Latest news with #SebastianVogelsang
NDTV
04-07-2025
- NDTV
Flashes, A Bluesky-Based Instagram Alternative, Now Available On App Store. All You Need To Know
If you're getting tired of Instagram, a Bluesky-based alternative known as Flashes is now available on the App Store. According to TechCrunch, the app offers a decentralised, algorithm-free experience for users who want more control over their visual content. It uses the same basic technical framework as Bluesky, the AT protocol. However, though closely integrated, it is developed by a third-party Berlin-based developer, Sebastian Vogelsang, rather than Bluesky's core team. Flashes is currently a free download from the App Store and requires iOS 17 or higher to run. There is no confirmed date for an Android version yet. Flashes' features and functionality Flashes has the same requirements around posting images and videos as you'd find on Bluesky directly. Originally, that meant support for posting up to four images and videos of one minute in length, but as the Bluesky version 1.99 was updated and released earlier this year, users have been able to upload videos up to three minutes in length, the outlet reported. Unlike traditional social media apps, posts made on Flashes will also appear on Buesky, with comments and interactions flowing between both platforms seamlessly. How Flashes is different from Instagram Flashes is somewhat similar to Instagram, as it offers a scrollable feed of photos and videos, user profiles, and even photo filters to enhance your images when posting, per TechCrunch. But instead of having to start your network from scratch, Flashes' users are immediately tapped into the wider Bluesky community. Even if not all of Bluesky's users are on Flashes, their images and videos will be displayed in the app. And when you post on Flashes, it will create a post that will appear on Bluesky. Moreover, the app will let you browse your own Bluesky feeds and choose from Bluesky's over 50,000 custom feeds. In Flahses, you can like, repost and reply to posts, just like Bluesky. Those interactions will also appear in Bluesky's app, while Bluesky users' interactions will show up in Flashes. On Flashes, you can customise your user profile by opting to show or hide likes, lists and feeds, or using other media filtering options. For content creators, the app also has a feature called "Portfolio", which will let you curate which images should appear on your Flashes user profile. How to get started To use Flahses, you'll need to have a Bluesky account. If you already have one, you can directly sign in with those credentials. If not, you will have to sign up for a Bluesky account within the Flashes app. To create an account, you'll need to provide an email address, password, and date of birth, then accept the terms of use. Once signed in, you can immediately start browsing the images and videos shared on your Bluesky timeline or any other Bluesky feed, or post your own media.
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Yahoo
Everything you need to know about Flashes, the Bluesky-based Instagram alternative
Flashes this year launched an Instagram alternative built on top of the Bluesky social network. Now available on the App Store, the app offers a different way to browse the visual posts on Bluesky. Instead of viewing them in a timeline-like feed, similar to X, the app draws inspiration from photo-based social networks, like Instagram. The app, built by Berlin-based developer Sebastian Vogelsang, runs on the same underlying protocol that powers Bluesky, the AT Protocol (or atproto for short). That means it will have the same requirements around posting images and videos as you'd find on Bluesky directly. Originally, that meant support for posting up to four images and videos of one minute in length, but as of the Bluesky version 1.99 update released on March 10, users have been able to upload videos up to 3 minutes in length. Flashes is somewhat similar to Instagram, as it offers a scrollable feed of photos and videos, user profiles, and even photo filters to enhance your images when posting. Instead of having to start your network from scratch, Flashes' users are immediately tapped into the wider Bluesky community, which now has over 37 million users. Even if not all of Bluesky's users are on Flashes, their images and videos will be displayed in the app, as it essentially filters the Bluesky feed for visual content. When you post on Flashes, it creates a post that appears on Bluesky as well. (For that reason, you may want to make a secondary Bluesky account if you want to keep the two networks separate.) In addition, the app lets you browse your own Bluesky feeds and choose from Bluesky's over 50,000 custom feeds, including those that focus on particular topics — like art, birds, gardening, or cat pics, for example — or those dedicated to specific formats, like Bluesky's video feed. As you browse through the posts in Flashes, you can like, repost, and reply to them, just as you could on Bluesky itself. Those interactions will also appear in Bluesky's app, while Bluesky users' interactions will show up in Flashes. Photographers looking for a place to showcase their work will appreciate Flashes' 'Portfolio' feature. To toggle this setting on, you'll head to