Meta AI climbs App Store charts

Meta AI has moved ahead of ChatGPT on the United States iPhone App Store’s overall chart, reaching No. 3 while ChatGPT sat at No. 4 in Appfigures data updated within the past hour. (appfigures.com) The jump followed Meta’s April 8 release of Muse Spark, a new model that now powers the Meta AI app and website. TechCrunch reported the app had climbed from No. 57 before the launch to No. 5 a day later. (about.fb.com) (techcrunch.com) Sensor Tower estimated about 46,000 United States iPhone downloads for Meta AI on April 8, up 87% from the prior day, according to TechCrunch. Appfigures said Meta AI has reached 60.5 million installs across Apple’s App Store and Google Play, with 25 million of those downloads this year. (techcrunch.com) The ranking shift is notable because ChatGPT still leads Apple’s United States productivity chart, where it holds the No. 1 spot ahead of Claude and Google Gemini. Meta’s rise is happening in the broader overall chart, where entertainment, shopping and utility apps compete together. (apps.apple.com) (appfigures.com) Meta started this standalone app push on April 29, 2025, when it launched the first Meta AI app as a voice-first assistant tied to Meta AI on the web and to the company’s smart glasses. The company said at launch that people were already using Meta AI across WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Messenger. (about.fb.com) The app’s distribution looks different from OpenAI’s because Meta can promote new features across its existing social products and hardware. Meta said Muse Spark will roll out to WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Messenger and its artificial intelligence glasses in the coming weeks. (about.fb.com 1) (about.fb.com 2) At the same time, Meta is adding infrastructure and staff for a larger artificial intelligence push. Bloomberg reported on April 10 that Peter Hoeschele, Shamez Hemani and Anuj Saharan, three leaders tied to OpenAI’s Stargate data-center effort, plan to join Meta; Meta declined to comment, and OpenAI had not immediately responded. (bloomberg.com) Bloomberg also reported that banks are marketing $3 billion of loans for Meta’s Prometheus data-center project in New Albany, Ohio, a 1-gigawatt cluster expected to come online this year. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg has said Meta plans to spend heavily on artificial intelligence infrastructure through the end of the decade. (bloomberg.com 1) (bloomberg.com 2) For now, the clearest signal is on the chart itself: Meta’s assistant is no longer just another feature inside Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. It is drawing enough direct installs to outrank ChatGPT in Apple’s overall United States iPhone rankings. (appfigures.com)