Anybody searching for an alternative choice to Instagram may need an acceptable candidate in Flashes, a just lately launched app constructed on Bluesky that appears to get all of the vital fundamentals proper. Flashes technically launched on the App Retailer on February 24, however a collection of updates launched within the days after launch have made the app a lot simpler to advocate.
If you happen to bear in mind an Instagram earlier than Meta turned it into its Fb substitute, you might have the essential gist of what Flashes is. It is an app for sharing images and movies, with some Bluesky-flavored wrinkles, like multiple custom feeds to select from as a substitute of Meta’s algorithm-driven default possibility.
If you first open Flashes you may be prompted to login with a Bluesky account or create a brand new one to make use of completely with Flashes. If you happen to use your present account, the app basically repackages picture and video posts from whoever you are at the moment following into an Instagram-style feed. This setup additionally works in reverse: Any submit you placed on Flashes may also present up in your regular text-focused Bluesky feed.
The app itself options a number of tabs, with a house tab to your feeds, a search tab the place you possibly can seek for posts and think about trending matters, a devoted tab for creating new posts, a notifications tab that options your whole Bluesky notifications and a profile tab. Flashes consists of some filters to use to your images, together with some customized feeds that you should utilize if you’d like, however in any other case customizations are minimal. It is actually a picture and video-focused model of Bluesky. That comes with some annoying drawbacks, although. If you happen to get a variety of Bluesky notifications, you may now get them twice, as soon as within the Bluesky app and as soon as in Flashes. If you happen to delete your account from one app, it can even be deleted from the opposite.
Constructing a extra customizable, transportable model of social media that does not lock you to at least one platform is a giant a part of Bluesky’s objective with the AT Protocol and what apps like Mastodon and Threads are attempting to do with ActivityPub. It isn’t clear if one normal goes to grow to be the default, however Bluesky has been choosing up momentum. The app hit 20 million users in November 2024, prompting a dramatic expansion to its moderation efforts, after which handed 30 million users in January 2025. Flashes design means all of these new Bluesky accounts are potential Flashes customers, too.
This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/flashes-an-instagram-alternative-based-on-bluesky-is-available-for-iphones-now-205946754.html?src=rss
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