Bluesky's Momentum Fades

Bluesky, the decentralized social network, is struggling to maintain its momentum nearly two years after the exodus from Elon Musk's X in November 2024.

Declining User Base

According to data from Similarweb, Bluesky's mobile app had 10.4 million monthly active users worldwide in June 2026, down 27.2% year-over-year. Mobile daily active users also declined, falling 25.6% year-over-year in July to around 3 million. While Bluesky's app continues to add registered accounts, fewer people are using its mobile app on a regular basis, indicating that some of those who joined Bluesky due to their dissatisfaction with X have not stuck around long-term.

Shrinking Engagement

The bigger takeaway is not just that Bluesky's post-election bump has shrunk, but that its app has lost more than half its monthly active users from its late-2024 high. This means that its app usage continued to shrink even after the initial post-election surge subsided. Bluesky's quarterly average was around 22.1 million monthly active users in the fourth quarter of 2024, and it declined to 10.7 million in the second quarter of 2026, a decline of around 52%.

Community Stickiness

While Bluesky's numbers are down, its smaller community remains relatively active, with a stickiness rate of roughly 29% in June, about the same as Threads. This suggests that those who stuck around are committed to the platform.

However, Bluesky's new CEO, Toni Schneider, may not be as concerned about these numbers. The company is not entirely focused on making Bluesky (the app) succeed, but on making it possible for the underlying protocol (AT Proto) to power a growing number of social apps, services, and communities.

Expanding Beyond the App

Bluesky is now working on adding support for private data to its platform, which could generate new interest in Bluesky from a different type of user – those less interested in the public square, and more interested in private networking and communities. The company has also launched new products, like the AI-powered research tool Attie, and is working on other projects that may help it achieve its goals.

Comparison to X and Threads

X's worldwide monthly active users on mobile were down around 3% year-over-year in June, and X's mobile daily active users dropped 7% in July to 123.7 million. Meanwhile, Threads, a Meta-owned app, saw a significant increase in daily active users, up 21.3% year-over-year to 147 million in July 2026, and its website visits were up 112% year-over-year to 471.6 million. It is unclear whether Threads is benefiting from Bluesky's falling engagement, or if it is attracting a new set of people who had never before used a Twitter-like service.