Meta Muse, the company’s personal AI agent, went live in Japan on October 23, 2026 (Japan time), Meta said in a Japanese newsroom announcement. It is the FIRST market outside North America, where Muse launched in September. The Japanese rollout covers the iOS and Android apps and the web at muse.ai, with most basic features free and a paid subscription tier for heavier use.
For readers who follow wearables, the launch matters for one reason beyond phones: Meta has said Muse is the agent that will run on its AI glasses. Japan is now the second region where that eventual glasses experience has a live agent behind it.
What launched in Japan
According to Meta, Muse works through a chat interface that looks like messaging another person. Users describe a task or a larger goal, and the agent plans the work and carries it out, including opening a browser and filling in forms on the user’s behalf. Long tasks keep running after the app is closed, and Muse sends a notification when something changes or when it needs approval, such as before sending an email or completing a purchase.
Meta lists these connectors as available to Japanese users at launch:
- Productivity and social: Gmail, Google Calendar and Instagram.
- Shopping and payments: Stripe and Shopify.
- Travel: Trip.com, Agoda and Klook.
Klook announced its own integration the same day. As PhocusWire reported, Muse can search Klook’s inventory of 426,000 bookable experiences across 4,600 destinations and place an order with the traveler’s approval, then hand off to Klook’s payment page to finish the purchase.
Meta also said it is “working on” integrations with three domestic services: the Mercari flea-market app, the Money Forward ME household finance app and Ticket Pia. Those are described as in progress, not live, and Meta gave no dates. Masahiro Ajisawa, head of Meta’s Japanese unit, told Kyodo News that the company wants Muse connected to services “people use regularly.”
Privacy design Meta is emphasizing
Meta’s Japanese announcement spends considerable space on security, which is notable given the current debate in Europe over camera-equipped glasses. The company says:
- Each user’s Muse runs in an isolated cloud environment Meta calls Muse Secure VM, which stores connected-service data and credentials.
- A separate agent named Sentinel controls internet access and checks actions.
- Muse cannot see the user’s passwords or payment methods, and it asks for confirmation before important actions.
- Users can review a history of actions taken and planned, opt out of having conversations used to train Meta’s AI models, and Muse data is not shared with Meta’s advertising systems.
One caveat from earlier coverage is worth keeping in view. UploadVR reported in September that model training is on by default unless users opt out, and that Meta can still access the current cloud VM, with a Confidential VM option that even Meta cannot access promised for later this year. The Japanese announcement does not say whether that option is available in Japan.
Why this matters for Meta’s glasses
At Connect 2026, Meta said it is bringing Muse to its AI glasses “in the coming months,” activated hands-free by saying the agent’s name. In its glasses announcement, the company’s examples include guiding a workout, logging meals, checking flight prices, booking appointments and helping buy a product the wearer is looking at. Mark Zuckerberg said “in the coming weeks” on stage, per UploadVR, so the official timeline and the stage timeline do not match. As of October 24, Meta has NOT announced a release date for Muse on glasses in any country.
Nikkei reported that Meta plans to extend Muse in Japan to its own glasses, including the Ray-Ban branded models from EssilorLuxottica. That fits a wider pattern of Meta lining up AI services in Japan ahead of hardware features. Earlier this week, Horizon OS v2.9 brought Meta AI on Quest to Japan, the UK and other markets.
What to watch
Three things will show how serious the Japan push is. First, whether Mercari, Money Forward ME and Ticket Pia go live soon, since those are the integrations most specific to Japanese daily life. Second, whether Japan gets Muse on glasses at the same time as the US, or later. Third, how Meta reports Muse adoption: the company has not published user numbers, and investors listening to Reality Labs results, which we covered in our Meta Q3 2026 earnings preview, are looking for evidence that AI services can drive glasses demand. Partner EssilorLuxottica’s wearables growth already slowed to 20% in the third quarter.
Privacy is the other open question. An agent that can act on what a camera sees raises the same concerns Meta faced when it defended its glasses’ recording LED this week. If you are weighing which glasses to buy while Muse support is still pending, our guide to the best smart glasses of 2026 compares current Meta, XREAL and Even Realities models.
Sources: Meta Japan newsroom (October 23, 2026), Meta Connect 2026 announcements, Nikkei, Kyodo News, PhocusWire and UploadVR.