Blinks This year began an alternative to Instagram based on the top of the Bluesky Social Network. Now available on the App Store, the app offers a different way to browse visual positions in Bluesky. Instead of seeing them in a timetable -like flow, the application draws inspiration from social networks based on photographic, such as Instagram.
What can you post
The application, built by the Berlin -based developer Sebastian vogelsangruns with the same underlying protocol that dominates bluesky, AT protocol (or Incomplete for a short period of time). This means that it will have the same requirements around the removal of images and videos, as you will find in bluesky directly.
Initially, this meant support for secondment to four images and videos of one minute long but from the Update bluesky version 1.99 Released on March 10, users were able to upload videos for up to three minutes.
How are the flashes like Instagram – and how is it different
Flashhes is somewhat similar to Instagram as it offers a flow of photos and videos, user profiles and even photo filters to improve your images when posting.
Instead of having to start your network from zero, flashing users are immediately placed in the wider Bluesky community, which is over now 37 million users. Even if not all Bluesky users are blinking, their images and videos will appear in the application, as it essentially filters Bluesky Feed for visual content.
When publishing in flashes, it creates a place that also appears in Bluesky. (For this reason, you may want to create a secondary bluesky account if you want to keep the two networks separate.)
In addition, the application allows you to browse your bluesky flows and choose from over 50,000 customized bluesky flows, including those focusing on specific issues – such as art, birds, gardening or cat photographs, or those who spend on specific forms, such as Bluesky.
As you browse through the seats in flashes, you can like, repost and answer them, just as you can in Bluesky. These interactions will also appear in the application of Bluesky, while the interactions of Bluesky users will appear in flashes.
Photographers looking for a place to present their work will appreciate Flashhes’s “portfolio”.
To change this setting, you will head to the “Advanced” tab on your user profile, and then click on “Profile Flashhes”. Here, there will be an option to activate the portfolio, which allows you to clean which images should be displayed on the user profile blinking.
You can also further customize your user profile by choosing to display or hide likes, lists and supplies or using other media filter options.
How to start
To use flashes, you will first need a bluesky account. If you already have one, you can log in with these credentials.
If not, you can choose to sign up for a bluesky account from the flashes app. The default application to set up your account on your Bluesky Main Server, Bluesky.Social, but more technical users can choose to create a custom hosting provider.
To create your account, you need to give an email address, password and date of birth, and then accept the terms of use, which means you agree to the Bluesky Community instructions and terms.
Once you log in, you can immediately start browsing the pictures and videos shared on your bluesky schedule or any other bluesky flow or post your own media.
A subscription can come
Vogelsang hopes that flashes will help draw more users in the Bluesky community, including those who are not so interested in an experience -like experience. Instead, the application is more aimed at people looking for open alternatives on Meta’s Instagram.
However, it is not the only application building in this area. Another application that works in similar experiences is Pinksky. Meanwhile, users of Mastodon’s social network may prefer Melotomawhich uses Fediverse’s ActivityPub protocol under the hood instead of Bluesky’s Atproto.
Over time, Vogelsang wants to add more features to flashes, such as Push notifications, support for many accounts, bookmarks and more processing options.
Plans to add premium subscriptions are in the projects that would help fund Android and Web Development. These ranks paid could also provide access to the premium to the third party application of Vogelsang, Slopingand the app that focuses on the video, Sharp.
Other scheduled features include iPad layout improvements, larger videos support, posts that are visible only for a limited time (such as stories), albums and images transfer from other platforms. Ultimately, the work owner would like to evolve the flashes to be his own protocol -based platform, while still compatible with the Bluesky network.
The app is free download from the App Store and requires iOS 17 or higher to run.
