Bluesky customers on Android now have entry to a brand new app that works extra like Instagram than X. On Tuesday, an app known as Pinksky launched an Android model of its photo-centric social networking expertise constructed on high of Bluesky.
The app is now one in all many making an attempt to courtroom former Instagram customers by providing an analogous person interface to Meta’s app, however one which’s constructed on open expertise. Most of the newcomers on this area, like Pinksky, are constructing on high of the prevailing social community Bluesky, permitting them to faucet into customers’ social connections and feeds.
Nevertheless, this additionally limits the apps to Bluesky’s personal constraints of as much as 4 photographs per submit and movies of as much as one minute in size.
Pinksky’s app was constructed by developer Ramon Souza, a full-stack developer whose work has largely targeted on working with internet applied sciences.
He tells TechCrunch that he was impressed to construct Pinksky having already been drawn to open applied sciences like ActivityPub (the protocol powering Mastodon), and one other open social protocol Nostr. Bluesky, in the meantime, leverages the newer AT Protocol (or atproto), which is presently fostering a wave of experimentation from the indie developer neighborhood.
Nevertheless, whereas Pinksky appears and feels so much like Instagram, Souza believes the apps will attain completely different audiences.
“There are several user segments within Instagram: those who watch a lot of reels, those who follow content creators, and those who want to connect with friends,” he explains, in response to a query from TechCrunch. “I think Pinksky fits into the third segment — focused more on photos and connections rather than viral and repetitive content.”
In different phrases, it’s extra of a traditional, photo-sharing-focused Instagram expertise.
The app was beforehand out there for iOS the place it gives a well-recognized Instagram-like look, which incorporates person profiles with photographs, a feed of photographs and movies, and a Tales part, the place posts stay seen for under 24 hours. Customers can have interaction with posts by feedback and liking them, which syncs again to Bluesky’s consumer app, too.
As a result of it’s constructed on high of Bluesky, customers’ social networks will already be out there once they log into the app for the primary time — presuming they’ve a Bluesky account.
For now, the app is simply an experiment, however Souza says that would change if there’s additional curiosity. As an example, he’d contemplate integration with different applied sciences, like Mastodon, Pixelfed, or Nostr, or working his personal occasion. However as he’s presently protecting the prices of Pinksky, expansions would possible have to contain some kind of enterprise mannequin — like paying for premium options.
Pinksky competes with different apps being constructed on this area, together with Flashes, Pixelfed, Reelo, and others.
