Watch Out, Elon Musk! Jack Dorsey-Backed Twitter Rival Out On Apple's App Store

Backed by Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, Bluesky inches closer to public release with an App Store arrival. 

What Happened: Bluesky, the Twitter alternative backed by Dorsey, has started giving access through an invite-only beta to Apple Inc. AAPL users. 

With Bluesky arriving on App Store, albeit on a limited basis, the social media platform’s public launch could likely happen sooner than anticipated, reported TechCrunch. 

See Also: From The Floor To The Door: Elon Musk Reportedly Fires Twitter’s ‘Sleeping Bag Lady’ In Another Round Of Layoffs

The Bluesky iOS app debuted on Feb. 17 and has about 2,000 installs. The app is not available on Google Play and has yet to receive a ranking on any Top Charts in the U.S. 

The Bluesky project was originally incubated within the microblogging site in 2019 — long before Elon Musk acquired the company. It is now a public benefit company and, according to Dorsey, “an open decentralized standard for social media.”

Why It’s Important: Last year, Bluesky attracted $13 million in funding with Dorsey on its board. At that time, the platform clarified that Twitter’s funding of Bluesky was “not subject to any conditions except one.”

However, now with Musk as Twitter CEO, it is still being determined how Twitter and Bluesky may remain intertwined, the report noted. 

Since Musk took the reins of Twitter in October 2022, the company has gone through multiple layoff sprees, auctions, office closures and reports about not paying bills. At this juncture, whether Bluesky will fit into Musk’s plans for the company remains to be seen. 

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