We haven’t heard much from Twitter founder Jack Dorsey since Elon Musk took over the service, but that doesn’t mean the man is hiding. Reporting now among others Engadget that Dorsey launched its new Twitter competitor.

Bluesky Social, as the app is called, is available in closed beta in the App Store – currently only for guest users. Can also register on a waiting list to test the beta version before it becomes publicly available to everyone.

Decentralized protocol

The Bluesky Project was announced in 2019 by Jack Dorsey as an initiative to develop a decentralized social networking protocol. The initiative was then a side project to Twitter, but is now a separate project that may become a competitor to Twitter itself.

The initiative is based on a new protocol called the AT protocol (Authenticated Transfer Protocol), which was unveiled in October last year.

The protocol is described as a “federated” network that will facilitate a more open Internet where your online profile does not belong to individual players, but rather can be moved freely between different providers without losing data.

Additionally, the protocol offers what the company calls an “open algorithm mode,” which means users have a greater degree of control over the algorithms. High performance must also be a priority, so that loading times are kept to a minimum.

The website Tech Crunch are among those who tested the recently launched Bluesky app, and they describe it as a “Twitter-like” experience that still has relatively limited functionality.

Received reviews

According to TechCrunch, the app has a simple user interface where you can click a button to create a 256-character message, which can include images. You can also search for and follow individuals, and user profiles contain much the same type of information as Twitter profiles.

The app also has its own version of “retweets” and offers standard features such as the ability to like posts, block and reply to other people’s posts. Direct messages are not yet possible.

The project received some criticism from other actors. Mastodon, which describes itself as an open and decentralized platform, came up with a sarcastic reply on Jack Dorsey’s announcement of the initiative in 2019. Mastodon referred to Activitypubthe decentralized social network protocol on which the service is based, hinting that the technology already exists.

Similar to the idea behind Bluesky, Mastodon works with independent servers and the ability to talk to all other platforms that implement the same protocol.

It remains to be seen whether the Bluesky application will be a success and when it will be available for all users.