Flashes 101: A Step-By-Step Guide on How to Use Flashes

So, have you ever wondered how to use Flashes? Imagine having a space where you can keep up with your college roommate’s latest adventures, find awesome book recommendations, explore cool new brands, or dive into pretty much anything that sparks your interest. 

That’s what Flashes is all about – not just for you and me, but for over a million active users around the world.

In this guide, I’m going to walk you through everything you need to know about Flashes – from getting started by creating your account to growing your personal or business brand on the platform.

What is Flashes for Bluesky?

Flashes is a dedicated photo and video-sharing app designed for the Bluesky social network. It offers an intuitive experience tailored to sharing visual content, much like other popular media-sharing platforms. You can use this social media platform to create, edit, and post anything visual and images. It is a perfect Instagram alternative. Your followers react to your posts by commenting, liking, sharing, or saving your posts.

Who Created Flashes?

Flashes is owned by Sebastian Vogelsang, an experienced IT consultant and iOS developer based in Berlin. Flashes launches on Tuesday, February 25th, 2025. With over 15 years of expertise in building accessible applications for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, Sebastian Vogelsang created Flashes to enhance the media-sharing experience on Bluesky. 

Is Flashes an Official Bluesky App?

No, Flashes is an independent, third-party application. While it integrates seamlessly with Bluesky, it is not officially associated with Bluesky PBC.

Is Flashes Its Own Social Network?

No, Flashes is not a standalone platform. It functions as a Bluesky client utilizing the AT Protocol, meaning all posts made through Flashes are visible on Bluesky. Although Flashes prioritizes a media-centric experience, it remains a part of the broader Bluesky ecosystem.

However, future plans for Flashes include evolving into a fully independent ATProto-powered network. This transition, however, depends on securing adequate funding, as building and maintaining a separate infrastructure requires significant resources. The ultimate goal is to provide users with greater control over their content while maintaining interoperability with Bluesky.

How to Use Flashes

What Can You Share?

• Up to four photos in a single post
• Videos up to 60 seconds long
• All media posted through Flashes will also be visible on your Bluesky timeline.

Do You Need a Bluesky Account?

Yes, Flashes requires a Bluesky account to function. Users can either log in with an existing Bluesky account or create a new one within the app.

How Does Flashes Work with Bluesky?

Flashes leverages Bluesky’s AT Protocol, focusing on filtering and showcasing visual content. Interactions such as comments and likes sync between Flashes and Bluesky, ensuring a seamless experience across both platforms. When you upload a photo or video through Flashes, it appears as a regular post on Bluesky, making it accessible to the entire Bluesky user base.

Can You Use Your Existing Bluesky Account?

Yes! Logging in with your Bluesky credentials ensures that all media posts made via Flashes appear directly on your Bluesky profile. However, since Flashes is media-focused, text-heavy notifications may not align with its visual-first approach.

Should You Create a Separate Bluesky Account for Flashes?

If you want to keep your media content distinct from regular Bluesky activities, setting up a dedicated Bluesky account for Flashes might be a good idea.

Are Flashes Posts Private?

No, Bluesky operates as a public network, meaning all posts, likes, and replies are visible to everyone. While blocks and blocklists are also public, mutes remain private. Mutelists and their subscriptions, however, are publicly accessible.

Can You Delete Your Flashes Account?

Yes, but be aware that deleting your Flashes account also removes your associated Bluesky account. If you wish to maintain your Bluesky presence, consider other options before deleting your account.

Features & Functionality

What Is the Portfolio Feature?

Flashes’ Portfolio feature allows users to curate and showcase selected media on their profile. It also includes options to hide specific profile tabs for better customization.

Can You Use Flashes Without Posting on Bluesky?

No. Since Flashes is integrated with Bluesky, all posts made through Flashes are also shared on Bluesky. However, posts from Flashes include an "invisible" tag. If you prefer not to see Flashes content in your Bluesky feed, you can mute the tag flashes-app-ln3348nvl89.

