The Instagram-like photo/video sharing app for Bluesky has begun open beta testing (iOS TestFlight) with available slots being quickly filled. The initial beta release was on the 5th with over 3000 signups before a technical issue on TestFlight prevented further access. This was eventually resolved by Apple engineers. There currently is no Android version (the developers main expertise is iOS so he decided to focus on this first, but plans for an Android release in the future).
The app is built on the same AT Protocol that powers Bluesky (the developer was able to create this application fairly quickly since they wrote a client for Bluesky called Skeets which the media sharing related parts are derived from for Flashes).
The app is for the time being, very much tied to Bluesky so if you use the same account, the main difference is obviously photo/video focused (and will also be posted to Bluesky). Likes and comments will also be the same. In short, it currently is acting like an aggregator of that media on Bluesky (the developer mentions the same in that until there is enough content posted via Flashes, the site would look empty without such a feed from your Bluesky account). Similarly, there is currently no way to have separate user follows/unfollows (which is why the developer suggested creating a new account to test Flashes) until he later separates the app from Bluesky.
Myself, I tried it out and it’s like an Instagram-light with some base filters, the ability to add alt-text to the media, description, permissions on who can reply, and language. Like Bluesky, there is no way to set ones account or posts as private (since large parts of what the AT Protocol includes for activity is public). One thing that I hope isn’t implemented is a Stories like feature. I’m not a fan of this sort of ephemeral content on the user facing end (I know the content creator can have them archived for their memories) just to try to get people constantly engaged (before those stories expire). Twitch implemented a similar feature (initially for mobile but brought it over to the web browser); I rarely look at them now.
One “annoying” aspect for me is the Discover feed (algorithm generated); it was unsurprisingly filled with a lot of media with a political angle. For the most part, I’ve stayed away from social media platforms (using them just barely). For February though, I wanted to try to use Bluesky daily for the entire month, but just a little over a week in, I’m ready to give it up. Over on Bluesky, my Discover feed has those type of posts much more spreadout where it’s more tolerable (accounts that I end up recognizing as being majority politics, I end up muting). I don’t really interact with those type of postings/accounts but it seems the only way I can curate that is by muting those accounts (not something I want to wholesale do though).
It’s not that I’m tuned out completely from that (I keep tabs at the end of the week), but there is a point where everything being political, gets old quickly (I personally prefer NOT to see it every other post; I seriously don’t know how people can be constantly immersed with politics for hours everyday; it’s not good for ones mental health). There is currently no quick way to curate that stuff either unlike on Bluesky where you can choose to mute or block those accounts from the post (it’s extra steps on Flashes where you need to tap onto the account first, tap the “…”, and then select mute or block account). For just this short period of time where I was engaged in the politics part, I felt this urgent need to begin another round of unplugging/not being online at all after the February 5th protest. Digressing…
Switching to the Trending feed was a much better experience (Timeline is pretty much the chronological feed) and there is also the Followers feed from the accounts you actually follow. For an initial beta release, it is functionally a decent replacement for Instagram with a few caveats including video upload/recording limits (I believe 1 minute maximum). On Instagram, if a video upload/recording (reel) is over a minute, only that can be part of a posting (if you want that post to be mixed media like photos and videos, the video needs to be under a minute). For most folks, this probably isn’t a huge issue (since most reel makers tend to shoot for that 1 minute limit anyway). Speaking of reels, I hope that doesn’t become the dominant use case for Flashes. It’s nice to just look through a feed of actual photos for a change.
I believe that once it is truly a separate media sharing experience, more from Instagram will take a look at moving over. Maybe an import function (for postings) might be an attractive option (still haven’t been able to try this on Pixelfed since the Instagram import is still disabled on the main server). Pixelfed is an ActivityPub based photo/video sharing site (that also serves to be an alternative to Instagram). Pixelfed did got some looks shortly after Zuckerberg’s announcements about ending fact checking where the usage spiked for a short period of time. The critical mass failed to really materialize though since actual usage on the main server over the past month seems to have dropped off by just looking at the Discover feed.
Regardless, having options like this in both federated universes are better than nothing since the objective is to get off of those oligarch led platforms like Instagram/Threads and especially Twitter/X where the intention is to allow “bad actors” to serve up disinformation/propaganda (additionally, your personal information and usage patterns are what they are also after along with advertisements).
