Instagram’s Threads app is rapidly closing the gap with its chief competitor, X, in terms of daily active mobile users. Recent data indicates Threads witnessed an impressive surge of almost 128%, boasting 115.1 million daily active users globally on both iOS and Android as of June 2025. In contrast, X recorded 132 million daily active users but experienced a decline of approximately 15% year-over-year.
Meanwhile, decentralized social media platform Bluesky, which enjoyed significant growth after last year’s U.S. presidential elections and the subsequent exodus from X due to owner Elon Musk’s political stances, remains much smaller, with global daily active users sitting at approximately 4.1 million. Despite registering an extraordinary 372.5% year-over-year increase, its total audience—just around 37 million registered users—remains modest by comparison.
Bluesky’s appeal earlier this year stemmed largely from backlash towards Musk’s alignment with President Trump, prompting dissatisfied X users to migrate. However, recent criticism accusing Bluesky of transforming into a predominantly left-leaning echo chamber appears to be sending some users back towards Threads.
At present, the battle for dominance in the mobile social networking space seems focused on Threads and X, especially given Threads’ aggressive push and rapid growth rate. This competition is significant as Threads’ monetization strategy currently relies solely on advertising revenue, a market traditionally dominated by leading platforms such as X.
However, when it comes to web traffic, X maintains a substantial lead. Globally in June, X attracted a considerable 145.8 million average daily web visits, dwarfing Threads’ modest 6.9 million. Interestingly, Bluesky is not far behind Threads on web visits, averaging 5.3 million daily. These figures suggest Bluesky receives more casual visitors who may be exploring its content directly via the web without committing to its mobile app.
The dynamics are somewhat different when examining the U.S. market specifically. Bluesky outperformed Threads on the American web, garnering approximately 2.4 million daily visits compared to Threads’ 985,200. Still, both fell far short of X’s commanding lead, which saw around 33.1 million average daily web visits from U.S. users. The mobile arena was much more competitive: Threads recorded an impressive 15.3 million daily active U.S. users against X’s 22.9 million, whereas Bluesky lagged significantly behind with only 1.1 million daily active U.S. mobile users.
Analysts suggest Bluesky’s long-term viability may hinge less on short-term spikes driven by user dissatisfaction with competitors’ policies and more on the effectiveness and appeal of its unique open-infrastructure technology. Casual defectors unhappy with Musk’s choices may return to X or switch to Threads, but tech-oriented users drawn specifically to Bluesky’s decentralized system are expected to stay longer, awaiting developments and enhancements to the platform.
According to Meta’s latest financial disclosures, Threads currently reaches approximately 350 million monthly active users. Conversely, since X is private and not required to publicly disclose its numbers, recent confirmations by owner Elon Musk last year placed X’s monthly active users at approximately 600 million.
