Bluesky hits #1 on the App Store as users continue to flee Elon Musk's X

Elon Musk has certainly emerged victorious this past week, post-election.

However, Musk and his social media platform X are not exactly winning on the mobile app charts. X competitors Bluesky and Threads are surging in popularity on Apple's App Store in the week following the election.

Bluesky appears to be the big winner, as many users have evidently decided to flee Musk's X — often pointing to his campaigning for Trump and using X as a campaign tool as the reason. Bluesky is now the number 1 free app in the App Store in the U.S. The X-alternative social media platform has also just surpassed 15 million users as approximately 100,000 people have signed up per day since the election.

Threads, which is tightly integrated with Instagram and owned by Mark Zuckerberg's Meta, is currently in second place on the App Store. Musk's X, formerly known as Twitter, is in a distant 27th place on the charts. A significant number of X users are clearly looking for an alternative to the Musk-owned platform.

The App Store top charts rankings as of November 13, 2024. Credit: Apple

Musk's App Store interest

While Musk might not lose any sleep over this after winning significant influence with the incoming Trump administration, App Store rankings have been a bit of an obsession for the owner of X.

Musk has frequently boasted about X hitting #1 in the News category on the U.S. and international App Store charts since the election. It should be noted that X doesn't really have much broad competition in the News category, as most apps in that section belong to traditional media outlets publishers like the New York Times or Fox News. 

Aside from X and Reddit, most social media platforms categorize their iOS apps in the much more competitive Social Networking category. A first place ranking in that category translates to a first place ranking overall in the entire App Store, as Bluesky currently holds both distinctions. (For another example, Meta's WhatsApp iOS app is in third place in the Social Networking category and then in 8th place among the top charts.)

X, however, holds a first place ranking in the News category on the App Store, which only translates to 27th place overall.