The app, called Spill, started rising in the rankings of Apple’s App Store this weekend, around the same time Twitter started limiting the number of posts users could see. On Monday, it was the third most downloaded app on Apple’s App Store, and the store’s top downloaded social-media app.

What is Spill?

One of the many new startups looking to rival Twitter, Spill was designed by former Twitter employees Alphonzo Terrell and DeVaris Brown. The social-media platform launched on Apple’s App Store in mid-June.

The app peaked at number 100 on the list of Apple’s top-downloaded social media in June, and then fell in the rankings, according to consumer-data group data.ai. Elon Musk said Saturday that Twitter was limiting post viewings for its hundreds of millions of users. Spill began to soar that same day and jumped to the top spot on Sunday and Monday, data.ai said.

Terrell said in an interview Monday that he wants Spill to be a place where people can talk about culture. “I think people are really excited and open to new spaces,” he said.

Like other social-media platforms, Spill has a live news feed. But the app is meant to be more visual, said Terrell, the former global head of social and editorial content at Twitter. The platform makes it easy to post text over photos, videos and GIFs.

Instead of tweeting, users “spill”—taken from the popular expression “spill the tea,” which refers to gossip. Some of the top hashtags Monday were #bookspill, to post book recommendations, and #EssenceFest, to share videos of performances from the hip-hop and rhythm and blues music festival, which took place over the weekend in New Orleans.

Users like a post by tapping a teacup. Spill users are calling themselves “Spillionaires,” which the company has adopted.

The app, which asks for your birthday during sign-up, automatically puts an astrological sign on your profile. Terrell said Spill is working on ways to use the signs as a way for people to discover one another, but wouldn’t give details.

“I won’t spill all the tea,” he said.

Who is Spill for?

Everyone is welcome to use Spill, Terrell said. But he added that he and Brown created it as a safe online destination for Black people and members of the LGBTQ community.

He said people in those groups are often targeted with hateful rhetoric, even though they “consistently set the new trends on all social platforms.”

Spill will monitor for hate speech, Terrell said, using artificial intelligence to spot it and with human moderators.

During the Spill sign-up process, users are reminded three times with animal pictures that hate speech isn’t allowed.

“We’re here for community, but absolutely not for division,” the app says over a photo of a dog and cat holding each other.

How can I join?

Spill is invite-only, which is typical for apps that are still in the testing phase. To join, someone already on Spill has to send you a code. You can also add yourself to the wait list on Spill’s website.

The app only works on Apple’s operating system. An Android version is in the works.

Who is on Spill?

More than 100,000 people have joined Spill in the past three days, according to the company. Some newcomers are celebrities.

Musician Questlove joined last month and has encouraged others to come along: “….pack up, come to Spill folks,” he tweeted to his 3.3 million Twitter followers on Saturday. “We’ll leave the light on for ya.” As of Monday, Questlove had 1,996 followers on Spill.

Singer and flutist Lizzo asked Monday for a Spill sign-up code on Twitter. “Who got the plug???,” she tweeted.

Actors Amber Riley, Sinqua Walls and Antoinette Robertson are also using the app, according to the company.

What are some of the other Twitter alternatives?

Facebook owner Meta Platforms is planning to release a Twitter competitor called Threads on Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey backed a Twitter alternative called Bluesky, which is also an invitation-only app. It was formed in 2021 inside Twitter and launched as an independent organization in 2022. The platform said in June it had grown to some 100,000 users from just a few hundred in February. Invite codes are apparently hard to come by, users said.

Mastodon, another social-media platform, has also gained prominence in recent months.

While new startups have added users, none have yet emerged as a true rival to Twitter.