Bluesky Social

A text-first network in the Twitter mould, run by a public benefit company on an open protocol and carrying no advertising. Much of Bluesky's design is about handing control of the feed back to the reader.

The Following feed shows accounts you follow in order, and Discover offers new ones and trends. Beyond those, custom feeds built by anyone number in the thousands, covering art, news, science, pets, investing and fandom. Moderation tools let you mute words, hide topics and decide who may reply. Starter Packs bundle accounts to follow in one tap, and since identity lives on the protocol, an account can move to other apps.

Morning scroll through the Following feed, which is chronological and therefore finite, then a switch to a custom feed for a particular interest, say a science feed or one for a sport. Posting is short text with images, and replies can be restricted to followers or a named group when a topic looks likely to attract strangers.

New users typically start with a Starter Pack from someone they trust, which fills the timeline instantly. Over time the habit is pinning three or four feeds and ignoring Discover. Muting a word for a week during a news cycle is routine.

People leaving other networks search for it because it feels familiar but has no ads and lets them shape their own feeds. The portable identity matters to a smaller, technically minded group. The 3.9 rating from over ten thousand reviewers is lower than the other social apps here, and likely reflects growing pains and the politics that follow any new network.

The five screenshots presumably show the timeline, a feed picker, the composer and the moderation settings. Visually it's close to the microblogging template everyone knows: a column of posts with avatars, a bottom tab bar and a blue accent, which is deliberate for a Social app courting migrants. The feed and moderation screens are where it looks different from the original.

Version 1.137.0 is an enormous minor-version count, which indicates very frequent releases, probably weekly or faster. Bluesky PBLLC is the public benefit company running the network. Ten-thousand-plus ratings is modest, but an open protocol means the app isn't the only client. The page links the App Store only. No release dates are given, but the version cadence speaks for itself.

Rated 17+ and free, with no ads and no subscription or in-app purchases mentioned in the description. An account on the network is required, and it can be taken along to any other app on the same protocol. A connection is needed throughout. Moderation is partly in your hands through filters and mutes, so expect to configure it. Regional availability, storage size and data policy aren't covered in the listing.