Here's why X users' mass exodus to Bluesky is not surprising at all—where to download

There are a lot of apps branded as the “Twitter killer,” and Bluesky is one of them. Recently, the blue app has been getting traction for amassing over 1 million new users, largely from North America and the UK in just one week.

But, why, though?

The news came shortly after the 2024 US presidential election, where former President Donald Trump reclaimed his position at the White House, defeating Democrat Kamala Harris. Elon Musk, the CEO of X, who purchased the platform for an eye-popping $44 billion years ago, has consistently expressed his support for Trump and will hold a position in his cabinet.

Despite having supported Democratic candidates in the past since Barack Obama in 2008, Musk said that he’d start voting for Republican candidates in 2022. The billionaire accuses Democrats “have become the party of division & hate,” and has been present in Trump rallies ahead of the election and even during the UFC 309 at Maddison Square Garden.

Bluesky currently holds the top spot in the iOS App Store, surpassing Threads, which has 275 million monthly users. That brings the app’s total user count to 19 million according to its developer, which is a perk itself now that it has features like direct messaging and video.

Months ago, Bluesky also garnered 3 million new users after Brazil banned X, which stemmed from a long-standing conflict over content moderation orders from the Brazilian government. Then, the platform added another 1.2 million after X allowed people to see posts of other users who’d blocked them.

When the Meta-made Threads gained traction last year, Bluesky also experienced a spike with 10,000 new sign-ups as X imposed tweet-view limits, despite its slow onboarding process.

You can download Bluesky for iOS on App Store and for Android on Play Store.