Bluesky from Twitter founder Jack Dorsey appears for iOS

Bluesky, the decentralized alternative that Twitter developed in response to Mastodon under former director Jack Dorsey, has been released as a beta for iOS. For now, users need an invitation to use the network.

The app is very similar in design and interface to Twitter, so says Techcrunch. There is a list of posts and a tab with notifications. The posts are a maximum of 256 characters long. Unlike Mastodon, Bluesky does not work with the ActivityPub protocol, but has created its own protocol for a decentralized social network under the name AT. Presumably the intention is to add servers in the future.

Functions such as retweeting, liking and blocking accounts are already in the app, but other functions such as creating lists are not yet. Bluesky is a project by Jack Dorsey, the former CEO of Twitter. He wanted to develop Bluesky because he saw more in decentralized social networks than in centrally managed networks such as Twitter. Twitter has provided Bluesky with financial support since 2019, but it is unclear how this will work under new owner Elon Musk. Bluesky has not yet said anything about when the app will be released from the testing phase and whether a version for web and Android will also be available.