Will Flashes Include a Post Filter?

Yes! A filtering feature is in the works, allowing users to browse only photo and video content posted through Flashes.

Will Flashes Be Available on Android or Web?

Currently, Flashes is an iOS-first application, as its developer specializes in Apple’s ecosystem. However, expanding to Android and web platforms is a key goal. The development timeline depends on funding—either through external investment (which would accelerate progress) or through revenue generated from subscriptions.

Will Flashes Introduce Subscriptions?

Yes. Flashes began as a passion project alongside a full-time job, but to sustain ongoing development, subscriptions will be introduced. These will provide premium features such as post notifications, customization options, and multi-account support.

Will There Be a Shared Subscription With Other Apps?

Yes, though this won’t be available immediately. A shared subscription across Flashes and other apps by the developer is planned, but backend setup will take a few weeks. In the meantime, users can opt for monthly or yearly subscription plans.

What’s Next for Flashes?

Following its App Store launch, Flashes aims to expand with new features that empower content creators. Planned updates include:

• Image editing tools and filters
• Multi-account management
• Improved iPad layout
• Push and post notifications
• Extended video length support
• More image slots per post
• Post editing capabilities
• Posts visible only to followers for a limited time
• Profile albums
• Importing images from other platforms
• Adding music to images

In the long term, Flashes aspires to become an independent ATProto-based network while maintaining compatibility with Bluesky. This approach allows users to post on Bluesky without being restricted to it.

Technical & Conceptual Considerations

Why Not Build Flashes as a Separate Platform?

There are two key reasons:

Leveraging a Unified Social Graph – Bluesky has a large, interconnected user base of over 30 million people. By integrating with Bluesky, Flashes ensures that users looking for a media-sharing experience don’t need to leave the ecosystem. Historically, photo sharing, video content, and microblogging were confined to separate platforms, but with ATProto, users can interact in one network while curating the content they engage with.

Resource Constraints – Developing an entirely independent network requires significant funding and a dedicated moderation team. As a solo developer, maintaining a separate platform at this scale is not feasible at this time.

What if Bluesky Isn’t the Right Platform for You?

One of the key advantages of ATProto is that users retain full ownership of their data. If Bluesky doesn’t suit your long-term needs, you can host your data privately or migrate it elsewhere without being locked into a proprietary system.

How to create a Flashes account

You need to create a Flashes account to post anything on Flashes. Without signing up, you also can’t access many of Flashes’s features — like seeing all comments on a post, viewing anyone’s Flashes Story, or scrolling through the Flashes feed.

Here’s how you can create a Flashes account in five simple steps:

Step 1: Download the mobile app

Flashes is available for iOS in the App Store. Type “Flashes” in the search bar, spot Flashes’s logo, and click “Download.” Or, you can also use this direct link to download the Flashes app on your mobile:

Step 2: Create your account and choose a username

Once you open the app, you’ll get the login screen. To create a new account, click the button  “Create new account” at the bottom of your screen.

Flashes will ask you to:

• Enter your name — type your business name if you’re creating a Flashes account for your business
• Create a password — it should contain at least six letters, a number, and a special character
• Select your date of birth — because you need to be at least 13 years old to sign up for Flashes
• Create a username — enter your business name or your full name to be identifiable in searches
• Verify your identity — by entering the code received on your phone number or email
• Agree to its terms and policies

And that's it! You now have a Flashes account.

⚡ Pro-tip: Use your name or username to add keywords to your profile page. For example, if you’re a fitness coach, enter “your name | fitness coach” as your username. This will improve the discoverability of your profile and will also give everyone an idea of what your Flashes content is about quickly.

• Next, Flashes makes it easier for you to find your community by asking you to:
• Sync your phone contacts: This way, you’ll be able to find people you already know easily and follow them.

