Meta is on an app-building spree as it hunts for its next Facebook moment
Meta has launched seven new apps in 2026 as part of a strategic push to find the next major social media hit. The company is leveraging AI to accelerate product development and scale new ideas through its existing recommendation systems.
Why it matters
Meta's aggressive experimentation reflects the broader tech industry's race to define the next generation of social interaction in the AI era.
Jeff Chiu/AP; Meta; Rebecca Zisser/BI Wait, Meta has how many apps now? Photos, vibe coding, and AI assistants: Meta has launched 7 new apps this year. The tech giant is one of many racing to build the AI era's Instagram-scale hit. Meta is on an app rampage that extends far beyond its hit AI personal assistant, Muse . The tech giant has released seven new apps so far in 2026. They range from getting back to Meta's basics of sharing photos to testing AI use cases for everyday people. It's all part of Meta's biggest task at hand right now: Winning the race to build the AI era's Facebook or Instagram. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also credited AI with helping the company quickly turn new ideas into real products. "AI is helping our teams speed up product development," he told investors during Meta's July earnings call.
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