tweets. i don't let the corposlops near my tweet cannon
@krishnanrohit Rohit on x
Been running Muse and Instinct regularly for a few days, and I think the only diff is Muse is smoother, faster, better UX, and available in more places, but Instinct is more proactive, and goes a tiny bit deeper.
@jeff_weinstein Jeff Weinstein on x
📣 Announcing: @Meta and @stripe are partnering to make it easy for businesses to accept agentic payments using the @Muse Connector Platform. (This going to unlock many new money muse cases!) Learn more: - https://muse.ai/... - https://docs.stripe.com/... - or email jweinstein@
@mattdeitke Matt Deitke on x
Muse connectors could become the first real App Store of the Al era. 💙 If tons of consumers already have an agent, connecting your service instantly puts it in front of all of them. It won't require new apps to download or interfaces to learn. It will just connect.
@alexandr_wang Alexandr Wang on x
notion and granola connectors now live! also super easy to use from the mac app! p.s. my muse made this photo, and did a really great job with it! *pat pat*
@signulll @signulll on x
@finkd interesting, like a connector store instead of an app store.
@signulll @signulll on x
it's pretty remarkable that meta is effectively bundling a growing number of ai utilities into its products & giving them away for ~free. this is how social media became completely free. you can imagine the same thing happening across ai. entire categories that currently support …
@gregisenberg Greg Isenberg on x
I just read what Zuck wrote about Muse connectors. A few things I think this means: 1. We're witnessing the agentification of consumer apps. 2. Zuck believes Muse reaching 100M+ users feels entirely possible. 3. Whoever you connect to becomes your new landlord, so pick carefully.…
@sanazahari Sanaz on x
I've been pretty happy with @bot agents but I just had a delightful @Muse use case. My daughter wants her hair done for picture day. No appointments were available l so I asked my muse agent to watch for openings and grab it based on my availability. Guess what it just got it ✅
@notionhq @notionhq on x
Notion 🤝 @Muse
@yanick_jimenez Yanick Jimenez on x
@edels0n What could go wrong!? 🤪 “With Muse, a security breach could mean a hacker gains access to your actual email, calendar, financial accounts, and smart home.”
@muse @muse on x
Get more done with Muse with two new connectors: ✅ @meetgranola: your meeting notes ✅ @NotionHQ: your docs ...and more coming soon! Ask Muse or connect in settings.
@alexandr_wang Alexandr Wang on x
canada!! muse is now live for you 🇨🇦 go get it: https://muse.ai/join
@mgsiegler M.G. Siegler on x
@jrlevine Honestly not sure other than time. The constant and consistent messaging that Muse/Meta cannot see this information is good!
@benlkatz Ben Katz on x
Muse just actually booked my flights for a wedding. I watched the browser the entire time because I still have trust issues, but it did everything flawlessly. I love the future, man!
@hamids Hamid on x
$META 's @Muse is the first AI that I have given access to my emails and calendar and it's already been incredibly helpful, similar to having a human assistant! Today, I told it “find my daughter's soccer games and put them on my calendar, but lookup the location of the game to …
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
there is no planet where you want to trust Mark Zuckerberg's organization with this. https://www.axios.com/...
@hpierrejacques Henri Pierre-Jacques on x
Wow @Muse just got me and my wife a free CAC (heart scan). I told Muse I want to do a CAC after listening to @altcap 's podcast on it. It told me most locations require physician recommendation or to be above 40 years old, but then found one location that was free for research …
@jrlevine Jake Levine on x
@mgsiegler hi moneypenny! i am curious for more signal on what we could do to build trust even more
@jilin_14 Ji Lin on x
muse making phone calls for me is another feel-the-agi moment!
@pratyushbuddiga Pratyush on x
Regardless of what ends up happening, the fact Meta is in the mix 4 years post-ChatGPT while Google, Microsoft, and Apple are not shows you the importance of founders. The first two had insane advantages comparatively and are now increasingly irrelevant. All hail Zuck.
@hamids Hamid on x
Aaaaand it's #1. $META distribution is absolutely bonkers. Combine it with a really really good product for free, and you have the ingredients of a new Billion-User product in the works! Now they just need more compute!
@atbeme Ibrahim Ahmed on x
Wish list for Meta Muse @finkd @alexandr_wang profiles: I want to create completely isolated profiles for my mom and dad. I manage lots of things for them and having a totally dedicated space just for them would be great descriptions on credentials in the vault: profiles would so…
@signulll @signulll on x
when i left fb, i deleted all fb apps except insta (where i do not follow any influencers, just 77 following, & 77 followers, everyone i know irl). but muse roped me back into fb world, it's very good & easy to use. every other ai company tackling both work & personal stuff bec…
@firstadopter Tae Kim on x
Meta's Muse reaching No. 1 in the App Store is a big moment. Wow. Personal AI agents have hit a tipping point.
@dudewhoinvests @dudewhoinvests on x
Muse is now number 1 in the ENTIRE Apple App Store... This is a smash hit success. OpenAI has a $1T valuation due to ChatGPT how much would you say Muse is worth. Even if it's conservative Meta $META at not even $1.8T looks cheap. NFA.
@plumberbutt97 @plumberbutt97 on x
People called me crazy when I said @Muse would surpass ChatGPT as the most downloaded app in the App Store. It only took one week. $META is just getting started.
@testingcatalog @testingcatalog on x
META 🔥: Muse agents are getting their own dedicated mailboxes! > A new Mail tab appears in development, next to the Muse Identity section. > The Mail feature will also get its own dedicated page view. > It is still unclear whether this tab will be used to browse email communicati…
@michaelsikand Michael Sikand on x
$META MUSE IS NOW #1 IN THE WORLD BEATING CHATGPT
@manuinvests @manuinvests on x
Oh damn it's official $META @Muse is #1 The Muse Moment is real...
@wisemancap Kaushik on x
It is a @muse takeover

Chronicles