Bluesky has outlined its product priorities for the year ahead, highlighting planned improvements to discovery, recommendations, and real time engagement while acknowledging gaps in basic features that the company says must be addressed to sustain user growth.
Growth Followed By Slowing Usage
Bluesky launched to the public in early 2024 after an invite only phase and has since grown to more than 42 million users, based on data taken directly from its developer API. Despite that expansion, usage has slowed. Data from Similarweb, reported by Forbes, shows a 40% year over year drop in daily active users as of October 2025.
Product Team Flags Missing Basics
Bluesky’s head of product, Alex Benzer, said in a post on the company’s website that the platform needs to improve foundational features if it expects users to remain active.
Benzer pointed to missing or limited functions compared with rival platforms, including drafts, better media handling, and easier thread creation. He said the app’s composer should support longer videos than the current three minute limit, allow faster uploads, and enable posting more than four photos at a time.
Private accounts were not included in the near term plans. Bluesky has previously said this feature depends on future updates to its underlying AT Protocol, and is not expected soon.
Discover Feed And Follow Suggestions
Alongside core feature work, Bluesky plans to refine its algorithmic Discover feed. Benzer said topic tags could be added to help users find posts aligned with their interests. The company also plans to improve recommendations on who to follow, saying higher quality connections can improve the overall experience.
Push Toward Real Time Use
Benzer said Bluesky needs to feel more immediate during live moments such as sports events or elections. The company is developing internal curation tools that would allow its team to surface timely custom feeds around major events.
He added that the team is exploring feed features that make the experience feel more interactive, rather than focused solely on scrolling through posts.
Ecosystem And Protocol Integrations
Bluesky also plans to expand interoperability across apps built on the AT Protocol, a group of services the community refers to as the “Atmosphere.” Benzer cited existing integrations where users going live on Twitch or Streamplace display a LIVE badge on their Bluesky profile.
He said another similar integration is expected to launch soon.
Competitive Landscape
Usage on Bluesky tends to rise and fall in response to changes at X or during periods of political tension. Meanwhile, Threads has emerged as the closest competitor, with third party data indicating it now surpasses X in daily mobile users, while X remains ahead on desktop web.
Threads benefits from backing by Meta, which has enabled rapid feature development, cross promotion, and simpler onboarding. Over the past year, Threads has added features such as interest based communities, improved filters, direct messages, long form text, and disappearing posts, helping it attract users seeking alternatives to politics focused feeds.
Featured image credits: Heute.at
For more stories like it, click the +Follow button at the top of this page to follow us.