There’s a brand new Bluesky app within the works from a well-liked developer of iOS purposes. Tapbots, the corporate behind the favored Mastodon shopper Ivory, born out of its earlier efforts with Tweetbot (RIP), is readying a brand new app referred to as Phoenix, designed for Bluesky’s rising social community of over 32 million customers.
In a publish on Bluesky, the corporate shared its web site teasing the brand new app, which is anticipated to launch someday later this summer time.
On its website, Tapbots clarified that its work on a Bluesky shopper doesn’t imply it’s abandoning its efforts within the fediverse, also referred to as the open social net. Nevertheless, Ivory’s growth will quickly sluggish as the brand new efforts are underway.
Ivory, which launched in 2023, introduced again Tweetbot’s feel and appear and several other of its options to supply a substitute for Mastodon’s official social app, an open supply, decentralized various to bigger platforms like X. As a federated app, Ivory is built-in with ActivityPub, the protocol powering a bunch of federated social apps together with not solely Mastodon, but additionally PeerTube, Pixelfed, Meta’s Threads, Flipboard, and others.
Bluesky, in the meantime, is constructed on a unique protocol, the AT Protocol (or atproto for brief).
Since Twitter’s acquisition by Elon Musk and its transformation into X, many former Twitter customers have moved on to different networks, together with Mastodon and Bluesky. For an indie operation like Tapbots, that meant its buyer base was cut up between two companies, making it tougher to generate income with only one app.
“… For us to proceed to thrive as an organization, we should assist each,” Tapbots shared on its web site. “Sadly, we are able to’t survive on Mastodon alone.”
The corporate additionally explains that it determined to launch a devoted app for Bluesky customers as an alternative of mixing the 2 networks into one app as a result of this might provide customers a greater expertise. Those that wish to keep a presence on each social networks will be capable of benefit from a deliberate cross-posting function, it added.
Sadly for Mastodon customers, work on Ivory might want to sluggish because the group works to launch Phoenix.
“It might be a lie if we mentioned Ivory can be in full growth whereas we are attempting to get Phoenix up and working,” the web site explains. “Nevertheless, we didn’t wish to begin Phoenix growth till after we launched Ivory v2.3. As soon as Phoenix is out the door, growth will occur concurrently and each apps will get all the large enhancements we now have deliberate all through the apps.”
Information of Phoenix’s launch was first reported by MacStories.
Although the corporate has not introduced Phoenix’s monetization technique, it’ll seemingly be a subscription mannequin just like Ivory’s — a free app with in-app purchases for entry to premium options. At present, Ivory is $1.99 monthly or $14.99 per 12 months.
Phoenix will enter a restricted public alpha section forward of its summer time 2025 launch.
