Similarweb: Threads had 141.5M DAUs on iOS and Android as of January 7, driven by Instagram promotions, while X had 125M DAUs; X continues to lead on the web
A report from market intelligence firm Similarweb suggests that Meta's Threads is now seeing more daily usage than Elon Musk's X on mobile devices.
TechCrunchSarah Perez
Context & Ripple Effects
Threads’ mobile position extends a pattern visible earlier, when it was consistently ahead of X in U.S. daily users. Meta had also said Threads was nearing 275 million monthly users in late 2024, providing a broader growth backdrop for the latest usage comparison.
The split between mobile and web matters because Threads’ growth is tied to promotion from Instagram, while X retains a distinct web-use advantage. The result is not a single, uniform measure of leadership across social platforms.
First-order effects
Threads gains a mobile daily-usage lead over X in Similarweb’s iOS and Android estimates, strengthening Meta’s case that Instagram distribution is converting into recurring use.
X remains ahead on the web, preserving an important usage foothold even as its mobile position trails Threads.
Second-order effects
Meta can continue using Instagram promotion as a distribution advantage, raising the pressure on X to defend mobile engagement without access to a comparable adjacent social-app funnel.
Advertisers and publishers evaluating the two services will need to distinguish mobile reach from web reach rather than treating a single user metric as decisive.
Third-order effects
If the split persists, social competition may increasingly be shaped by platform-gatekeeper leverage: an incumbent’s ability to route users from an established app can matter as much as a standalone network’s web audience.
The outcome could be a more segmented market in which Threads and X compete from different access points, rather than one service cleanly displacing the other.
The trend: This is one data point in the shift toward social-platform competition being determined by cross-app distribution and device-specific engagement, not just headline user totals.
My takeaway having been posting both here and [Meta's side project] for a while (now that their DAU is edging out, per TechCrunch): On X, the network effect is still strong, especially for the SF startup scene On the other site, the demographic is more diverse but less focused
@BriannaWu This chart floats around, but genuinely I have never heard any person IRL talk about Threads. I never see Threads posts pop up on other platforms like X, TikTok or Reddit. It has created no cultural moments I've ever seen.
[Jan. 6] I wasn't expecting this. According to Similarweb Threads has now more daily active users than X. Anyone knows if there is an active community of founders and marketers on it? The trend looks on the rise. I guess it's time to give it another try. [image]
I say this with no hyperbole...not a single person I know uses Threads regularly. So this is either bogus data, or I'm incredibly out of touch with the modern internet. [image]
@BriannaWu It's got some level of engagement, sure, but every time I go there it feels like posting through a gas leak. I think a significant part of this has to be Meta juicing the stats via IG/FB.
So far this year Threads has had 143.2M daily users on mobile devices versus 126.2M on X according to SimilarWeb. This is a -11.9% year-over-year decline for X and +37.8% growth for Threads. — While I've never doubted Threads would outgrow X, I'm shocked it still has over 100M…