Bluesky is clearly having its feature update moment this year. Merely days after it got an Instagram-like experience with the Flashes app, the Bluesky mobile app has now received a couple of big multimedia and messaging upgrades.
As part of the v1.99 update, the social media platform now allows users to upload videos that are up to three minutes in length. So far, the duration of video posts was capped at 60 seconds.
For comparison, Instagram Reels can be up to three minutes in length, but it allowed a maximum 90-second video upload as recently as January this year. TikTok’s mobile app allows users to record and post videos with up to 10 minutes run time.
Bluesky is already testing a Trending video feed as part of a beta test, so it makes sense that the platform is increasing the video upload limit. Instagram chief, Adam Mosseri, recently mentioned that creators have asked for an expanded limit because 90-seconds may not always be enough to tell a story.
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Another notable feature addition is a dedicated “Chat Requests” inbox in the messaging section. Moving ahead, when users get a message from an account that’s not mutual or which they don’t follow, it will land in the chat request section.
Users can choose to reject or accept such message requests at their own convenience. The idea is not too dissimilar from X, which follows a similar approach to DMs from unknown accounts, a strategy that keeps spammers from throwing the message section into utter chaos.
On a similar note, muting an account is now easier. On the main feed, when users tap on the three-dot menu button corresponding to each post, they will now see a “Mute account,” feature, sitting right above the block and report controls.
Bluesky also offers similar protections for spammy content appearing in the feed, and shows warnings for impersonator accounts. As far as the latest set of features go, the v1.99 update started rolling out on March 7, as per the Google Play logs and is now widely available to Bluesky users.
