Meta has announced the Muse Charm, a device styled as a pocket pet that functions as an AI agent.
Reactions are mixed. Some see a playful approach to make technology easier for regular people to use. Others worry it will be another failed hardware attempt, similar to the Ai Pin, Rabbit, or Friend pendant.
Regardless of the outcome, the design fits a current trend. The shape could appeal to younger consumers who have recently embraced dangling items for bags and keys. This is part of a wider move toward kitsch and retro styles in fashion and tech.
Younger generations have already created a market for things that hang from bags. Products as varied as lip gloss, hand sanitiser, sunblock, and fragrance have been turned into charms, mostly aimed at women.
Hailey Bieber’s Rhode lip case, which attached a gloss tube to a phone case, helped popularise the idea of beauty items as fashion accessories. Vogue noted last year that the brand generated $212 million in annual net sales from a range of about 10 products before announcing a billion-dollar exit to Elf Beauty.
The Labubu craze also drove sales. The fuzzy monster bag charm grew Pop Mart’s revenue to $1.8 billion in 2024, a sevenfold increase from 2019. While demand for the specific toy has cooled, the concept of decorative bag charms remains strong. One analyst firm estimates the global market will exceed $1 billion by 2030.
Current bag charms range from characters to bedazzled beauty products to whimsical objects like Coach’s cherry designs. They allow people to express their personality, a practice as old as fashion, makeup, and jewellery.
The Muse Charm follows this logic. Users design their own avatar, making the AI agent a reflection of themselves.
Many observers also note the device resembles the Tamagotchi, the pocket-sized digital pet that was a major toy fad in the late 1990s and again in the mid-2000s.
However, the Tamagotchi is not the most relevant comparison. The Muse Charm is actually a twist on how some young people now use their Apple Watch. The concept of attaching a watch to a keychain or bag has grown in popularity, often driven by TikTok videos showing ways to use the device when it is not on the wrist.
Thousands of Apple Watch keychains, straps, pendants, lanyards, clips, and bag cases are available on retailers like Amazon, Walmart, eBay, and Etsy in nearly every style. As expected, these keychain watches are often adopted by younger women as fashion accessories first, rather than as technology.
This trend intersects with a broader revival of older technology. Digital cameras, flip phones, iPods, CDs, cassette tapes, home phones, and wired earbuds are making a quiet comeback.
This shift occurs as young people describe addictive, algorithm-driven feeds and a lack of “soulness” in technology as making them feel disconnected. This feeds a desire for tech they can touch and feel. One startup, Clicks, is bringing back a physical phone keyboard in a BlackBerry-inspired device.
For younger generations, these physical objects help them feel more connected to the tools they use. They offer a sense of control in a world where technology is so deeply integrated that using it no longer feels like a choice.
Young women have been at the forefront of this movement. Some craft their own portable mini computers, or “cyberdecks,” fitting them inside clamshell purses or custom cases. They bedazzle these items with jewels, flowers, stickers, and pearls to make them feel personal.
That brings us back to the Muse Charm. While it is clearly designed with the trend of tech-as-fashion in mind, that does not guarantee it will be a hit.
Meta has damaged consumer trust over the years and may never fully recover. The company settled with the FTC over charges that it deceived consumers by publishing private information without consent. It has also faced penalties for numerous privacy violations.
In 2023, the FTC charged Meta with violating a privacy order filed after a 2019 settlement. The company has been repeatedly questioned by Congress over harms to minors, lost or settled multiple lawsuits on the topic, and faced various whistleblowers exposing its abuses.
These careless privacy practices could ultimately cause Meta to lose the battle to be the consumer AI of choice. However, consumers might decide that the “devil you know” is preferable to alternatives that warn AI could end the human race.
Meta’s end goal is highly-targeted, highly-personalised ads. If that is the privacy tradeoff for accessing free AI, consumers could be willing to take the risk. Meta stated it will monetise Muse by taking a small fee from transactions.
What it means
Success depends less on the AI capabilities and more on whether users accept Meta’s privacy model in exchange for a physical object they can hold.
