Bluesky rolls out an in-app video and music player and a new ‘hide post’ feature | TechCrunch

Decentralized social network Bluesky is rolling out a new in-app video and music player for links, along with a new “hide post” feature. The new additions bring Bluesky’s user experience closer to X (Twitter).

The new video and music player works with YouTube, SoundCloud, Spotify and Twitch embeds. Unlike on X, where autoplay on videos is the default setting, Bluesky’s in-app player won’t autoplay content. If users watch to watch or listen to the content, they will have to trigger it with a tap.

As for the new “hide post” feature, you can click on it if there’s something you don’t want to see again. The post will be removed from your feeds and “put behind a mask if you visit it directly,” Bluesky says.

In addition to these new features, Bluesky has fixed a bug that caused muted and blocked account listings to show as empty. The social network also fixed an issue that would cause an empty home screen, along with a crash bug that would sometimes occur while interacting with threads.

Today’s announcement comes a few days after Bluesky finally started allowing users look at posts on its platform without logging in. You still need an invite to create an account and start posting, but you can read posts through a link. With this move, publishers can link to or embed Bluesky posts in blogs. Plus, users can now share Bluesky posts in individual or group chats.

Bluesky, which launched its iOS and Android apps back in February, hit 2 million users last month. While Bluesky is currently the only instance on the AT Protocol, it is aiming for federation “early next year,” which means it will eventually function as a more open social network like Mastodon where users can pick and choose which servers to join and move their accounts around at will.