‍UpScrolled has reached the number 1 spot among free apps on the U.S. App Store, surpassing major platforms including Instagram, Threads, and Facebook. The social networking app has crossed the 1 million user mark, reflecting rapid adoption within just a few weeks.

The platform says that between Thursday and Saturday last week, the app added more than 500,000 new users in just 72 hours. Daily downloads spiked to 29 times the previous baseline, and servers crashed twice before the company scaled its infrastructure by 400% within 24 hours.

The social app was launched in June 2025 by Issam Hijazi, a Palestinian-Jordanian-Australian technologist, to rival similar platforms. Hijazi described the platform as “everything big tech companies refuse to be.” “We’re answering a global call. We are seeing how many people want and need an alternative social media. Our servers crashed over the weekend because of the surge in users. We’re back up and running and looking forward to continuing to build the platform users are seeking, a platform built on transparency and trust, with privacy in mind,” he said. 

Industry observers suggest that recent controversies and technical challenges at TikTok in the U.S. played a role in UpScrolled’s rapid growth. TikTok announced last Thursday that it had signed a deal with a group of non-Chinese investors to form a majority American-owned joint venture aimed at keeping the app operating in the U.S.

This situation mirrors the spike Bluesky experienced in 2025 following users’ dissatisfaction over X's policies.

How the UpScrolled app works

UpScrolled integrates short videos, photo sharing, and text posts into a vertical scrolling feed. Users can follow accounts, browse trending posts, and engage through likes, comments, and direct messages. The platform offers a chronological feed for followed accounts and a discover feed where posts are ranked by engagement. Trending topics and hashtags are highlighted on a discovery page, allowing users to find popular content and new creators. Interaction metrics feed into ranking algorithms that influence both personal and discover feeds. UpScrolled is available on iOS, Android, and through the web at upscrolled.com.

The platform’s growth plans

The social app confirmed it will not accept venture capital funding that requires user growth targets or engagement metric optimisation. Hijazi said the company is focused on building “infrastructure for digital sovereignty,” adding that the recent growth shows it is possible to scale a social platform without prioritising user exploitation. The company said it is scaling server infrastructure to support continued demand.

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