the 'Advanced' tab on your user profile, then tap on 'Flashes profile.' Here, there will be an option to enable Portfolio, which lets you curate which images should appear on your Flashes user profile. You can also customize your user profile further by opting to show or hide likes, lists, and feeds, or using other media filtering options. To use Flashes, you'll first need a Bluesky account. If you already have one, you can sign in with those credentials. If not, you can choose to sign up for a Bluesky account from within the Flashes app. The app defaults to setting up your account on the main Bluesky server, but more technical users can opt to set up a custom hosting provider instead. To create your account, you'll need to provide an email address, password, and date of birth, then accept the terms of use, which means you agree to Bluesky's Community Guidelines and Terms. Once signed in, you can immediately start browsing the images and videos shared on your Bluesky timeline or any other Bluesky feed, or post your own media. Vogelsang hopes that Flashes will help pull in more users to the Bluesky community, including those who aren't as interested in a Twitter/X-like experience. Instead, the app appeals more to people looking for open alternatives to Meta's Instagram. It's not the only app building in this space, however. Another app working on similar experiences is Pinksky. Meanwhile, users of Mastodon's social network may prefer Pixelfed, which uses the fediverse's ActivityPub protocol under the hood instead of Bluesky's atproto. Over time, Vogelsang wants to add more features to Flashes, like push notifications, support for multiple accounts, bookmarks, and more editing options. Plans to add subscriptions with premium features are in the works, which would help fund Android and web development. These paid tiers could also provide premium access to Vogelsang's third-party Bluesky app, Skeets, and his video-focused app, Bluescreen. Other planned features include iPad layout improvements, support for longer videos, posts that are only visible for a limited time (like Stories), albums, and batched image transfer from other platforms. Eventually, the developer would like to evolve Flashes to be its own AT Protocol-based platform, while still being compatible with Bluesky's network. The app is a free download from the App Store and requires iOS 17 or higher to run. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
TechCrunch
03-07-2025
- TechCrunch
Everything you need to know about Flashes, the Bluesky-based Instagram alternative
Flashes this year launched an Instagram alternative built on top of the Bluesky social network. Now available on the App Store, the app offers a different way to browse the visual posts on Bluesky. Instead of viewing them in a timeline-like feed, similar to X, the app draws inspiration from photo-based social networks, like Instagram. What you can post The app, built by Berlin-based developer Sebastian Vogelsang, runs on the same underlying protocol that powers Bluesky, the AT Protocol (or atproto for short). That means it will have the same requirements around posting images and videos as you'd find on Bluesky directly. Originally, that meant support for posting up to four images and videos of one minute in length, but as of the Bluesky version 1.99 update released on March 10, users have been able to upload videos up to 3 minutes in length. Image Credits:Flashes How Flashes is like Instagram — and how it's different Flashes is somewhat similar to Instagram, as it offers a scrollable feed of photos and videos, user profiles, and even photo filters to enhance your images when posting. Instead of having to start your network from scratch, Flashes' users are immediately tapped into the wider Bluesky community, which now has over 37 million users. Even if not all of Bluesky's users are on Flashes, their images and videos will be displayed in the app, as it essentially filters the Bluesky feed for visual content. When you post on Flashes, it creates a post that appears on Bluesky as well. (For that reason, you may want to make a secondary Bluesky account if you want to keep the two networks separate.) Image Credits:Flashes In addition, the app lets you browse your own Bluesky feeds and choose from Bluesky's over 50,000 custom feeds, including those that focus on particular topics — like art, birds, gardening, or cat pics, for example — or those dedicated to specific formats, like Bluesky's video feed. As you browse through the posts in Flashes, you can like, repost, and reply to them, just as you could on Bluesky itself. Those interactions will also appear in Bluesky's app, while Bluesky users' interactions will show up in Flashes. Photographers looking for a place to showcase their work will appreciate Flashes' 'Portfolio' feature. To toggle this setting on, you'll head to the 'Advanced' tab on your user profile, then tap on 'Flashes profile.' Here, there will be an option to enable Portfolio, which lets you curate which images should appear on your Flashes user profile. You can also customize your user profile further by opting to show or hide likes, lists, and feeds, or using other media filtering options. How to get started To use Flashes, you'll first need a Bluesky account. If you already have