Anyone looking for an Instagram alternative may have the right candidate Flashingthe recently launched app built on Bluesky, seems to get all the important basics right. Technically, Flash launched on the App Store on February 24, but released a series of updates a few days after its release, making the app easier to recommend.
If you remember Instagram before Meta turned it into a Facebook alternative, you’ll have the basics of flash. This is an app for sharing photos and videos with some bluesy wrinkles like Multiple custom feeds Select instead of the default option driven by Meta algorithm.
When you turn on the flash for the first time, you will be prompted to log in with your Bluesky account or create a new account dedicated to the flash. If you use an existing account, the app will essentially repackage images and video posts from the people you are currently following. This setting is the opposite: any posts you make on the flash will also appear in a text-centric blues feed.
The app itself has multiple tabs, with a home page tab for your feed, a search tab where you can search for posts and view trending topics, a dedicated tab for creating new posts, and a notification tab with all your blues notifications and profile tabs. The flash contains some filters for applying photos, as well as some custom feeds that can be used, but otherwise there is little customization. This is actually an image and video version of the Blues. However, this brings some annoying shortcomings. If you receive a lot of Bluesky notifications, you will now get twice, once into the Bluesky app, once blinking. If you delete your account from one app, it will also be removed from another app.
Build a more customizable portable version of the social media version that won’t lock you onto a platform In agreement and mastodon-like applications and Thread Trying to do with ActivityPub. It is not clear whether a standard will become the default value, but the Blues have been working hard. App hit 20 million users In November 2024, it caused drama Extend to moderate effortand then pass 30 million users In January 2025. The flash design means that all these new blues accounts are also potential flash users.
