Here’s something you’ve never seen on a Big Tech social platform: the decentralized open social network Bluesky has incorporated a new technology from scratch called Germ Network in order to send end-to-end (E2E) encrypted messages to the Bluesky application. The move makes Germ DM the first personal messenger to run natively within the Bluesky app.
In addition to the launch, Germ also released new guidance that will allow other apps built on the basis of AT Protocol that power Bluesky to do the same thing.
The move is an important example of how the open social network ecosystem differs from the Big Tech platforms that dominate the space today, as new functions and features can be developed by the community, not just by the company itself.
The sky is blue declare the integration with Germ earlier this month, which is currently considering that the experimental integration will allow Germ users to add a key to their profile so that others can order on Bluesky in an encrypted E2E environment.
Meanwhile, Germ’s standalone app is also available in public beta on iOS in North America and Europe. The app has seen thousands of downloads so far, but after the official integration announcement, daily active users increased by 5x, the team said.
California-based Germ is a startup founded by Tessa Browncommunications scholar who previously taught at Stanford, and Mark Xuewho works as a privacy engineer at Apple on technologies like FaceTime and iMessage. The idea, the company previously explained to TechCrunch, is to offer an alternative to other E2E encryption platforms like iMessage, Signal, and WhatsApp that are built on newer technologies.
Today, Germ takes advantage of Messaging Layer Security (MLS), a new standard approved by Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and AT Protocol (or ATProto), which powers Bluesky, Skylight, and many other social apps.
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Instead of requiring the user’s phone number, Germ integrates ATProto to enable encrypted chats. That means Germ messages cannot be decrypted by other services, including itself or Bluesky.
To use the new messenger, you’ll simply click on the badge on your friend’s profile in Bluesky, which opens the iOS App Clip – a lightweight and temporary application. You click “open” in this app experience and then authenticate by signing in with your ATProto handle. You can then directly send messages to your friends. You will also be nudged to download the full Germ DM app, but this is optional.
If you want to add a badge to your own profile, you’ll download the Germ DM app on iOS and authenticate your Bluesky credentials there. (Note: we need to force exit the Bluesky iOS app and restart it before the Germ badge appears.)
The company has been building the official Bluesky integration for months, starting with a private beta in August, which was launched using a “magic link” shared in users’ bios. Now, users who set up Germ to work with Bluesky will receive a new badge displayed on their profile, allowing them to remove the link-in-bio option they used before. (Links still work, but badges are easier and more visible, of course.)
Germ told TechCrunch that he had initially been in talks with the ATProto developer community, including Bluesky’s application and protocol team, since then ATmosphere Conference in Seattle last year.
“We’ve been transparent about our planning and roadmap, and sending a private beta in August generated valuable feedback from users and developers about their desire to replace our link in bios with the original UI,” said Xue, who is CTO at Germ Network. “Our team and Bluesky see the value of better AppView support for Germ links.”
The changes in the Bluesky application are led by the head of product Alex Benzer, like the company appear to experiment by implementing third-party services on Bluesky.
“Working directly with the Bluesky team has been a treat,” Brown, CEO of Germ, told TechCrunch. “They deliver fast, prioritize user experience, and care about user access to end-to-end encrypted messaging. We’re excited to be the first secure messenger to bring to the app.”
While it is true that the AT Protocol may eventually implement E2E encryption, this is not the current focus. As Bluesky protocol engineer Daniel Holms recently explained, the company has several reasons for not designing its own system.
“The reality is that E2EE is hard,” he said written in a blog post. “And this inherent complexity is not something that the protocol team at Bluesky can only handle – it will be pushed out to every dev trying to build a client that works with encrypted data,” Holms said.
Xue agreed, adding, “We are in line with ATProto’s ethos that people should be able to communicate using apps and tools of their choice. We believe that by solving difficult problems for ATProto users in a safe, transparent, and user-friendly way, they will continue to choose us,” he said.
Shortly after Bluesky added support for the Germ badge, another AT Protocol based client, Blackskyyes too.
Brown noted that the team is now focused on delivering messaging features every day, not monetization. But further, Germ can test the paid features.
“We expect the first paid features to be centered on the needs of prosumer power users like creators, journalists, and politicians—for example, support for multiple handles and AI personalized screening for the first message of a new connection,” he said.