Bluesky just dropped group chats, and the internet's watching to see if it's enough to steal users from Elon Musk's X. The feature, rolling out in the latest app update (v1.124), lets up to 50 people chat privately on the platform—but that's tiny compared to X's 1,000-member groups.
The move shifts Bluesky's strategy. Instead of chasing X's mega-platform status, the app is betting on smaller, tighter communities. As Bluesky's head of product Alex Benzer recently posted: "Today, Bluesky is one big space. Communities will be smaller spaces inside that where you can go deeper and hang out with people who care about the same stuff."
Bluesky's growth has stalled. The platform sits at 44.8 million registered users while X boasts 600 million monthly active users. When you can't match the competition at their scale, pivot to niche communities.
Bluesky's group chats offer invite links that can be shared across the web (including as embedded cards in posts), user controls over who can invite them, and customizable privacy settings. Media sharing is not yet available—Bluesky says that requires more safety infrastructure first.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk's X already launched a standalone XChat app and doubled down on messaging features. Bluesky added basic messaging in 2024 and recently rolled out encrypted chats through third-party integration with Germ.
The timing favors X. While X keeps innovating, Bluesky is playing catch-up—and the gap between 50-person and 1,000-person groups reflects the distance between these platforms.
Bluesky says the 50-person limit may increase later, but for now it is a modest move in a lopsided battle.