one, you can sign in with those credentials. If not, you can choose to sign up for a Bluesky account from within the Flashes app. The app defaults to setting up your account on the main Bluesky server, but more technical users can opt to set up a custom hosting provider instead. To create your account, you'll need to provide an email address, password, and date of birth, then accept the terms of use, which means you agree to Bluesky's Community Guidelines and Terms. Once signed in, you can immediately start browsing the images and videos shared on your Bluesky timeline or any other Bluesky feed, or post your own media. A subscription may be coming Vogelsang hopes that Flashes will help pull in more users to the Bluesky community, including those who aren't as interested in a Twitter/X-like experience. Instead, the app appeals more to people looking for open alternatives to Meta's Instagram. It's not the only app building in this space, however. Another app working on similar experiences is Pinksky. Meanwhile, users of Mastodon's social network may prefer Pixelfed, which uses the fediverse's ActivityPub protocol under the hood instead of Bluesky's atproto. Image Credits:Flashes Over time, Vogelsang wants to add more features to Flashes, like push notifications, support for multiple accounts, bookmarks, and more editing options. Plans to add subscriptions with premium features are in the works, which would help fund Android and web development. These paid tiers could also provide premium access to Vogelsang's third-party Bluesky app, Skeets, and his video-focused app, Bluescreen. Other planned features include iPad layout improvements, support for longer videos, posts that are only visible for a limited time (like Stories), albums, and batched image transfer from other platforms. Eventually, the developer would like to evolve Flashes to be its own AT Protocol-based platform, while still being compatible with Bluesky's network. The app is a free download from the App Store and requires iOS 17 or higher to run.
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Beyond Bluesky: These are the apps building social experiences on the AT Protocol
A year ago, Bluesky was opening up to the public and was known as one of the many X competitors that emerged after Elon Musk acquired the network formerly known as Twitter. Today, Bluesky's social network has grown to over 33 million users, while the technology it's built upon -- the AT Protocol (or ATProto for short) -- is being used to develop dozens more applications designed to work together as part of an open social web. The developers behind many of these apps attended the first conference dedicated to the AT Protocol, ATmosphere, held in Seattle last weekend. There, they learned what's ahead for ATProto, what challenges still need to be overcome, and what other things they'll need to think about as they build for this new social app ecosystem. Others attended online, watched the talks and presentations remotely, and participated in a growing Discord chat for community members. The ATProto community is working to rebuild Web 2.0, an earlier version of the social web that included social media websites, blogs, wikis, video- and photo-sharing sites, and other collaborative and hosted services. Except this time around, the apps are being built on open technology, not siloed into centralized services that tend to be operated by tech giants. Bluesky was the first of these services to emerge, but if the open social web movement has any staying power, it won't be the last. Below is a list of AT Protocol-based, consumer-facing apps that are either built on top of Bluesky or its underlying protocol, allowing users to take back control over their social networking experiences and personal data. Many of these are still in early development but showcase the potential for what's ahead in this expanding ecosystem. This is a work in progress! Apps are still being added. Feeling left out? Email sarahp@ (Note that this list is focused on consumer-facing apps people can use now, not small projects or dev tools.) Flashes is an Instagram alternative based on Berlin developer Sebastian Vogelsang's earlier app, Skeets, a Bluesky client. Launched publicly at the end of February, Flashes grabbed 30,000 downloads in its first 24 hours for offering a classic Instagram experience. Users can upload up to four photos or videos of up to 3 minutes in length, up from 1 minute previously, thanks to an update Bluesky released. The app offers photo filters, curated feeds from artists, custom feeds, and a Portfolio Mode where photographers can showcase their work. Spark (originally called Reelo) is a video-first app that is built on top of the AT Protocol, not just Bluesky. That allows the app to differentiate itself with a broader feature set that will include support for longer videos, filters, effects, a music library, and, eventually, livestreaming. Built by Seattle-based co-founders Victoria ('Tori') White and Reed Harmeyer, Skylight is built on top of Bluesky, offering features such as likes, follows, comments, and profile pages. Users can follow the app's active development on its co-founder's TikTok page as the team adds more features, including video support. The app is in testing on iOS and Android. Pinksky