Bluesky, the decentralized alternative to Twitter, arrives as an invite-only iOS app

Bluesky, the decentralized project that originated inside Twitter, has come to a head Apple App Store As an invite-only social network, As I first mentioned before Techcrunch. The menu also gives us one of our first glimpses of the app, which looks a lot like Twitter right down to the timeline and profile pages.

The project is backed by Jack Dorsey, co-founder and former CEO of Twitter, and has been working on an app backed by an open source social protocol for months, called the Authentication Transfer Protocol, or “AT Protocol” for short. Bluesky describes It is a “Federated Social Network” where there are separate networks within a single hub.

According to Bluesky, the AT protocol is built on four main ideals: computational portability; Arithmetic. performance; and interoperability. This framework should allow you to easily transfer your account data to another Bluesky provider as well as give you more control over what you see on the network, among other things.

While Bluesky initially made the app available in a private developer beta in October, the company appears ready to expand testing a bit more now that it’s in the App Store. The website doesn’t give any details about when the app can become available to the general public or how many testers are allowed to use the app, but it does let users Join the waiting list for access.

The project’s origins within Twitter have raised concerns about what will happen to Bluesky after the Elon Musk takeover, as it relied on the social network for funding. However, in the past year, Bluesky erupted as a separate company, indicating that “Independence is important to the success of the project,” Dorsey added to its board of directors.

Judging by the screenshots posted on the App Store and those in TechcrunchIn his article as part of a hands-on trial, Bluesky looks promising so far, featuring separate tabs for home, search, and notifications as well as a Twitter-like “repost” ability. We don’t know when (or if) Bluesky will come to Android, but I certainly hope it does. With more Twitter alternatives like Bluesky, Mastodon, and Hive gaining popularity, it feels like the golden age of social networking again.