How to Use Muse AI: A Beginner's Guide

Muse, Meta's personal AI agent, does the work instead of just chatting about it — but only if you set it up well. This tutorial walks you through getting access, connecting services, running your first task, and staying in control with approvals. If you need the backstory first, start with what Muse is and how it works.

What you need before you start

• US access. Meta says Muse is rolling out in the US on iOS, Android, and muse.ai. There's no confirmed timeline for other countries — see our availability page.
• A supported surface. The Muse app, the muse.ai site, or WhatsApp.
• An adult account, most likely. AP reports Muse is for people 18+, though Meta hasn't confirmed that on its own pages.
• A payment card, per press reports. TechCrunch reports a card is required at signup and a usage meter warns you before free limits are hit. Meta itself only says Muse is "free for most of what people need," with subscriptions reported at $20 and $100 a month.

Step 1: Get access

Install the Muse app on your iPhone or Android phone, visit muse.ai, or open Muse inside WhatsApp. Our download and setup guide covers each option. Don't trust download links from anywhere except Meta's own properties — the app, muse.ai, or WhatsApp itself.

Step 2: Connect the services you want Muse to use

Muse can't manage your inbox or calendar until it has access. Meta's rule: "People choose which apps Muse connects to and exactly how much access it gets."

• Connect services one at a time (TechCrunch reports this is how opt-in works) — email, calendars, payments, plus categories like shopping, dining, music, and events.
• For email, you choose read-only or can-send. Start read-only while you build trust.
• You can change access or disconnect a service whenever you want.

A practical order: connect email and calendar first — they unlock the most everyday value, like inbox cleanup and weekly planning.

Step 3: Give Muse your first task

Write your first instruction like a work assignment: goal, constraints, deadline, and how you want to be kept in the loop. For example:

Find a table for four this Friday around 7 p.m. at a mid-range Italian restaurant near downtown. Two guests don't eat meat. Check with me before you book anything.

Specific beats clever. Include the budget, the date, the neighborhood — and the approval rule. If you want help building a structured instruction, our prompt generator turns a goal into a structured prompt you can paste into Muse (it doesn't connect to Muse itself).

Step 4: Let it run — and handle approvals

Muse works asynchronously: "it keeps working after people close the app" and comes back "when something changes or when it needs approval." Meta says it "checks with the person before sensitive actions like sending an email or making a purchase."

Two habits worth forming early:

• Default to "ask me first" for anything involving money, sending email, or submitting forms.
• Respond to approval requests promptly — an agent waiting on you is an agent that stalls.

Step 5: Review the audit trail

After any real task, open the audit trail. Meta says Muse "shows people a complete audit trail of everything it has done and plans to do." It's the fastest way to catch a wrong assumption before it becomes a wrong purchase, and to steer a long task back on course.

Step 6: Teach it what to remember — and what to forget

Muse "remembers what matters to a person" — dietary restrictions, preferences, recurring contexts — "and they can always tell it to 'forget' specific things it's learned." Tell it your constraints once ("my team meets Tuesdays; never schedule me before 10 a.m.") and correct it when it stores something wrong.

Using Muse inside WhatsApp

You don't have to leave WhatsApp: Muse works "in the Muse app or directly in WhatsApp." CNBC reports the WhatsApp version lacks the feed and ideas tool, but core conversation functionality is the same — fine for quick asks like drafting an email while you're out. Details in our Muse on WhatsApp guide.

What Muse can't do yet

Keep these limits in mind on day one:

• US only for now. Meta has published no roadmap for other countries, and press and user reports say Muse doesn't work outside the US yet.
• WhatsApp is trimmed down. CNBC reports it lacks the feed and ideas tool, so plan heavier tasks in the app or on muse.ai.
• Reliability is imperfect. Reuters documented internal test failures, and Meta's own messaging is that Muse will sometimes fail to finish things.
• Free limits aren't published. Meta hasn't confirmed numbers, so watch the usage meter TechCrunch describes.
• Self-serve documentation is thin. Muse-specific help articles are scarce so far, so guides like this one and the task library carry extra weight.

Beginner tips that save headaches

• Start read-only. Give email read access first; grant send permission once you've seen how Muse drafts.
• One task per instruction. "Compare three hotels" works better than "plan my whole trip, and also my groceries."
• Put budgets and deadlines in every ask. "Under $180 a night," "before October 1."
• Check the audit trail before you trust the output. Especially on travel and shopping tasks like finding the best price.
• Expect occasional failures. Reuters reported launch-reliability hiccups, and Meta's own Vishal Shah says Muse will sometimes "fail to finish things." Retry or break the task into steps.

Keep reading

• 20 Things You Can Ask Muse AI to Do
• How to Use Muse to Plan a Trip
• Muse AI privacy: controls, caveats, and settings