Meta’s Muse hits 10M U.S. downloads in 40 days

0:00This is TechCrunch.

0:30and publish in one place at a whole new pace. You get a visual canvas, responsive layouts, a built-in CMS, and agents to help bring your vision to life. No design experience required. I'm thinking about adding a fun little Halloween animation to my website this season. Framer's design tools and agents could help make that idea happen without turning it into a nightmare. See for yourself why thousands are trusting Framer to help build their websites. Learn how you can get more out of your site from a Framer specialist, or get started building for free today at framer.com slash fcdaily for 30 % off a Framer Pro annual plan.

1:06That's framer.com slash fcdaily. Rules and restrictions may apply. This episode is brought to you by ODSC AI. If you're a practitioner working in applied AI and data science, you need to be at ODSC West 2026. You see, it's where thousands of data scientists, ML engineers, AI researchers, and technical leaders are coming together for hands-on training. Now, this is a unique, incredible opportunity to participate in workshops and boot camps taught by experts from companies like Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, Cursor, Hugging Face, and other top companies and universities. It's a way for you to stay ahead of the field, learn from the best, and connect with the community.

1:45ODSE West 2026 is happening October 27th through the 29th in San Francisco and virtually. Now, I think this event will be really cool because it's focused on real-world applications and skills you can use at work. And, I mean, it's massive. With thousands of attendees, this is an awesome networking opportunity. It's great for startups, hiring managers, and AI tool builders. Again, ODSC West 2026 is happening October 27th through the 29th in San Francisco and virtually. So mark your calendar and make your plans now. Go to odsc.ai slash west and use promo code tcdaily for an additional 15 % off your pass to ODSCAI West 2026.

2:25That's odsc.ai slash west and use code tcdaily to get an extra 15 % off the number one AI builders and training conference. Meta's Muse hits 10 million US downloads in 40 days, a milestone reached by only 11 other apps. I'm Imran Shaikh and your Daily Crunch for Wednesday featuring three big tech headlines starts right now. On Tuesday, Spotify launched paid memberships, a new way for podcasters to make money from their biggest fans beyond paywalled bonus episodes. You see, creators can decide which perks to offer listeners, which could be bonus audio or video, fewer ads, early access to shows or some combination thereof.

3:07The streaming service first previewed the idea at its investor day in May, where it also introduced AI capabilities that let listeners ask questions about what they're listening to or watching, and debuted new tools for managing creator sponsorships. As the company explained at the time, memberships would help to create a natural path to go deeper, unlocking new and exclusive experiences for fans and new revenue opportunities for creators. The feature is now rolling out to 34 markets globally, including the US. The launch is the latest example of Spotify's effort to make its platform more attractive to podcast creators, particularly as it moves further into the video space to compete with good old YouTube.

3:47Though podcasters have long been able to monetize through ads, the new memberships could entice more fans to support creators by offering more than just an occasional bonus episode. Creators keep 90 % of the membership revenue and can package their benefits across multiple tiers and pricing options to appeal to fans at different levels of commitment. Now to qualify, podcasters must host their shows on Spotify for creators or megaphone, have at least 100 consumption hours, 100 listeners or viewers, and at least three published episodes. A handful of shows will offer memberships at launch, including the Adam Friedland Show, Making Sense with Sam Harris, Sean Ryan Show, The Sculpt Society, Two Hot Takes, as well as YMH Studios, which is bringing memberships to 12 shows across its network.

4:34Memberships join other Spotify monetization tools, including advertising and Spotify partner program, as well as features that help creators grow their audience like promotions, free trials and analytics. Soon, Spotify says, creators will be able to offer fans membership badges and welcome clips as well. Over the last few weeks, personal assistants like Instinct, Foe and Muse have enabled users to call businesses for customer support and appointment booking. While following this trend, Yelp is adding the ability for its app users to get a voice agent to call a restaurant to check wait times. The new feature, Check For Me, will show up on restaurant pages in the app where users can enter their party size and phone number.

5:18The AI agent then calls on behalf of the user to check wait times and texts them the result to decide if they want to go to that particular restaurant. Last year, Yelp debuted its voice solution for restaurants and service providers. With this new feature, the Discovery platform is fulfilling the consumer side of the equation, though there is a possibility that a user's agent will talk to the restaurant's agent, and agent-to-agent communication might break down the conversation. The company is also updating its Yelp AI assistant that helps users discover restaurants and services. With the new OpenTable integration, users can easily book a restaurant without leaving the app.

