Meta's Muse, the AI agent that has spent weeks at the top of Apple's free app chart, now has a native iPad app. If you own a tablet, you can give Muse the same jobs it already does on your phone: watching your email and bills, booking tables, ordering groceries and buying things for you.
The speed stands out. Muse launched on iPhone, Android and the web on September 8, reached the Mac on September 18, and got the iPad on October 7. TechCrunch points out that Instagram waited about 15 years for a proper iPad app. Sensor Tower estimates Muse has been installed 6.6 million times since launch, according to TechCrunch.
What arrives with the iPad version
The iPad app is part of version 10.0. It's free with in-app purchases and needs iPadOS 18 or later. So far it's only available in the US, which matches Meta's original rollout. The same update adds connectors for work tools, including Asana, Canva, Figma, QuickBooks, GitHub, Zoom, Notion and Meta's own ad accounts. Connectors are the links that let Muse act inside those services.
The catch is the websites, not the devices
Putting Muse on more screens doesn't solve its biggest limit: a lot of websites don't want an AI agent shopping on them. TechCrunch notes that some sites block agents outright, and that Meta is working on industry standards so bots can identify themselves. Amazon (AMZN) has turned Muse away since the night of Sunday, September 20, a spokesperson told Bloomberg, after Meta declined to pull the agent from its site. Amazon told Bloomberg that Meta never got permission, that the agent doesn't identify itself while browsing and that it appears to store customer logins. Meta (META) says Muse never sees users' passwords or payment details. So for now, Muse's shopping runs mostly through partners such as Walmart, Best Buy, Gap, Sephora and Wayfair.
Privacy deserves a second look too. Meta says data from Muse isn't shared with its ad systems, and that Muse asks before sensitive actions like sending an email or making a purchase. The App Store privacy label tells a broader story. It lists location, contacts, financial information and browsing history among the data collected, with advertising named as one use. These labels cover the whole app, so they don't show exactly how Meta uses each piece of data. Still, it's worth reading before you connect your inbox.
Muse is up against OpenAI's dots, launched on September 29, Grok Bot from SpaceXAI, the company formerly called xAI, and the free, open source OpenClaw. The next test is whether more stores let agents in, or block them like Amazon did. Watch Meta's work on an industry standard that lets bots identify themselves to websites. That's the exact complaint Amazon made, so it could decide whether Muse ever gets back in.
Sources
- 1.Muse launches on the iPad · The Verge
- 2.Meta's Muse launches on iPad just a month after its mobile debut · TechCrunch
- 3.Muse from Meta · Apple App Store
- 4.Introducing Muse, a personal AI agent · Meta
- 5.Meta's Muse hits Mac, letting the AI take actions on your computer · TechCrunch
- 6.Meta launches Muse for iPad following weeks as the top iPhone app · 9to5Mac
- 8.Amazon Blocks Meta's Muse AI Agent From Its Retail Site · Bloomberg
- 9.Introducing dots · OpenAI
- 10.Introducing Grok Bot · SpaceXAI (formerly xAI)
- 11.OpenClaw repository · OpenClaw (GitHub)
Reported by the WattsUpNext desk from the sources linked below. Spot an error? Tell us at corrections@wattsupnext.com.
The WattsUpNext Brief
Get stories like this in your inbox.
One email each weekday, only the topics you choose. Real news, sourced, no fluff. Unsubscribe in one click.
