In case you are one of many tens of millions who joined Bluesky in current months, it is possible you are turned off by institution social media platforms. You most likely do not take care of websites with predatory information privateness insurance policies, or those who placate to incoming presidential administrations with a disdain for the reality. Possibly you get pleasure from a web based house the place individuals can share ideas, content material, and jokes in a manner that does not specific search to anger or harm anybody for revenue.
In fact, Bluesky has you lined there, a minimum of as a alternative for X. However should you get pleasure from sharing pictures and movies with the broader web, you are possible nonetheless tied to Instagram—prefer it or not. There are different choices on the market, like Pixelfed, a decentralized picture sharing platform that now has an official app. However should you’re all-in on Bluesky, it might be nice should you may harness the identical expertise with the group you’ve got began to construct there.
That is why Flashes is likely one of the extra fascinating social media ideas I’ve seen lately. The app, developed by Sebastian Vogelsang, is predicated off of his earlier app Skeets, a subscription-optional Bluesky shopper with a emphasis on accessibility, amongst different options (if you’d like to have the ability to edit your posts, for instance, Skeets makes use of a nifty workaround to do it). However for Flashses, Vogelsang’s focus was to make an Instagram-like expertise for pictures and movies shared on Bluesky.
Credit score: Sebastian Vogelsang
That is the factor: Flashes is not actually an Instagram competitor. There is no such thing as a Flashes platform, you will not join a Flashes account, and you will not put up pictures or movies to a devoted Flashes feed. As a substitute, the app is a “picture viewing shopper” for Bluesky. It basically pulls all the pictures and movies out of your Bluesky feed and shows them in a UI harking back to Instagram. You possibly can put up pictures and movies by way of Flashes, however you are actually simply posting them on Bluesky. Any posts to Flashes, in addition to any feedback on these posts, will seem in your Bluesky account as properly.
In case you’re intrigued, sadly you will have to attend a bit earlier than you possibly can strive it: The official Flashes App Bluesky account solely began posting right this moment, and Vogelsang anticipates beginning an open Testflight Beta subsequent week for iOS customers. However as soon as the app formally launches, you can use it put up 4 pictures or movies at a time. (Movies might be as much as one minute every.)
In line with TechCrunch, Vogelsand additionally plans to launch a video-only model of Flashes, referred to as Blue Display screen. Maybe that can be a legitimate TikTok various for actually passionate Bluesky customers.
The information of Flashes comes at an unsure time for legacy social media. Customers have flown from X to alternate options like Bluesky; the US authorities is on the verge of banning TikTok, prompting customers to flee to different Chinese language apps in protest; and Meta is repelling a lot of its customers with its weird and irritating selections. We appear to be at an inflection level, and persons are on the lookout for new, various platforms. In case you’ve already built-up your Bluesky follows, I do not see a greater picture sharing answer than one which merely works with the app you are already so invested in.