5:55Yelp is adding better personalization to its assistant by having it remember preferences that you might have mentioned in previous chats. Plus, you can access your chat history from the past 30 days in the app, with full history available soon. Users can ask the chatbot to set custom reminders, such as sending suggestions for weekend activities every Friday. The company is also letting users build their own lists, starting with two been here and want to go lists. You can filter your lists by location, category, and cuisine, reorder, add notes to items, and share them with others. Next month, the company will start showing weekly personalized recommendations based on your saved items and rankings.

6:34Yelp's also working on converting collections to lists and giving the Lists tab a new look, rolling out later in the year along with a Maps view. This episode is brought to you by Simplify. You worked hard to build a nest egg that will fund your retirement. Now you may be looking for ways to put it to work generating income. Stop waiting for your nest egg to hatch and start enjoying your life. You've earned it. Meet the simplified target 15 distribution ETF, ticker XV. XV was designed for income-seeking investors looking for the potential for higher income than traditional bonds while seeking to reduce downside risk compared with stocks.

7:04Now, the fund seeks higher income potential than traditional bonds, seeks to reduce downside risk compared with stocks, and targets a 15 % annualized distribution rate paid monthly. That means XV offers investors the potential for regular monthly cash flow. But a target is not a guarantee. Distributions may vary, and a distribution rate is not the same as investment return. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. You've built your nest egg. Now see how XV could help you put it to work. Carefully consider the fund's investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses before investing.

7:32The prospectus contains this and other information. Visit simplify.us slash nest egg to learn more. Please read the prospectus carefully before you invest. Distributor, Foresight Financial Services, LLC. Meta's AI companion, Muse, is now? one of only a dozen mobile apps to have reached 10 million U.S. downloads in its first 40 days on the market. According to new data from market intelligence provider SensorTower, Muse has seen 10.9 million downloads since its September debut, 10.2 million of which were in the United States. Only 11 other apps to date have reached this type of post-launch milestone, said SensorTower senior insights analyst Cara Lee.

8:12The most recent of these was Meta's Threads, all the way back in July 2023. Other apps that saw this kind of scale were largely mobile games, Lee noted. Meta's success is tied to the company's ability to scale its new apps by marketing them across its other services, which it has done with both Threads and Muse. And Meta is heavily investing in advertising to drive new users to Muse. Per Sensor Towers data, Meta has allocated 39 % of its total advertising spend to market Muse in October, up from 23 % last month. In addition, Muse now ranks as the 21st largest brand in the U.S. by advertising impressions this month, up from 73rd in September.

8:53Muse also hit another milestone that demonstrates active engagement with the AI app. Its daily active users reached 2.5 million for the first time on October 16th, a 15 % week-over-week increase. Meta's latest AI app, which can handle various tasks on users' behalf, has seen breakout success since its debut. It shot up to number one on the App Store and, at one point, even outpaced some of the metrics ChatGPT saw following its launch. Its latest milestone sees it topping its rivals again. As ChatGPT saw 3.7 million U.S. downloads in its first 40 days on the market, Grok and Claude, well, they saw only 500 ,000 and 200 ,000 U.S.

9:33downloads, respectively, in their first 40 days. Since launching, Muse has retained its number one rank on the U.S. App Store for all days except October 19th, when streaming app Kik briefly beat it out. It has since reclaimed the top spot as of Tuesday. Muse has also been number one on Google Play over the past 30 days. And folks, that's your Daily Crunch. Today's stories were reported by Ivan Mehta, Sarah Perez, and more awesome TechCrunch journalists. Let's see you here tomorrow. Same Tech Time, same Crunch channel. And until then, find us at TechCrunch.com.

10:08New and exclusive holiday decor just launched online at the Home Depot. Check out the viral Grand Duchess collection with smart holiday lights you can control from your phone. Easily customize the twinkle across trees, wreaths, and garlands to match your holiday vibe. Create stunning light effects, then switch it up with the tap of your fingers. Even the man in red will be impressed. Shop the holiday decor you want online only at HomeDepot.com.