Bluesky finally lets users look at posts without logging in

Decentralized social network and Twitter rival Bluesky is finally letting users look at posts on its platform without logging in. People still need an invite to create an account and start posting but can read posts through a link.

This move will also let publishers link to or embed Bluesky posts in blogs. Plus, users can share them in individual or group chats.

Bluesky users can toggle on a setting through Settings > Moderation > Logged-out visibility to stop the social network from showing their posts for logged-out users. However, that limit only applies to Bluesky’s website and own app. The company said other third-party clients might not respect the toggle and show your posts anyway. So if you want to not share posts with a wider audience, you will need to make your profile private.

Bluesky’s logged out visibility settings applies to its own app and website Image Credits: Bluesky

In a blog post,  the company’s CEO Jay Graber also unveiled a new butterfly emoji logo replacing the generic logo of well… a blue sky with clouds.

“Early on, we noticed that people were organically using the butterfly emoji ? to indicate their Bluesky handles,” Graber said “We loved it, and adopted it as it spread. The butterfly speaks to our mission of transforming social media into something new.”

This year, Bluesky launched its iOS and Android apps and hit 2 million users. The social network also rolled out different moderation tools after facing criticism about the type of content it allowed on the platform. While Bluesky is currently the only instance on the AT Protocol, it is aiming for federation “early next year.” That means we might see more servers and instances compatible with Bluesky with their own set of rules.

Bluesky’s announcement comes at a time when Meta’s Threads has started experimenting with ActivityPub integration. After Meta’s announcement earlier this month, Instagram head Adam Mosseri and other folks from the Threads team have started making their accounts and posts visible on Mastodon and other compatible apps.