Jack Dorsey’s Decentralized Twitter Alternative Bluesky Launches on Apple Store

BlueSky, a decentralized social media platform alternative to Twitter founded by Jack Dorsey, has launched on Apple Store on an invite-only version.

The app – which resembles Elon Musk’s newly acquired social media giant – appeared in the app Store on February 17, according to a report by TechCrunch, and has since recorded more than 2,000 downloads. Its Google Play version is yet to be available for Android users.

The striking resemblance between Bluesky and Twitter is notable, the latter having been acquired by Tesla CEO Elon Musk last year for $44 billion. The app’s interface features, including the handles, followers, posts, and the reply option, resemble that of its predecessor.

Bluesky lets users create posts of up to 265 characters, slightly different from Twitter’s 280. Instead of the feed statement ‘What’s happening’ for Twitter, that of the app is ‘What’s up.’ On Bluesky, one can share, mute, and block accounts, with more advanced tools expected to be added, according to TechCrunch.

A decentralized network free from government interferences

The Dorsey-backed microblogging platform differentiates itself with the proposition to have user data free from third parties like governments or big corporations. Bluesky is based on a decentralized social media protocol, the Authenticated Transport (AT), allowing users to interact with different apps in a decentralized platform.

Dorsey introduced Bluesky in December 2019 as a separate platform from Twitter. The first version of the AT protocol came out in May 2021, and later the beta testing trials.

Meanwhile, Twitter has been working on payment features for its app with hints of the possibility of including crypto payments on the social media platform. A report published by the Financial Times at the beginning of the year said that Twitter could add fiat currency payment options like P2P transactions, savings accounts, and debit cards.

The step has driven enthusiasm among the crypto community that the company could increase the use cases of digital assets, including Musk’s favourite crypto Doge. Considering the increased competition after the launch of Bluesky, how it plays out remains to be seen.