is another one of many apps trying to build an alternative to Instagram using ATProto. Built by developer Ramon Souza, the app is available on both iOS and Android and will focus mainly on photo-sharing, like classic Instagram did. The app offers similar features to Instagram, including user profiles, a feed of photos and videos, and a Stories section where posts remain visible for 24 hours. Bluescreen, also built by Vogelsang, is an upcoming app that will focus on videos posted to the Bluesky social network. The generically named Videos for Bluesky is another app built on top of Bluesky from 'MszPro,' aka Hoshida Takiyoshi, an indie Japanese developer. Like others, Videos for Bluesky lets you browse videos posted to the Bluesky social network by vertically scrolling in a TikTok-like user interface with familiar Like, Repost, and Reply buttons. Streamplace is the first livestreaming video service built on top of the AT Protocol. The service, which was recently used to livestream the ATmosphere conference in Seattle, offers a familiar streaming experience with support for high-quality videos, livestreaming, clips, and uploads. All the video content is also cryptographically signed by creators and respects their consent preferences. It is built on the same public key infrastructure as decentralized social networks. Founded by Eli Mallon, Streamplace was initially backed by his previous employer, Livepeer (another decentralized video platform), which operated a crypto treasury where funds are invested into other projects. That allowed him to get Streamplace off the ground. Now he sees potential in building out a technology that could appeal to creators like Twitch streamers, who would rather connect directly with fans through their own app or website instead of having to split their revenue with Twitch owner Amazon. Graze is a startup that lets you easily build, customize, publish, and manage Bluesky feeds and, eventually, monetize them with ads, sponsored posts, and subscriptions. The service is working with the Bluesky firehose, aka the Jetstream, which includes all the public posts on the social network. Flipboard's newest app, Surf, lets you build your own custom feeds from across the open web, including not only Bluesky but also Mastodon, RSS, and more. That means you can mix in news articles, blog posts, podcasts, and YouTube feeds into the custom feeds you build in Surf, alongside social posts. You can then use Surf to browse your feeds and others from the community across a range of topics and interests. Surf is still in private beta testing, but a signup list is available. A web-based, TweetDeck-like client for Bluesky, SkyFeed lets you create a dashboard of your feeds and profiles. However, most of its users come to SkyFeed because it also offers an easy way for even nondevelopers to build custom feeds based on lists or regexes. Germ's big idea is not just to offer an alternative to your phone messages, like Signal, but to build a social platform where you could discover and connect with others for any reason: marketplace exchanges, dating, social networking, and more. However, it would be one where you were in control of the data you were sharing and could stop that sharing at any time. Currently an end-to-end encrypted messenger that you can download from the App Store, Germ lets you build and share multiple identities. Plus, you can start chatting with someone on Germ even if they don't have the app installed, thanks to its use of Apple's App Clips technology. This allows you to have a lightweight app experience on your iPhone before you download the full application from the App Store. Germ was founded by writer and Stanford lecturer Tessa Brown (CEO) and former Apple privacy engineer Mark Xue (CTO). The team is now working on a Bluesky integration that would allow users to chat securely with their Bluesky friends. A peer-to-peer messaging app built on the AT Protocol, Roomy is similar in some ways to Discord but taps into open standards. For instance, ATProto is used for social discovery, while Automerge is used for peer-to-peer discovery. The app is backed by funding from Skyseed and is currently in alpha testing. You can log into Roomy with your Bluesky account and direct message other users to engage in chats. The messages are encrypted, but this is an experimental project and not audited, so be aware. Plus, some non-encrypted metadata shows who you were talking to but not the contents of those messages. (In other words, don't swap out Signal for Roomy yet.) Founded by former Stability AI engineer John Sabath, Dazzle offers a website that makes sense of the firehose of data from Bluesky and organizes it into categories, highlighting the trends across various topics. While much of the early discussion on Bluesky today leans political, Dazzle's site can help you find other topics and conversations taking place. Dazzle lets you give it instructions to tune the site to your own interests, too. You could ask it to show you a topic but without any posts featuring political discussions, for example. That means you could use Dazzle to show you local news, but not national politics, or you could keep your experience focused only on those who are posting with a positive sentiment. The idea is that you'll be able