SCIENCE & TECH
In the 1990s, millions of children carried a small plastic egg that held a digital pet. It needed feeding, cleaning and attention. Thirty years later, Meta wants you to carry something similar. This time the pet can talk to you, see what you see, and book your appointments.
The device is called the Muse Charm, and it was the surprise of Meta's annual Connect event in Menlo Park on Wednesday. Since then it has become one of the most talked-about pieces of product design of the year, praised for its playfulness and questioned for what it asks users to hand over.
What it is
The Muse Charm is a palm-sized gadget with a roughly two-inch OLED touch screen. The whole screen is taken up by a cartoon character that represents Muse, the AI agent Meta launched in early September. Unlike a regular chatbot, Muse is sold as a personal assistant that can take actions, like writing emails or booking appointments, and that remembers details about your life.
The Charm has a fingerprint sensor you tap to start talking, a built-in 5G modem so it works without Wi-Fi, and cameras on the front and back so the AI can look at your surroundings. It has speakers, microphones and USB-C charging, and it can play music and video. It cannot make phone calls. It sets up through the Muse app on an iPhone or Android phone.
It is designed to be carried rather than worn. You can use a wrist strap, keep it in your pocket, or hang it from a bag or keychain on a lanyard. People involved in the project describe it as a "holdable" rather than a wearable. Two Charms placed near each other can even recognise and interact with one another.
Designed by Apple's old guard
The design story is as interesting as the product. The Charm came out of Meta's new design lab, led by Alan Dye, who ran Apple's interface design for years, and his former Apple deputy Billy Sorrentino. Meta recruited both at the end of 2025, and they brought other Apple designers with them.
According to Meta's chief technology officer, Andrew Bosworth, the team started on the idea in March and went from concept to finished product in about nine months. Internally it was nicknamed "Clawmagochi." It began as a playful prototype and was originally meant for 2027, until Mark Zuckerberg pushed for it to launch this year. "It's hardware that we literally designed and built in the same calendar year," Bosworth said.
The look breaks with the smooth, sealed style of most modern gadgets. A translucent case shows the circuitry through the back and sides, which Zuckerberg called "premium hacker aesthetics." The on-screen character can be customised, from a mascot called Jolly to an anthropomorphic mango, a labradoodle, or a piece of toast wearing sunglasses. Users can change its outfits and voice too.
Why cute?
Dezeen's design team noted that the Charm taps into two current trends: Gen Z's love of bag charms and collectible plushies, and the growing number of young people who treat AI as a companion rather than a tool. Making technology cute is an old trick. Robot makers have used it for years to make people feel comfortable with machines in their homes.
Zuckerberg pitched it on convenience. "We've packed a lot of technology into this little guy," he said in his keynote. "So if you're not wearing glasses, this is going to be by far the fastest way to talk to your Muse and to show it what's going on around you."
Bosworth, for his part, was careful not to oversell it. "It's cool, it's fun, it's neat, it's weird, it's different. There's nothing like it," he said, but he called it "the classic v0," an experiment before a true first generation. He also admitted it is "not the core of the strategy"; Meta expects most people to use Muse through phones and smart glasses.
The serious questions
A cute character with a camera and microphones, run by an AI that acts on your behalf, raises obvious privacy concerns, and Meta's record here is mixed. Its smart glasses have faced criticism for being used to film people without consent. In the two weeks since Muse launched, users and reporters have accused the agent of reading private messages and nudging people to share sensitive details such as passport and bank information. Muse has still been downloaded more than 2.5 million times, according to Sensor Tower data.
What this means for you
If you are curious, you will not have to wait long. Zuckerberg says the Charm will go on sale in December, in time for the holidays. Meta has not set a price, but people familiar with the plans say it will cost about as much as a smartwatch, and mobile data fees have not been decided. The first version is aimed mainly at Muse enthusiasts.
Before buying one, it is worth thinking about the trade-off. Anything that can see, hear and act for you needs a lot of trust. Check the privacy settings, think about where you carry it, and remember that a friendly face does not change what the device is collecting.
The final word
The Muse Charm is a bold piece of design: fast, playful and unlike anything else on the market. It is also a test of whether a cartoon can make people comfortable carrying an AI everywhere. Meta beat OpenAI to the consumer AI device market with it; whether shoppers take it home will be clear after Christmas.
