Bluesky moves into the top 5 as X changes the blocks and enables AI training on its data

Social networking startup Bluesky, which just reported half a million users last day, has now moved into the top five apps in the US App Store, moving from No. 181 a week ago, according to app intelligence company Appfigures. We know the growth is completely organic as Appfigures confirmed that the company does not run App Store Search Ads.

Furthermore, growth is not limited to the US market either. A number of countries are seeing four-digit growth in downloads compared to last Wednesday, pushing Bluesky into the top 10 in countries such as Japan, Thailand and Taiwan, where it is No. 1; Hong Kong, where it is No. 2; Canada and South Korea, where it is No. 4; and Singapore, where it is number 8.

While data on the app's growth on Google Play is lagging, there are early signs that it is increasing there too. As of 4 a.m. EST, the app moved from No. 100 in the Android App Store to No. 5 in the Social Networking category and counting.

Appfigures can't yet explain how Bluesky acquired half a million new users in the course of a day, but the estimates confirm a massive growth spurt. So far on Thursday, the company has seen 197,000 new installs on the App Store, up from just 3,400 the day before. The majority of them – 80,000 or 40% – came from the USA. Japan also contributed with 53,000 installations (27%), and downloads grew four-digit in a total of around 90 countries, Appfigures reports to TechCrunch.

What's driving the increase is likely a combination of several factors.

On X, users are understandably upset about the company's decision to change how the blocking feature works. Soon, unlike before, users with public accounts will be able to have their X posts seen by anyone, including those who have blocked them. Blocked users are only prevented from interacting with these posts, such as liking, replying, and reposting them. This poses a security concern for many who use the platform, but faces harassment and abuse, and for some it was the final straw.

Additionally, this week, X updated its terms of service and privacy policy, granting it the right to share X user data with third parties, including companies that develop AI models.

X may also feel the effects of the earlier Brazil ban, although this was lifted, which caused some active users from this region to switch to Bluesky and possibly participate.

Additionally, Bluesky could benefit from thread moderation issues that resulted in users having their accounts suspended or their posts downvoted for no reason. (Meta had partially attributed the problem to internal software used by threads moderators.)

In any case, X is not yet feeling the effects of the changes and recorded 17,000 downloads between Tuesday and Thursday. However, the app is no longer in the top 10 of the US App Store and is now ranked at number 29. The Elon Musk-powered app is experiencing a slight downward trend, according to Appfigures, but this is consistent with the overall news category in the US App Store Store in the US is down 8.4% this year.

Bluesky has seen major resurgences before, including when it opened its doors to the public after a long invitation-only period, and more recently when Brazil banned X and the first two days of the year Ban attracted half a million new users to the social networking startup and more in the following days.

(After release, Bluesky announced that it had added 1 million new users, bringing its total user count to over 12 million.)