Meta's Muse hits Mac after topping U.S. App Store charts

Muse first appeared on mobile and the web earlier this month, and it quickly rose to the top of the U.S. App Store charts. The Mac version extends that same assistant to the desktop, where it can work with files, messages, calendar, notes and mail inside their native applications rather than in a separate chat window.

The launch lands in a moment of intensifying competition between consumer-facing AI agents, which many in the industry believe will be the future of computing. Other agents have found traction by letting people use them via text messages: one early breakout, Poke, exited to Cognition in July, while Instinct is said to be raising more funds at a $10 billion valuation. Meta's Alexandr Wang framed the Mac release around getting things done on your computer, and Mark Zuckerberg noted on X that "the team is shipping fast" — the pace is visible in Muse and Instinct both rolling out voice calling this week.

What the outcome hinges on is trust as much as features. Meta says access on the Mac is opt-in and that the app always asks before sensitive actions, which suggests the company sees permission design as central to whether people let an assistant touch their files and messages. For Mac users, the test is whether those safeguards feel light enough to use daily; for rival agent makers, it is whether Muse's early chart momentum carries over to the desktop.