{"id":304946,"date":"2026-02-18T21:59:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T21:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/304946\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T21:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T21:59:09","slug":"a-startup-called-germ-becomes-the-first-private-messenger-that-launches-directly-from-blueskys-app","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/304946\/","title":{"rendered":"A startup called Germ becomes the first private messenger that launches directly from Bluesky’s app"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s something that you\u2019ve never seen on Big Tech social platforms: the decentralized open social network Bluesky has integrated new technology from a startup called Germ Network<\/a> in order to bring end-to-end encrypted (E2E) messaging to the Bluesky app. The move makes Germ DM the first private messenger that can be launched natively within the Bluesky app.<\/p>\n

Alongside the launch, Germ is also releasing new guidance<\/a> that would allow other apps built on the underlying AT Protocol that powers Bluesky to do the same thing. <\/p>\n

\"\"Image Credits:Germ Network<\/p>\n

The move is a notable example of how open social networking ecosystems work differently from the Big Tech platforms that dominate the space today, as new functionality and features can be developed by the community, not just by the company itself. <\/p>\n

Bluesky announced<\/a> the integration with Germ earlier this month, noting that the experimental integration will allow Germ users to add a button to their profile so others can message them on Bluesky in an E2E encrypted environment. <\/p>\n

\"\"Image Credits:Germ Network<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Germ\u2019s standalone app is also available in a public beta on iOS in North America and Europe. That app had seen thousands of downloads so far, but after the official integration announcement, daily active users jumped by 5x, the team said. <\/p>\n

California-based Germ is a startup founded by \u00a0Tessa Brown<\/a>, a communications scholar who previously taught at Stanford, and\u00a0Mark Xue<\/a>, who worked as a privacy engineer at Apple on technologies like FaceTime and iMessage. The idea, the company previously explained to TechCrunch, was to offer an alternative to other E2E encrypted platforms like iMessage, Signal, and WhatsApp that\u2019s built on newer technologies.<\/p>\n

Today, Germ takes advantage of Messaging Layer Security (MLS), a new standard approved by the\u00a0Internet Engineering Task Force<\/a>\u00a0(IETF), and the\u00a0AT Protocol<\/a>\u00a0(or ATProto), which powers Bluesky, Skylight, and a growing number of other social apps. <\/p>\n

Techcrunch event<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBoston, MA
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJune 23, 2026\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Instead of requiring a user\u2019s phone number, Germ integrates with ATProto to enable its encrypted chats. That means Germ\u2019s messages cannot be decrypted by another service, including itself or Bluesky.<\/p>\n

To use the new messenger, you\u2019ll simply click on the badge on a friend\u2019s profile on Bluesky, which opens an iOS App Clip \u2014 a lightweight, temporary app. You click \u201copen\u201d on this app experience and then authenticate by logging in with your ATProto handle. You can then send a message to a friend immediately. You\u2019ll also be nudged to download the full Germ DM app, but this is optional. <\/p>\n

If you want to add the badge to your own profile, you\u2019ll download the Germ DM app on iOS and authenticate your Bluesky credentials there. (Note: we had to force quit the Bluesky iOS app and restart it before the Germ badge appeared.)<\/p>\n

\"\"Image Credits:Germ Network<\/p>\n

The company has been building up to the official Bluesky integration for many months, starting with a private beta in August, which was launched using \u201cmagic links\u201d shared in users\u2019 bios. Now, users who set up Germ to work within Bluesky will receive a new badge that\u2019s displayed on their profiles, allowing them to remove the link-in-bio option they were using before. (The links will still work, but the badge is easier and more noticeable, of course.)<\/p>\n

Germ told TechCrunch their startup has been in conversation with the ATProto developer community, including Bluesky\u2019s app and protocol teams, since the ATmosphere Conference in Seattle<\/a> last year. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been transparent about our planning and roadmap, and shipping our private beta in August generated valuable feedback from users and developers about the desire to replace our links in bios with native UI,\u201d said Xue, who serves as CTO at Germ Network. \u201cBoth our team and Bluesky\u2019s saw value in better AppView support for the Germ link.\u201d <\/p>\n

The changes to Bluesky\u2019s app were led by head of product Alex Benzer, as the company was looked to experiment<\/a> with implementing third-party services within Bluesky.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking directly with the Bluesky team has been a treat,\u201d Brown, Germ\u2019s CEO, told TechCrunch. \u201cThey ship fast, prioritize the user experience, and care about their users\u2019 access to end-to-end encrypted messaging. We\u2019re thrilled to be the first secure messenger they\u2019ve brought natively into their app.\u201d<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s true that the AT Protocol could eventually implement E2E encryption, that is not a focus today. As Bluesky protocol engineer Daniel Holms recently explained, the company has several reasons not to design a system itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is that E2EE is hard,\u201d he wrote in a blog post<\/a>. \u201cAnd this inherent complexity isn\u2019t something that the protocol team at Bluesky can just handle \u2013 it gets pushed out to every dev trying to build a client that works with encrypted data,\u201d Holms said. <\/p>\n

Xue agreed, adding, \u201cWe align with the ATProto ethos that people should be able to communicate using the apps and tools they choose. We believe that by solving the hard problems for ATProto users in safe, transparent, and user-friendly ways, they\u2019ll continue to choose us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Shortly after Bluesky added support for the Germ badge, another AT Protocol-based client, Blacksky<\/a>, did as well. <\/p>\n

Brown noted the team is currently focused on shipping more everyday messaging features, not on monetization. But further down the road, Germ may test paid features. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect that our first paid features will be centered on the needs of prosumer power users like creators, journalists, and politicians\u2014for example, support for multiple handles and private AI-powered screening for first messages from new connections,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s something that you\u2019ve never seen on Big Tech social platforms: the decentralized open social network Bluesky has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[69330,124173,143783,143784,61,60,143785,58,1884,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-304946","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-bluesky","9":"tag-e2ee","10":"tag-germ","11":"tag-germ-network","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-private-messaging","15":"tag-social-media","16":"tag-startups","17":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}