to switch between these different modes, generated using AI technology, without actually having to build custom feeds. Instead, you can just type in what you want to see (or not see) into a chat-like interface, then have Dazzle reconfigure itself to offer you posts that match whatever "vibe" you had just requested. Link aggregation service Sill lets you keep up with what everyone's talking about on alternative social media sites like Bluesky and Mastodon in one place. The service is similar to the older startup Nuzzel, which was acquired by Twitter as part of its deal for Scroll in 2021, then integrated into Twitter's app. Popular with news junkies, Nuzzel helped users keep track of what everyone on Twitter was talking about, reading, and resharing that day. Sill is also among the early adopters using Bluesky's OAuth for the AT Protocol instead of app passwords, making it easier to log in. Once connected, you'll see the most shared links across your services and the resulting conversations. A decentralized and federated link aggregator built on ATProto, Frontpage offers a simple interface for organizing and upvoting interesting posts and links being shared across the social network. It also supports commenting and notifications. Also by Vogelsang, Skeets is an alternative to Bluesky's main app that's optimized for accessibility and works well on both iPhone and iPad. Another TweetDeck-style web app, lets you fill your screen with columns featuring your Home feed, Notifications, custom feeds, lists, and more. The app also supports multiple accounts and the scheduling of posts. An event and RSVP management system, Smoke Signal is the Bluesky alternative to something like Eventbrite or Facebook Events. Built on top of ATProto, Smoke Signal supports OAuth, allowing users to discover communities and create and RSVP to events while also keeping hold of their own personal data. A Markdown blogging service for the AT Protocol, White Wind lets you use your ATProto account to log in, then write in Markdown. The service includes tools for uploading images, previewing your post, and more, with everything stored in your account's PDS (personal data service). When you post on Bluesky, those replies are included on your blog automatically. Largely a growth and analytics toolset for Bluesky, BlueSkyHunter also offers a way to tap into trends on the social network. One section in the app called Viral Posts showcases the more popular posts. This could help content planners pick up on trends and memes or find templates that are popular with other users that they could adopt. Fedica offers an online dashboard that allows you to compose and schedule posts across social networks, including Bluesky, Threads, X, Mastodon, and Pixelfed, among others. It also supports more traditional social apps like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and YouTube. Included in its plans are a variety of features for social listening, tools for tracking hashtags, keywords, and post reach, as well as those for follower analysis. This article originally appeared on TechCrunch at
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bluesky-based Instagram alternative Flashes launches publicly
Instagram alternative Flashes publicly launched its Bluesky-based photo-sharing app on the App Store this week, gaining nearly 30,000 downloads in its first 24 hours. The app offers a classic Instagram-like experience, allowing users to upload up to four photos and videos of up to a minute in length. Built by Berlin-based developer Sebastian Vogelsang, Flashes runs on the same underlying protocol that powers Bluesky, the AT Protocol (or atproto for short). Because it's based on Bluesky, the social networking startup with now over 32 million users, Flashes has access to a built-in audience. That is, all the posts you make on the Flashes app are compatible with Bluesky, meaning they can reach a wider audience beyond those using the Flashes app itself. While Flashes resembles Instagram in some aspects, it's more customizable. Instead of being trapped by an algorithm of the company's making, people on Flashes can access any of the more than 50,000 custom feeds on Bluesky that let people curate the network's content however they want. Plus, the app offers built-in feeds for both the top posts and latest posts across Bluesky's network. Other features are designed to cater to photographers looking to showcase their work. A "Portfolio Mode" lets you curate your profile by choosing what media will appear to visitors, for example. That way, you can feature your best photographs up front when people visit your profile. Posts created in Flashes itself can be edited using built-in photo filters, too, similar to Instagram. Another new feature focuses on curated feeds from artists. Flashes is kicking off this recent update with images from the Blacksky community. (Blacksky has been building out Bluesky tools for the Black community, including Blacksky feeds, its own moderation service, and other technical features.) Vogelsang says he's had some conversations with investors around funding and is open to opportunities. The app had reached 40,500 downloads as of Thursday and is one of several new efforts building on top of the Bluesky platform. Sign in to access your portfolio