Connect your Bluesky account: Since Flashes is a Bluesky app, you can sync your Bluesky with your Flashes app by signing into your Bluesky and merging the Account Centre. Both accounts will have the same login information, name, username, and avatar.

You can use both options or skip them, depending on your preference. For instance, if you’re creating a Flashes account for your business and not for personal use, it might not make sense to sync your phone contacts.

Step 3: Set up your profile with a picture, bio, and links

Your Flashes account is created in the two steps above. But to ensure you get discovered by your audience, you need to set up your profile by:

Adding a profile photo: 

If you’re running a Flashes account for your business, use your logo as the profile photo. If you’re a creator, use your own image. Remember to keep the image high-quality — if it’s your face, it should be zoomed in to be clearly visible.

Crafting your Flashes bio: 

Your bio tells anyone looking at your Flashes profile who you are and what you do. The limit for Flashes bios is 150 characters. Instead of trying to keep your Flashes bio clever, describe your product or service in the simplest way possible. Using keywords in your bio will improve your discoverability and also give people a clearer idea about you.

Adding links to your Flashes profile: Flashes lets you add up to five links to your profile. But the four links drown in “xyzlink and 4 other links” — which is not ideal if you’re trying to reduce friction for your audience. 

Instead, use Fedica’s Start Page to not only host all your links, but also make them pretty, on-brand, and trackable.

To add all of the above to your profile, click the profile icon at the bottom right on your Flashes app. Tap on “Edit profile” on the page. From there, you’ll find the option to add or edit your profile picture, bio, and links.

You can also create and add an avatar (a customizable 3D persona of your face) from here to use later in your Flashes Stories.

Step 4: Choose the most suitable type of Flashes account

Flashes has two types of accounts: Personal and professional. The professional accounts are further subdivided into business accounts and creator accounts.

Personal account: This is the most suitable type of account for you if you’re using Flashes solely to connect with friends and family. Your profile is locked — meaning someone has to request to follow you to see what you post. You can either accept or deny follow requests in notifications.

Business account: This is Flashes for business — the most suitable option for any and all businesses on Flashes. A Flashes business account gets additional call-to-action buttons (CTA) like “Shop Now” to entice people to buy.

Creator account: This is the most suitable option for content creators on Flashes. You don’t get the extra CTA button, but this profile type is meant to help you build a community through features like a label name below your display name.

By default, your Flashes profile is personal. To switch from one account type to another:

1. Go to your profile and tap the three horizontal lines in the top right corner
2. Select “Settings and Privacy” and scroll down to “Account type and tools”
3. You’ll find the option to “Switch to a professional account”

Once you tap it, you’ll be asked to choose a category that describes your account best — like writer, entrepreneur, or shopping & retail. Finally, you can choose between a creator or business account.

The business and creator accounts are not that different anymore. Earlier, only Business accounts had access to certain post insights and features, but all of those features are now also available for Instagram Creator accounts.

Step 5: Customize the notifications you want to receive

Flashes sends you a lot of notifications — when someone tags you, when someone sends you a message, when someone likes your posts, when someone follows you, and so on.

It can get overwhelming real quick. To customize what notifications you receive, go to your profile’s settings. Click “Notifications” and start customizing what alerts you want to receive and what you don’t.

There’s an option to pause all notifications temporarily if you wish to or a “quiet mode” to pause all notifications for 12 hours.

The difference is someone who wants to message you will know you’ve silenced all notifications in quiet mode because your online status and auto-replies (if set) will display it. But if you’ve paused all notifications temporarily outside the quiet mode, no one knows except you.

What kind of content can you post on Flashes: A breakdown of 7 types of posts

Flashes is a social media platform with one of the most versatile types of content. You can post single photos, carousel photos, videos, go live, and post content that’s only live for 24 hours. Let’s explore the seven types of posts on Flashes:

1: Single-image posts

When you post a single image with a caption, it’s a single-image post. These posts are best for product photography, sharing announcements, reposting Tweets or Threads, or highlighting customer testimonials. Single-image posts should be supplemented by the perfect Flashes caption that explains, adds, and continues the conversation started via the image.

