This year, Flashes introduced an Instagram alternative that was based on the Bluesky social network. The app, which is currently accessible on the App Store, provides an alternative method of browsing Bluesky’s visual posts. The app is inspired by photo-based social networks like Instagram rather than X, which displays them in a timeline-like feed.
What you can post
The AT Protocol, often known as ATProto, is the underlying protocol that enables Bluesky. Sebastian Vogelsang, a developer based in Berlin, created the app. This implies that the guidelines for uploading photos and videos will be the same as those found on Bluesky itself. Before the March 10 release of Bluesky version 1.99, users could only submit up to four photos and one-minute videos. However, beginning March 10, users can now upload videos up to three minutes long.
How Instagram and Flashes are similar and different
Because it provides a scrollable feed of photos and videos, user profiles, and even photo filters to improve your photos when posting, Flashes is somewhat comparable to Instagram.
Users of Flashes are instantly connected to the larger Bluesky community, which currently has over 37 million users, eliminating the need to build your network from scratch.
The app simply filters the Bluesky feed for visual content, so even if not all of its members are on Flashes, their photos and videos will be shown.
When you publish something on Flashes, it also makes an appearance on Bluesky. (If you wish to keep the two networks apart, you might want to create a backup Bluesky account.)
The app also enables you to browse your own Bluesky feeds and select from Bluesky’s more than 50,000 custom feeds, including ones that are dedicated to certain formats, such as Bluesky’s video feed, or specific topics, such as art, birds, gardening, or cat pictures.
Similar to Bluesky, you can like, repost, and respond to postings as you browse through them in Flashes. While Bluesky users’ interactions will be displayed in Flashes, those interactions will also be visible in Bluesky’s app.
Flashes’ “Portfolio” feature will be useful to photographers who are searching for a platform to display their work.
Toggle this setting by going to your user profile’s “Advanced” tab and tapping on “Flashes profile.” You can choose which photos should be featured on your Flashes user profile by selecting the Portfolio option here.
By choosing to show or hide likes, lists, and feeds, as well as using additional media filtering options, you can further personalize your user profile.
How to start
You must have a Bluesky account to use Flashes. You can use those credentials to log in if you already have one.
Otherwise, you have the option to create a Bluesky account directly from the Flashes app. Technical users can choose to set up a custom hosting provider instead of the app’s default configuration of their account on bluesky.social, the main Bluesky server.
You must enter your email address, password, and birthdate to establish your account. Once you have accepted the terms of use, you are agreeing to Bluesky’s Community Guidelines and Terms.
After logging in, you can publish your own media or browse the photos and videos that have been shared on your Bluesky timeline or any other Bluesky feed.
A subscription may be coming
According to Vogelsang, Flashes will attract more people to the Bluesky community, even those who aren’t as interested in an experience akin to Twitter or X. Rather, the app is more appealing to users who are searching for open alternatives to Instagram.
But it’s not the only app development in this field. Pinksky is another app that works on comparable experiences. In the meanwhile, users of Mastodon’s social network might favor Pixelfed, which is powered by the ActivityPub protocol from the fediverse rather than Bluesky’s ATProto.
Vogelsang hopes to expand Flashes’ features over time by including push notifications, bookmarking, multi-account support, and additional editing options.
There are plans to introduce premium feature subscriptions that will help in funding web and Android development. Premium access to Vogelsang’s video-focused app, Bluescreen, and his third-party Bluesky app, Skeets, may also be available through these paid tiers.
Improvements to the iPad layout, support for longer videos, time-limited posts (like Stories), albums, and batched image transfer from other platforms are among the additional enhancements that are planned. The developer hopes to eventually transform Flashes into a platform based on the AT Protocol that is compatible with Bluesky’s network.
The app requires iOS 17 or later to function and can be downloaded for free from the App Store.