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Decentralized Twitter\/X rival Bluesky<\/a> is adding to its ranks by scooping up a member of its developer community. London-based software engineer Samuel Newman, who built the well-received third-party Bluesky client, Graysky<\/a>, is joining the startup, where he will now help develop Bluesky\u2019s official app along with the rest of the frontend team.<\/p>\n Given his change in position, the future of the Graysky app is uncertain. Newman says<\/a> he will continue to keep the app alive and maintained for the time being, but will no longer add any \u201cambitious new features,\u201d as he\u2019ll be putting his efforts into \u201cmaking the official app the best it can be.\u201d<\/p>\n However, he\u2019s also accepting inquiries from other developers who may be interested in taking over the Graysky app, which could be a promising venture for someone if Bluesky ever scales to become a sizable competitor to Twitter\/X, Threads, and Mastodon. Since launching publicly last month after an extended private beta, Bluesky now has 5.18 million<\/a> registered users, roughly half of which are actively posting on the platform.<\/p>\n What made Graysky unique \u2014 beyond being one of the first third-party apps for Bluesky, and the first to address both iOS and Android users \u2014 was its forward-thinking nature. The app improved on the default Bluesky experience by adding support for features<\/a> the official client had lacked, including GIFs, inline translation, an easy way to see everyone\u2019s likes, a feeds-first layout, support for hashtags, and more. Late last year, Graysky also added Trending Topics and a Pro subscription<\/a> to help the app monetize. As of the end of 2023, Graysky had topped 20,000 downloads and was working to add other Twitter-like features including drafts, bookmarks, muted words, polls, lists, and more.<\/p>\n With Newman now joining Bluesky, the hope is that the official client will also gain support for more features. The developer said he wouldn\u2019t be able to bring everything from Graysky to Bleusky but would do his best to \u201cport some of the good parts.\u201d Specifically, he said he would like to work on an iPad app.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n