2: Carousel posts

Carousel posts are multiple images posted at once. Flashes allows you to share up to 11 slides of such images. Carousel posts are best for sharing a story, teaching something to your audience, putting a spotlight on something, or doing a before/after type of post.

A word of caution: Don’t use large blocks of text in carousel posts — Flashes is very much a visual platform. White space, bright colors, and small sentences are best for carousel posts.

3: Flashes Reels

Flashes Reels are by far the most popular type of Flashes posts. You can upload videos of up to 90 seconds on your profile. Reels allow for a lot of creative freedom and can be used for pretty much anything — product launches, talking about a topic to your audience, hopping on trends, showing the behind-the-scenes of your product, using your product in action, and so much more.

4: Flashes Stories

Flashes Stories are image and video content that only last 24 hours — a chapter out of Snapchat’s playbook. There are many features like polls, stickers, and multiple-choice questions that make Flashes Stories perfect for boosting your engagement. Flashes Stories are best for showing behind-the-scenes of your life, communicating with your audience, and teasing upcoming content.

If you want to extend the life of your Flashes Stories, use Flashes Highlights. These are Flashes Stories that’ll be displayed on your profile forever (unless you delete them). You can categorize these Stories into various sub-headers like — company announcements, employee stories, customer testimonials, and more.

5: Flashes Notes

Flashes Notes are a unique kind of short-text post. They appear in your Chats list and allow you to share a thought via text in 60 characters. You can tag someone in your Notes, and you can also add music to your notes in some countries. Like Instagram Stories, Notes only last for 24 hours.

You can use Notes to ask for recommendations from your followers, start a conversation with your audience, or share a quick update.

6: Flashes Live

Flashes Live is exactly what it sounds like: You go live on video using the Instagram app. You can inform your audience in advance using Stories or posts about when you will go live so they can join and ask their questions in real-time.

Live is great for product walkthroughs or tutorials, doing an ask-me-anything session with your audience, and collaborating with another creator (one account can invite another to go live together — a maximum of three people can go Live together). If you wish to, you can turn off commenting for your Flashes Live.

For those who couldn’t catch it, you can also share a replay of your Flashes Live on your feed.

7: Broadcast channels

Broadcast channels aren’t a strict post-type, but it’s another way to communicate with your followers via Flashes Direct Messages (DMs). Think of it as your group that anyone can join using the invite link.

⚠️ Note: Broadcast channels aren’t available on the web version of Flashes yet. You can only create and access Broadcast channels via the Flashes mobile app.

Followers can react to your messages, participate in your polls, and listen to your voice notes. You can share a link to your Broadcast channel on your Flashes Stories. Broadcast channels are best for sharing announcements with your audience, asking for their opinion, and keeping them in the loop about your business or services.

How to use Flashes: Navigating the features of the Flashes app

Despite the minimal learning curve, Flashes can be a lot to absorb all at once. There are so many content types you can use, ways to interact, and features you can optimize.

Let’s tackle how to do everything step-by-step — minus the overwhelm.

How to share content on Flashes

For sharing Flashes Stories, Reels, single-image posts, Live, and carousels, follow these instructions:

1. Open your Flashes app and click the plus icon at the center.

2. Choose the kind of post you want to share — post, Story, Reel, or Live. You can either select existing media from your camera roll or click on the camera button to use Flashes camera for recording or clicking. If you’re sharing a carousel, select the “multiple photo button” next to the camera to select multiple images.

3. Apply any filters to your post or add any text or interactive stickers on your Stories if you wish.

4. Write a caption for your post. You can also tag people if relevant.

5. Share, and your post is live! 🎉

To add a new Flashes Note, follow these instructions:

1. Click on the message icon at the top right corner of the Flashes app.
2. Tap the plus (+) icon against your profile picture to add your note.
3. Type your note and add music if you wish to.
4. Click on “Share” to post your note.

