Although app downloads are not an accurate proxy for usage, they can indicate which direction the market is headed. And in the case of the Twitter vs. alt wars, the app winning the game right now is Instagram's Threads. Twitter's Meta app now sees three times the daily downloads of X (formerly Twitter) on iOS globally, and more than double — and sometimes more than triple — the number of installs on Google Play.
This was not always the case. Threads, of course, saw a huge spike in new installs after its public launch in the summer of 2023, but in the months that followed, downloads often rose and fell as parent company Meta tried different strategies to send more traffic to its new app, such as offering Popular topics within the timelines of its other apps, Facebook and Instagram. But as the boost from these early efforts fades, Threads downloads will decline, once again becoming close to X installs, especially on iOS, according to data from Appfigures.
Image credits: app characters
However, things started to change towards the end of last year.
By late December, Threads was seeing more than half a million installs per day on Google Play and iOS. The latter has since declined slightly during January, but across both platforms, Threads is now seeing more consistently daily downloads than X and now appears to be widening that gap.
For example, on February 25, 2024, Threads saw 486,803 installs on Google Play and 342,228 on iOS. By comparison, X saw 225,408 downloads on Google Play and 112,625 downloads on iOS, Appfigures data shows. This is roughly three times the downloads on iOS for Threads and more than double the downloads on Google Play.
Image credits: app characters
Just a few days ago, on February 22, the gap was even wider. After that, Threads had 382,999 daily installs on iOS versus just 113,649 for X on the same platform — or more than triple. Google Play downloads for Threads reached 660,882 downloads at this time, compared to just 210,475 downloads for X on the Play Store – also more than triple.
Although Threads' daily install rates still go up and down, they are now consistently above X. Over time, this change could eventually occur across monthly active users as well. If so, Threads will become the main microblogging platform of choice for most users, despite Twitter's long-standing leadership in this area. Furthermore, it means Meta has greater editorial control over the information sharing and news ecosystem used by journalists, researchers, academics, news junkies and others – and Meta has said it will not amplify news on Threads nor recommend political content.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Threads had 130 million monthly active users (MAUs) as of the company's fourth quarter. Certainly, these numbers rose in the weeks that followed.
While X said it had 500 million monthly active users as of last fall, it's unclear how many of those are bot or spam accounts. As TechCrunch reported last month, X appears to have an issue with its verified bot, with a number of verified paid accounts accidentally revealing its source by responding to Feedback requested “because it conflicts with the OpenAI content policy” – a typical AI response. A search of the same query, here on X, reveals that the issue persists.
Although Threads is not immune to this issue, it seems that more people are posting this phrase organically on the Meta platform as a joke to their followers.
In part, X's problems with new installs could be related to its rebranding from Twitter. Although monthly downloads rose slightly in December and January, they are still significantly lower than they were before the rebranding, Appfigures notes. Threads' revenue also rose slightly in January compared to the previous month, but the company estimates February revenue will be lower.
Image credits: app characters
Image credits: app characters
As for decentralized To be fair, Mastodon has a vast third-party app ecosystem, but overall, its network hovers around 1 million monthly active users at the moment, according to its first-party data.
Bluesky also saw a small pop when it opened its doors to the public earlier this month, but its momentum has since fizzled. On its biggest day (February 7 – the day after launch), it saw 79,685 installs on iOS and 55,711 on Google Play – a number nowhere near the numbers for Threads or X. However, these are still early days for this social network, which opened Just created a federation – where anyone can run their own Bluesky server. So it could gain traction over time as a decentralized alternative to Twitter/X.
