Twitter/X Alternative Bluesky is Now Open to Everyone

Bluesky, a decentralized alternative to Twitter/X and Meta’s Threads app is now open to everyone. The microblogging platform launched as an invite-only beta last year, and it already crossed 3 million registered users.

Following the acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk, many users have been looking for a less toxic and future-proof alternative. Mastodon quickly emerged as one of the best candidates, but the platform isn’t exactly easy to use, and its decentralized aspect (everyone can join a different server) makes it harder to find people to follow.

Bluesky started as an internal initiative within Twitter, and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is on the company’s board of directors. In practice, Bluesky looks very similar to Twitter, but it’s built on the decentralized AT protocol, and the app’s code is open source. Everyone can now create an account on bsky.app, and Bluesky also lets you set up your own domain as your public handle. However, be aware that there are currently no private profiles on Bluesky.

“When you log in to Bluesky, it might look and feel familiar — the user experience should be straightforward. But under the hood, we’ve designed the app in a way that puts control back in your hands. Here, your experience online isn’t controlled by a single company. Whether it’s your timeline or content filters, on Bluesky, you can easily customize your social experience,” the team explained today.

If Bluesky was quite barebones at launch, the team has been working on moderation tooling and custom feeds. Federation will launch as an experimental feature later this month. This means that organizations will be able to launch their own servers, and Bluesky users will be able to switch servers without losing their social graph and content.