Bounce App Bridges Mastodon and Bluesky Feeds

At the FediForum online conference on Thursday, a significant development demonstrating the open social web’s potential was revealed.

Bounce, a new project from the creators of Bridgy Fed, a tool that links decentralized open social networks like Mastodon and Bluesky, will let users move their social network followers between networks that employ various protocols.

When you leave, you might be able to export your data and delete your account, but you won’t be able to move your account to a different app. This is a big step toward making the open social web a more attractive alternative to the locked-in ecosystems offered by tech giants like Meta, Snap, Google, TikTok, and X.

Users can now migrate their accounts inside their protocol network using Mastodon, Bluesky, and other social platforms that use their protocols (ActivityPub and the AT Protocol, respectively).

This implies that whilst Bluesky enables users to transfer their accounts and data across Personal Data Servers (PDS) seamlessly, Mastodon users can move their accounts to another Mastodon server. Since you can leave Bluesky’s PDS but not return to it, the latter is still being worked on.

Users haven’t been able to transfer their accounts or keep their followings when switching networks, though.

The creators of Bridgy Fed, now under the direction of a non-profit organisation called A New Social, have created technologies that will make this kind of migration.

The creators of Bridgy Fed, who are currently under the direction of a non-profit organization named A New Social, have created technology that will enable this kind of movement.

Anuj Ahooja, the CEO and executive director of New Social, adds, “I don’t want to go as far as saying it’s a tech demo, but it was really important to prove that this is possible.”

There are currently some issues as well. For one thing, the social network hasn’t developed the capability yet, so you can’t go back to Bluesky’s PDS.

Additionally, once you’re on the Mastodon side, you won’t be able to witness interactions between your “moved” account and an unabridged person on Bluesky. However, according to Ahooja, the team is working on a feature that will alert you of exchanges that take place off-bridge.

Bounce also lets you know how many of the people you follow aren’t bridged, so you can follow them again if they ever do.

The team’s ultimate goal is for Bounce’s technology to be hidden from the average open social user, who would only need to choose which app to use and then take a few quick actions to increase their following.

Additionally, although Bounce currently supports Mastodon, Bluesky, and Pixelfed (a photo-sharing app based on ActivityPub), the long-term objective is to support any open social platform and protocol, including long-form blogging platforms like Ghost and even other networks like those powered by Nostr or Farcaster.

Ahooja clarified, “We’re working to develop an interface for the open social web to handle some of these more difficult movements that you have to make.” Therefore, whether or not you’re upset about something Bluesky is doing,

Ahooja clarified, “We’re working to develop an interface for the open social web to handle some of these more difficult movements that you have to make.” Therefore, he continued, “[you could] do these couple of clicks on Bounce if you’re unhappy with something Bluesky is doing — or even if you’re not unhappy but feel that a platform on the ActivityPub side is doing something that you really needed to do.”

A New Social’s third project is called Bounce. A few weeks ago, Bridgy Fed also introduced a settings page that lets you set a custom domain for your account and streamlines the process of getting ready to bridge.

A New Social’s overarching objective is to return control of social networks to the users, not the platform developers, by providing them with the means to transfer their accounts and their followings and to quit a platform if it ever fails them.

The phrase “People not Platforms” is currently featured on merch that A New Social sells, including t-shirts, hoodies, hats, cups, and stickers, which aid in the organization’s revenue generation in addition to its Patreon.