Here are the apps battling to be become the ‘TikTok for Bluesky’

TikTok’s potential U.S. ban has sparked a flurry of development within the open social web community. Several new applications are being built that could one day serve as a TikTok replacement for those who favor the open source, decentralized social network Bluesky and the technology that powers it, the AT Protocol.

Though the TikTok ban is currently on pause after President Trump gave parent company ByteDance a 75-day extension to negotiate a deal, the fact that the government was able to take down TikTok in the first place has users worried about its future. Meanwhile, creators and small businesses are stressed over how the loss of TikTok could affect their income.

Building a “TikTok for Bluesky”

One solution emerging to address the problem is Bluesky, a decentralized, open source social network where you can choose your own server and algorithm and adjust your moderation controls to your own needs. Plus, if you ever decide to change servers, you can move your account easily without losing your username, friends, or posts. You can even “run your own Bluesky” by setting up a personal data server or relay.

Designed for a future web, Bluesky allows people to take back control over their personal data and social activity from Big Tech — an effort also supported by the open social ecosystem called the fediverse, which runs on a different protocol and includes apps like Mastodon and others.

There are now several new projects underway to bring a video experience to Bluesky, whether that’s as a video-first Bluesky client or as an entirely new app built on the same AT Protocol that Bluesky uses.

Below are a few of the video apps in various stages of development that are focused on catering to Bluesky users.

Bluescreen

Built by Berlin developer Sebastian Vogelsang, who previously launched the Bluesky client app Skeets, Bluescreen is an upcoming app that will focus on videos posted to the Bluesky social network. Similar to his Instagram alternative Flashes, which is also in the works, Bluescreen is being built quickly thanks to Vogelsang’s ability to reuse some of the same code from Skeets.

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Like Flashes, Bluescreen would offer a video-first Bluesky experience, as it filters your current Bluesky feeds and lists for video content, while also allowing uploads. Because it’s built on Bluesky’s network, your videos will also appear on your profile on the official Bluesky app, and people’s comments and other engagement with those videos will show up in the Bluescreen app.

Vogelsang built his first prototype of Bluesky in just under two hours, he says, and has since been posting sneak peeks of the app on the Bluescreen account on Bluesky as it’s further refined.

The app features a set of interaction buttons similar to what TikTok has, including Likes, Comments, Saves/Bookmarks, and more.

Reelo

Reelo represents a larger effort at building a TikTok-like app that appeals to Bluesky users, but unlike other efforts, it’s not just a layer or filter on top of Bluesky’s existing social network. Instead, Reelo is developing its own stand-alone app on the AT Protocol. That means Reelo will benefit from the same sort of transparency and control over your data as on Bluesky, but it will be free of the limitations of building on top of Bluesky directly.

This allows Reelo to support more features, including longer videos of up to three minutes, special effects, a music and sounds library, and later, livestreaming. Users will be able to directly post their video content on the app. As the company explains in a post on Bluesky, this makes for a “richer, more tailored video experience” compared with other apps built on Bluesky, like rival Skylight, for example.

However, building its own app on AT Protocol instead of creating an app that’s just a layer on Bluesky itself means a longer development timeline. Reelo expects to have the front end and back end completed by the end of February with a launch on March 20, after an initial testing period.

Like most of the apps in development, Reelo also looks a lot like TikTok, with a vertical video feed and ways to like, comment, and share on the right-hand side of the screen.

Skylight

The team behind Skylight has been working to build a TikTok alternative after Mark Cuban said he was interested in backing potential startups in this space.

The team behind the app includes Seattle-based co-founders Victoria (“Tori”) White, who has a background in building custom websites and apps, and React developer Reed Harmeyer. The founders are marketing Skylight as an “AT Protocol TikTok,” which is technically correct because Bluesky itself runs on AT Protocol.

However, by building Skylight as a layer on top of the existing Bluesky platform, the app runs into limitations.

Bluesky’s social network limits videos to up to 60 seconds in length and 50MB in size. In other words, if Skylight wants to add support for longer videos or other features, it would need to wait for Bluesky to change its own guidelines or develop its own dedicated app built on AT Protocol. (Skylight’s founders declined an interview, so it’s not clear what their long-term roadmap looks like.)

Skylight does have an advantage of sorts, as its video-focused app is already in beta testing on iOS and Android, allowing early adopters to try it out ahead of its public release.

App features include likes, follows, comments, and profile pages. Video uploads are still in the works.

Videos for Bluesky

Recently launched on the App Store, the generically named Videos for Bluesky is another app built on top of Bluesky itself. This new app comes courtesy of “MszPro,” aka Hoshida Takiyoshi, an indie Japanese developer.

Takiyoshi has always loved experimenting, having built around 60 apps to date, including the SoraSNS app offering combined access to decentralized networks Mastodon, Bluesky, Misskey, and Firefish.

Like some of the others, Videos for Bluesky lets you browse videos posted to the Bluesky social network by vertically scrolling in a TikTok-like user interface with familiar Like, Repost, and Reply buttons.

The app also features user profiles, built-in search, follow buttons, and its own local “For You” timeline featuring trending videos as well as ways to view other videos from people you follow or any custom feeds. In addition, the app is designed with an algorithm that will learn your interests over time, the developer says.

Its recent updates have added support for other features like notifications and a new post composer focused on video uploads, among other things.

With a one-time “Pro” unlock in-app purchase, users can access post analysis information and watch videos from a custom timeline.

Soon, it will add NSFW filtering, a video recorder, style filters, downloads, bookmarks, and more.

The Videos for Bluesky app is iOS-only, but if there’s enough user demand, the developer will consider building an Android version.

“Bluesky is still a relatively new platform, but its well-documented protocol makes it easy for indie developers like myself to integrate new features,” Hoshida notes. “Unlike centralized social media, Bluesky’s API doesn’t require app makers to register for a developer account, which helps more people jump in and start building right away. And of course, since it is open source, developers can easily look into the code to see how to interact with various API features.”

Later, the developer plans to work on other social apps, including one for Bluesky focused on photos and a news reader for the fediverse.

Flipboard’s Surf

While Flipboard’s newest app Surf is more than just a video aggregator, the app recently added a video feed of its own after Bluesky added its custom video feed.

Surf initially focused on video posts from Bluesky’s trending video feed and others that included the hashtag #SkyTok,” but it aims to soon personalize the feed to the end user in future developments. The latter would differentiate it from Bluesky’s video feed and make it more interesting to each individual user.

Bluesky’s video feed is available in the Surf app, where people can also build their own custom feeds to track all sorts of posts across the open social web, including Bluesky, Mastodon, RSS, and more.

Surf is still in private beta testing, but a signup list is available for people who are interested.

Canceled: BlueSky Reels

On 2/1/24, Merry said he was abandoning the project. The original information is below:

BlueSky Reels (its website is not yet live) is another project that sees the potential for a TikTok replacement in the market. Developed by Craig Merry, the client will support video only, as well as basic user interactions. Over time, support for other personal data servers besides Bluesky’s own could be included.

The app’s content comes from Bluesky itself, though the goal is to add more features that Bluesky doesn’t have.

“My main goal is to build an easy way for people to create curated feeds — with content that can be moderated directly — much like moderation in Reddit,” Merry explains.

Updated after publication to reference which projects have since been canceled.