Bluesky now lets users share livestreams and use cashtags for stocks amid rising app downloads after recent controversies.
City: Bluesky is changing its app to let users share when they’re live on Twitch. It’s also adding special hashtags called cashtags for talking about stocks.
The new changes may help Bluesky boost downloads. After recent events about X’s deepfake news, many people began installing Bluesky.
On X, users asked the AI bot Grok to make troubling images without permission. California’s attorney general is now looking into this situation.
Bluesky noticed a big jump in downloads in the U.S. Data shows downloads increased sharply after the deepfake news got attention. From December 30, 2025, to January 6, 2026, Bluesky had about 19,500 downloads, compared to its usual 4,000.
From January 7 to January 14, downloads went up to 29,000. That’s a 49% rise! Cashtags will help Bluesky catch up to X, which is popular for stock talks. Users can make a cashtag by putting a dollar sign before the stock ticker, like $AAPL for Apple.
The idea for cashtags came from Stocktwits, which has over 10 million users. Twitter also adopted them in 2012.
Bluesky is also expanding the “Live Now” feature. This lets users add a temporary “LIVE” badge to show when they are streaming online, but only on Twitch and not directly on Bluesky.
Bluesky’s downloads grew after a decline last year. In April 2025, downloads fell to a low point, and by October, mobile users dropped nearly 40%. Pew Research showed that while some influencers have Bluesky accounts, they still post more regularly on X.
This means that changing social networks might not be as easy as it seems. Bluesky needs to keep adding new features and encourage users to change their habits.