Meta’s AI app recorded a sharp increase in installs following Wednesday’s debut of Muse Spark, the company’s latest artificial intelligence model and its first release under Alexandr Wang, head of Meta’s Superintelligence Labs. The surge highlights renewed consumer interest as Meta accelerates efforts to strengthen its position in the competitive AI sector.
Muse Spark Debuts Under Meta’s Superintelligence Labs
Muse Spark marks the first AI model introduced under Wang, who joined Meta from Scale AI last year to overhaul the company’s AI initiatives. The launch represents Meta’s latest attempt to catch up with rivals such as OpenAI and Anthropic, an effort that has cost the company billions in AI talent recruitment alongside its $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI.
Meta described the new model as a significant upgrade over its earlier Llama 4 models. Available on both web and mobile platforms, Muse Spark accepts multimodal inputs, including voice, text, and images.
The model is designed to assist with a range of tasks, such as helping users learn about their health, reasoning through complex questions in science and mathematics, and supporting visual coding. It can also generate websites and mini-games from prompts. Additionally, Meta stated that Muse Spark can deploy multiple subagents to handle user queries simultaneously.
The company plans to roll out the model to WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, and Meta’s AI glasses in the coming weeks.
App Store Rankings Reflect Surge In Consumer Demand
According to market intelligence provider Appfigures, demand for the Meta AI app propelled it from No. 57 on the U.S. App Store immediately before the Muse Spark launch to No. 5 the following day.
Sensor Tower reported that U.S. iOS downloads reached approximately 46,000 on April 8, 2026, representing an 87% increase day over day. U.S. Android downloads rose by 3% during the same period.
The Meta AI mobile app and website were also upgraded alongside the model’s release, featuring a redesigned interface and new functionality that allows users to switch between modes depending on specific tasks.
Meta AI Still Trails Leading Chatbot Competitors
Despite the growth, Meta AI continues to lag behind leading competitors in app rankings. OpenAI’s ChatGPT holds the No. 1 position, followed by Anthropic’s Claude at No. 2 and Google’s Gemini at No. 3.
Wang highlighted the app’s improved ranking in a post on X on Thursday, noting that Meta AI is “still growing.”
Global Installs And Web Traffic Continue To Rise
Appfigures data indicates that the Meta AI app has reached 60.5 million installs worldwide across the App Store and Google Play, with 25 million downloads recorded in 2026 alone.
Over the past five months, downloads have increased by 138% compared with the app’s first five months on the market. India has emerged as Meta AI’s largest market by downloads, followed by the United States, Brazil, Pakistan, and Mexico.
Outside the app stores, Sensor Tower reported that daily web visitors to Meta AI in the United States surged more than 450% day over day. Traffic reached an all-time high on April 8, 2026, representing an increase of more than 570% compared with the average over the preceding 30 days.
Featured image credits: Level Agency
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