Bluesky 1.60 update adds a new butterfly logo, public posts visible without logging in now, more

23.12.2023 - 05:10 / tech.hindustantimes.com

Ahead of the Christmas weekend, the popular decentralized social media platform Bluesky has rolled out a new update. The Bluesky 1.60 update comes with some major additions and redesigns. The platform now has a new logo, ditching its old blue sky with white clouds in favor of a butterfly. The company said that the decision to change its logo came after it saw users organically use the butterfly emoji to indicate their Bluesky handles. Alongside, the platform has also made its posts public (unless users opt out), meaning anyone can see posts and search for posts without needing to be logged in or even own an account. The platform continues to be an invite-only, however.

Bluesky announced the update in a post from its official handle, and said, “App Version 1.60 is rolling out now. We have a new logo! Bluesky is emerging from its cocoon of clouds to transform into a social butterfly”. The new logo can be seen in two different colors — a blue butterfly on a white background, and a white butterfly on a blue background.

In a blog post, the company explained its reason for redesigning the logo. It stated, “Why did we choose a butterfly? Well, of course, it flies. But more importantly, it is a symbol of change and transformation. Early on, we noticed that people were organically using the butterfly emoji to indicate their Bluesky handles. We loved it, and adopted it as it spread. The butterfly speaks to our mission of transforming social media into something new”.

But what if you do not like the new logo? The post has an answer for that too. “The great thing about an open network is that anyone can build on top of it and customize it further! Maybe you like birds more. Well, someone could build BirdSky, and you could switch to using that and still be in the same network, still have the same friends, and still see the same posts,” it said.

Apart from the logo change, another major addition was making the posts public. Announcing this, a post by Bluesky said, “Posts, profiles, and user search are now available without login! You can finally share your quality posts with the group chat or in articles. If you don't want the Bluesky app to show your posts to logged-out users, opt out in the Moderation tab”.

The Bluesky 1.60 update also adds RSS feeds for profiles. Now users can access their posts via RSS by pasting their profile link to their RSS feed reader to make it automatically discoverable.

Apart from this, the company also fixed several bugs on the platform. You can read about it here.