Meta took about 15 years to bring Instagram to the iPad. Its Muse AI assistant made the trip in roughly a month, a brisker timetable for a product that can do more than fill a larger screen with text.
A dedicated iPad app, plus new connectors
Meta has added native iPad support to Muse, which launched on iOS and Android on September 8. The iPad version is intended to make better use of the tablet’s larger display and multitasking features, while keeping the assistant’s basic experience similar to the iPhone app.
Muse has also expanded its roster of connected services. Users can link tools including Asana, Canva, Dropbox, Figma, QuickBooks, GitHub, Klaviyo and Zoom, as well as Notion and Granola. Meta ad accounts are also among the newer connections.
For small businesses, Meta says users can give Muse a business goal and have it plan work such as marketing, client pitches and new product pages. That moves the assistant beyond answering questions and toward doing work across accounts, which is useful precisely because it makes the question of what to connect more consequential.
Users choose which services to connect and sign in to. Muse can help manage email, meetings and bills, and can take on tasks such as booking reservations, ordering groceries and making purchases.
The agent still has to get past the websites
Meta has also added retail partners including Best Buy, Gap, Sephora, Walmart and Wayfair. Those connections let Muse shop on the retailers’ sites and complete transactions for users.
There is a practical catch. Some websites can mistake automated agents for unwanted bots and block them. Meta said it is working with industry partners on an open standard that would let personal AI agents identify themselves to businesses, giving those businesses a way to distinguish authorized agents from the less welcome variety.
The adoption signal: Estimates from Sensor Tower put Muse at more than 6.6 million installs since its mobile launch. The app also spent several weeks as the top free app in Apple’s App Store, according to reporting on the launch.
Meta’s quick iPad release contrasts with Instagram’s long wait, though the comparison has limits. Muse has a text-heavy interface, which is less dependent on image and video layout than a social app. A tablet version may therefore be simpler to deliver, even if the timing also reflects Meta’s emphasis on AI.
A larger screen makes Muse easier to use. It does not, by itself, make handing an agent access to your accounts a smaller decision.
Sources
- Muse launches on the iPad — The Verge
- Meta’s Muse launches on iPad just a month after its mobile debut — TechCrunch