Meta's Muse AI agent hits #4 on App Store in 24 hours

Editorial illustration: A blue rounded tile inside a transparent shield stands on a cream stone staircase below three gray tiles. Blue cables extend toward two smartphones and a laptop.

In brief

  • Muse reached #4 on App Store within 24 hours of September 8 US launch
  • Task automation includes travel booking, email management, form filling, and Stripe-powered purchases
  • Muse operates independently from Meta's ad systems in isolated virtual machines
  • Pricing: free tier with weekly limits, Power at $20/month, Maximum at $100/month

How Muse Works

Muse processes payments through Stripe Link integration, allowing it to complete transactions without manual card entry. Each session runs inside an isolated virtual machine, a sandboxed environment designed to keep user data compartmentalized. When the app encounters an action involving sensitive information, like a payment or a form with personal details, it pauses and asks for explicit confirmation before proceeding.

The distinction matters. Muse operates independently from Meta's advertising systems. Your interactions with the AI agent aren't being funneled into Meta's ad-targeting infrastructure—a notable departure from the company's core business model.

Pricing and Underlying Technology

Muse follows a freemium model with three tiers: free with weekly limits, Power at $20 per month, and Maximum at $100 per month. The underlying technology comes from Meta's Muse Spark family of models, developed by superintelligence labs led by Alexandr Wang.

Meta's decision to launch Muse as a standalone app, rather than embedding it inside Instagram or WhatsApp, reflects a strategic pivot. Meta's family of apps reaches roughly 3 billion people globally, providing a significant marketing funnel for the new agent. The rapid climb to number 4 on the App Store suggests strong early traction, though the app's long-term trajectory will depend on whether users find the pricing and task automation compelling enough to adopt it as a daily tool.

Meta recently completed an approximately $18 billion multistate settlement related to social media usage issues, adding context to the company's emphasis on privacy safeguards in Muse's design.