Threads is still attracting a lot of attention, at least in terms of overall downloads, with the latest data from Appfigures showing that Threads was the most downloaded app on iOS in October.
As you can see in this listing, Threads came out on top once again last month, after reaching the top spot on the iOS downloads chart in September. The app has steadily climbed the rankings, as it’s continued to gain momentum, with Threads now up to 275 million overall users.
Though downloads don’t necessarily equate to active users. Some of these will be people who are downloading Threads just to check it out, and they might then go back to X, or Instagram, or whatever other apps they prefer instead. So this may not directly correlate to increased usage momentum as such, though according to Meta’s official reporting, Threads did add 100 million more users over the three months leading into October, while last week IG chief Adam Mosseri that Threads had already seen an increase of 15 million more sign-ups in November as well.
So Threads has now likely exceeded 300 million users, and its download rate would suggest that it’s on track to grow significantly more than that before the year is out.
For comparison, X has more than 500 million monthly actives, so Threads is still a way off, but it is catching up faster than many would have expected.
Of course, many reports are now suggesting that Bluesky could impact Threads’ growth momentum, by stealing away some of the Twitter cast-offs who are looking to jump to another app. Bluesky is much more Twitter-like in direct comparison, but Threads does seem to also be carving its own niche, and building a strong community of users on its own terms.
Will that see Threads win out in the real-time social app race?
Again, Bluesky is gaining users, but it only has 20 million overall actives, so it’s a long way off, and I do think that there’s also a level of fatigue setting in that will make it harder for new, similar platforms to gain critical mass.
As such, I suspect that Bluesky will remain a more niche platform, loved by tech enthusiasts, but not as catchy with the general public as Threads.
And then there’s X.
The Elon Musk-owned app has reportedly seen a mass exodus of users in the wake of the U.S. election, in response to the role that Musk played in President-elect Trump’s campaign, though there are no definitive insights to prove this as yet. X itself reported record-high usage around the election, and the only people who know the full impact of users shutting down their X accounts are those within X themselves. And the company hasn’t reported any updated user stats since July.
There are external trend reports, like the above chart from Appfigures, which indicate that X is losing momentum (X is currently listed at 38 on the Appfigures App Store chart), while partial data providers have also pointed to X seeing user growth declines.
But these are based on estimates, and a limited view of whole app activity.
So while it does seem like X is in decline, and Threads is on the way up, the only official data we have is that Threads is still at least 200 million active users away from beating out the app.
And then there’s an argument about broader influence, and whether Threads is as relevant or influential as X. Looking ahead, you would also have to wonder whether the second Trump term is going to make X even more relevant, as Trump used Twitter to communicate virtually all of his policy decisions in his first Presidency. Given his new friendship with Musk, that could see X become a key focus once again, which would ensure that it remains a key platform for some time yet.
So while Threads is clearly on the up, it may not be able to unseat X so easily, and I would be hesitant to be writing the epitaph of the former bird app just yet.
But more people are at least trying out Threads, which is a positive sign for Meta’s latest social app.
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