Instagram various Flashes publicly launched its Bluesky-based photo-sharing app on the App Store this week, gaining practically 30,000 downloads in its first 24 hours. The app provides a basic Instagram-like expertise, permitting customers to add as much as 4 images and movies of as much as a minute in size.
Constructed by Berlin-based developer Sebastian Vogelsang, Flashes runs on the identical underlying protocol that powers Bluesky, the AT Protocol (or atproto for brief).
As a result of it’s based mostly on Bluesky, the social networking startup with now over 32 million customers, Flashes has entry to a built-in viewers. That’s, all of the posts you make on the Flashes app are suitable with Bluesky, which means they’ll attain a wider viewers past these utilizing the Flashes app itself.
Whereas Flashes resembles Instagram in some points, it’s extra customizable.
As an alternative of being trapped by an algorithm of the corporate’s making, individuals on Flashes can entry any of the greater than 50,000 customized feeds on Bluesky that permit individuals curate the community’s content material nevertheless they need. Plus, the app provides built-in feeds for each the highest posts and newest posts throughout Bluesky’s community.
Different options are designed to cater to photographers seeking to showcase their work.
A “Portfolio Mode” helps you to curate your profile by selecting what media will seem to guests, for instance. That method, you may function your finest pictures up entrance when individuals go to your profile.
Posts created in Flashes itself may be edited utilizing built-in photograph filters, too, just like Instagram.
One other new function focuses on curated feeds from artists.
Flashes is kicking off this current replace with photographs from the Blacksky neighborhood. (Blacksky has been constructing out Bluesky instruments for the Black neighborhood, together with Blacksky feeds, its own moderation service, and different technical options.)
Vogelsang says he’s had some conversations with buyers round funding and is open to alternatives. The app had reached 40,500 downloads as of Thursday and is one in every of a number of new efforts constructing on high of the Bluesky platform.