Instagram Threads is experiencing a resurgence in popularity, a welcome turnaround after a period of stagnation last year that led some to question its success.
Recent data reveals that Threads is far from being on the brink of death. It has demonstrated robust growth, with a threefold increase in downloads month-over-month recorded in December. This surge in interest has propelled Threads into the top 10 most downloaded apps for that month, across both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
Data provided by app intelligence firm Appfigures paints a promising picture for Threads, with an impressive 12 million new downloads recorded in December 2023. This substantial figure propelled Threads to claim the No. 4 position in the Top Charts for downloads on Apple’s App Store.
Additionally, Threads garnered 16 million downloads on Google Play, securing its position at No. 8 on that platform. When considering the combined performance across both stores, Threads firmly held the No. 6 spot for new installations.
During its debut last year, Threads broke records by gaining 100 million users within just 5 days. But its user base started to decline by September and continued to slump through the end of the year, but in December, it is back on track again.
This likely has to do with Meta’s increased efforts of showing ads for Threads on Facebook featuring viral posts from the text-based platform. As of today, an approximate tally of 160 million Threads users is reported by one tracking source, cementing its position as a formidable presence in the realm of social media platforms.
Meanwhile, X, the biggest rival to Threads, is still performing poorly due to its absurd rebranding (from Twitter to X) despite adding “formerly Twitter” on its App Store page. It only had 8.5 million installs in December, ranking it 29th on the App Store and 46th on the Google Play Store, which is far behind other social media platforms and even productivity apps like Zoom.
