artifacts

Last week, Artifact, a buzzy news app from Instagram’s co-founders, announced it was shutting down after failing to gain critical mass. New data indicates that Artifact couldn’t catch up to the competition and struggled to grow its user base outside the U.S. According to data from app intelligence provider Appfigures, Artifact saw an estimated 444,000 downloads since its February 2023 launch. Artifact also struggled to gain an international following, which could have helped it thrive even if U.S. downloads stalled. By adding more functionality, Artifact may have potentially confused users as to when or why they should use it.