Meta’s Muse Hits #1 in Canada, Outpaces ChatGPT’s Early Downloads

Meta’s new Muse AI app has climbed to the top of Apple’s App Store in Canada, overtaking ChatGPT as the country’s most downloaded free iPhone app.

As of writing on Tuesday, Muse sits at No. 1 on Apple’s Canadian chart for free iPhone apps, followed by ChatGPT at No. 2, Claude at No. 3 and Google Gemini at No. 4. Apple’s live ranking also shows Muse leading the Productivity category in Canada.

The strong Canadian showing comes as new download estimates suggest Muse is also growing faster than ChatGPT did during the early days of its mobile launch.

According to data from market intelligence firm Apptopia, shared by TechCrunch, Muse recorded 1.8 million iOS downloads in the U.S. and Canada during its first 12 days. ChatGPT saw 1.3 million downloads across the same two countries during the comparable first 12 days of its iOS launch.

That comparison is limited to iOS because the two apps had different launch strategies. ChatGPT originally launched on mobile globally but only on iPhone, while Muse debuted on both iOS and Android but was limited to the U.S. and Canada. Apptopia narrowed the data to U.S. and Canadian iOS downloads to make the comparison more direct.

Across both mobile platforms, Apptopia estimates Muse generated 2.8 million total installs during its first 12 days. Meta hasn’t released its own download figures, so the numbers remain third-party estimates.

Muse is also seeing stronger early engagement. Apptopia estimates the app reached 642,000 daily active mobile users in the U.S., compared with 231,000 for ChatGPT at the same point after launch. Looking only at iOS, Muse had an estimated 359,000 daily active users.

Meta launched Muse on September 8 as a personal AI agent designed to do more than answer questions, similar to SpaceXAI’s Grok Bot. The app can carry out tasks on a user’s behalf and connect with Meta services including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Since the release, Meta’s stock has popped 8% in the past five days.

Meta also has a large built-in audience to promote Muse to. Apptopia found that more than 95% of Muse users are also Facebook users, while 63% use Instagram, following a similar seamless transition when the company launched Threads.

For now, Muse’s rise has put it ahead of some of the biggest names in AI on the Canadian App Store, including ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. New users can also get 1 billion tokens for free by entering code 8WYTBG in Muse’s web settings within 48 hours of signing up.