Jack Dorsey’s Bluesky, a Twitter alternative, appears on Apple App Store

According to TechCrunch, Bluesky, the micro-blogging platform is currently in invite-only beta with a public launch on the horizon. The iOS app was first available on February 17 and has since been installed approximately 2,000 times during the testing phase, according to app intelligence firm data.ai.

Bluesky’s user interface is designed to be simple. Users can easily create a post of up to 256 characters, including photos, by simply clicking on a plus button within the app.

Twitter is more about “What is happening?” whereas Bluesky asks “What’s up?”. According to the report, Bluesky users have the ability to share, mute, and block accounts, more advanced tools such as adding accounts to lists are not yet available on the platform.

Bluesky’s discover tab, located in the center of the app’s navigation, is a useful feature that provides users with more “who to follow” suggestions and a feed of recently posted updates on the platform.

The report adds that Bluesky includes a notifications tab where users can check for likes, reposts, follows, and replies, similar to Twitter. However, there is no direct messaging (DM) feature on the platform as of yet.

Similar to Twitter, Bluesky allows users to search for and follow other individuals, and view their updates in a Home timeline. User profiles on Bluesky feature a profile picture, background, bio, and metrics. The Bluesky project was initially developed by Twitter in 2019, but it became an independent company in 2022 with a focus on researching and developing decentralized social networks.

Following his departure from Twitter, Jack Dorsey spoke about Bluesky, referring to it as “an open, decentralized standard for social media.” In October 2022, Dorsey posted on Twitter stating that Bluesky aims to compete with any company attempting to control the fundamental aspects of social media or the data of its users.

Last year, Bluesky received $13 million in funding, and Jack Dorsey was appointed to its board. In a tweet, Bluesky announced that the funding would ensure their freedom and independence to begin research and development. They also added that a former Twitter security engineer had joined their team.

Bluesky was formed to research and develop technologies that enable open and decentralised public conversation.

“It’s rare for a project to be set up like this. We’re using our freedom to focus on building, and will work towards our vision of a durable protocol for public conversation no matter what happens,” said the company.