Social network Bluesky is teasing its roadmap for the year ahead. The company plans to focus on improving the app’s algorithmic Discover feed, offering users better recommendations on who to follow, and giving the app more of a real-time feel. At the same time, the company admitted that it needs to work on getting the basics right.
Bluesky launched to the public in early 2024 after an invite-only period. The decentralized alternative to X and Threads has since scaled to over 42 million users, according to data sourced directly from the Bluesky API for developers. Though it is differentiated from mainstream social media with its custom feeds and configurable algorithms, Bluesky has not caught up to rivals regarding basic features like private accounts, drafts, and support for longer videos.
Bluesky’s head of product, Alex Benzer, acknowledged these concerns in a new post. He stated that the basics need to be solid before Bluesky can expect users to stick around. These remarks follow a usage slowdown on Bluesky, which saw a 40% year-over-year drop in daily active users as of October 2025, according to data from market intelligence provider Similarweb.
Benzer detailed several basic improvements. He said the app’s composer should handle media better, noting that three-minute-long videos are not enough and that videos should upload faster. He also wants Bluesky to support posting more than four photos at a time and thinks threads should be easier to create.
The need for private accounts was not directly addressed in the roadmap, but Bluesky has previously explained those will take longer to realize. The plan is for the underlying AT Protocol to eventually support private accounts, but that will not be coming anytime soon.
On the discovery front, Benzer pointed to improvements for the app’s Discover feed, which could add topic tags to guide people to posts related to their interests. Who to follow suggestions will also be improved to help users find high-quality connections.
Benzer also believes Bluesky needs to have more of a real-time feel, especially around events like sports or elections. The company is building curation tools for its team to make high-quality and timely custom feeds available during live events. The team is exploring other new features within feeds to make them feel less like just scrolling and more like hanging out.
For growing the overall ecosystem, dubbed the Atmosphere, the company will improve interoperability with other apps built on the AT Protocol. For example, if you go live on Twitch or Streamplace, another AT Protocol app, a LIVE badge will appear on your Bluesky profile. Benzer said another similar integration is coming soon.
While Bluesky has succeeded in adding users, actual usage ebbs and flows. Surges are often timed to changes at X or moments of political tension. Meanwhile, Meta’s Threads has become the next-nearest competitor to X. New third-party data indicates Threads is now outpacing X in daily mobile users, though X remains ahead on the desktop web.
Threads’ main advantage is its backing by Meta, allowing for heavy cross-promotion, easier onboarding, and significant resources. As a result, Threads has been rapidly shipping new features over the past year, including interest-based communities, better filters, direct messages, long-form text, and disappearing posts. This has helped differentiate it from X and gain traction among users, including those who want a network that once deprioritized political content in favor of creator content.