Instagram’s Threads app, an X competitor designed for sharing text updates and joining public conversations, is now gaining traction after an inconsistent 2023. New data from app intelligence firm Appfigures reveals that Threads is growing, tripling its number of downloads month-over-month in December, positioning it as one of the Top 10 most downloaded apps for Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store. Ahead of Threads in downloads for December were popular apps such as Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and WhatsApp (Instagram took over the No. 1 spot from TikTok). Meanwhile, X continues to decline.

“Threads saw 12 million new downloads in December 2023, earning it a No. 4 spot in the Top Charts by downloads on Apple’s App Store,” reports TechCrunch. “It also saw 16 million downloads on Google Play, which gave it the No. 8 spot. On both stores combined, it was the No. 6 app by way of new installs.”

Threads reached an impressive five-day total of about 100 million registered users when it first launched but numbers were declining by September.

“In December, Threads once again returned to growth, likely due to the push Meta had given the app by displaying ads on Facebook that featured Threads’ viral posts,” TechCrunch notes. “The app could also be benefiting from its move into the ‘fediverse’ — the social network comprised of interconnected servers that communicate via the ActivityPub protocol, like Mastodon.”

Meanwhile, X (formerly known as Twitter) is still struggling, with an estimated 8.5 million installs for December. According to TechCrunch, that positioned X as “the No. 29 app by downloads on the App Store and No. 46 on Google Play. That’s well behind other top social networking apps and even productivity apps like Zoom.”

“In October, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Threads was just shy of 100 million users,” notes PCMag. “The company will announce its latest numbers during Meta’s Q4 earnings call on February 1.”

Related:
Threads Is Working on Surfacing Trends, Says Instagram Head Adam Mosseri, TechCrunch, 1/31/24