To open your own broadcast channel, follow these instructions:

1. Click on the message icon in your feed.
2. Tap the pencil button at the upper right corner.
3. Select “Create Broadcast Channel.”
4. Give your Broadcast Channel a name and choose whether you want it to be visible on your profile.
5. Select “Create Broadcast Channel” again and you’re done.

Now, you’ve learned how to post content on Flashes. But building a community on social networks isn’t a one-way street. You have to raise your hand and be a part of the conversation.

How to interact with Flashes content

You can like, comment, share, save, and repost the content you see on Flashes. But to see content on your feed, you have to follow people or brands on Flashes.

If you have synced your contacts or Bluesky account with Flashes, the platform will recommend people to follow. If not, tap the magnifying glass at the bottom, and you’ll land on the Explore page. Here, you can type in the search bar or scroll through the content Flashes recommends.

Interacting with the Flashes content by liking, commenting, sharing, and saving is the best way to let Flashes understand your preferences. The Flashes algorithm will soon pick up on the kind of content you like and show more of it in your feed, Explore Page, and Reels.

How to elevate your Flashes experience

Posting and interacting are fairly straightforward ways to use Flashes. But how do you make your Flashes scrolling experience more enjoyable?

Here are my four favorite tips:

1: Categorize and collaborate on your Saved posts

You can categorize and collaborate on the content you Save on Flashes.

• Go to your profile and click the three horizontal lines.
• Choose “Saved,” and you’ll find a plus (+) icon on the top of the screen.
• Tap on it to name a new collection. Now, you can save posts to a specific category and also collaborate on the collection if you wish.

2: Add people to your Close Friends list to post exclusive content

If you want to post content on Flashes only for a certain group of people, add them to your Close Friends list.

• Go to your profile and select “Settings and Privacy” from the three horizontal lines.
• Select the “Close Friends” under “Who can see your content.”
• Alternatively, you can also tap on “Hide story and live” to hide your Flashes Stories and Live from a handpicked list.

3: Moderate who you interact with by adding them to your Favorites List (or your Muted list)

What if you like someone’s content a lot and want it to appear at the top of your feed every time they post? Add them to your favorites list. Here is how to do it:

1. Go to their profile and tap the “Following” button.

2. Select “Add to Favorites” to add them to your list. You can have up to 50 accounts in your Favorites list.

3. Favorited accounts show up at the top of your feed with a star icon. You can also scroll through your favorites specifically by tapping the Flashes text on your home feed and selecting “Favorites.”

On the flip side, what if you don’t want to interact with someone’s content? You can:

Mute them: Go to their profile and tap the “Following” button. You’ll find the option to Mute them. You can choose whether to mute their Stories, posts, or Notes. They will no longer appear in your feed, but you’ll still follow them. They’ll also never know that you’ve muted them.

Restrict them: The difference between muting and restricting is that the latter is a bit stronger than the former. When you restrict someone, they can’t know that you’ve restricted them, and you’d still follow them — just like when you mute someone. But when you restrict someone, they can’t see if you’ve read their messages, and their comments on your posts will be visible only if you approve them. 

To restrict someone on Flashes, go to their Flashes profile and tap the three dots in the upper right. Select “Restrict.”

Block them: Blocking is when you can’t see someone’s content, and they can’t see what you post either. You have the option to block someone’s current account or block their existing account, and any other Flashes accounts they create in the future. The option to block someone is right below the option to Restrict someone.

💡 Note: You can always unmute, unrestrict, and unblock accounts on Flashes. Don’t worry about anything being set in stone.

4: Mark posts as “Not Interested” when you don’t want them in your feed

There are plenty of ways to tell Flashes what you’d like to see less of in your feed.

1. Long press a post on your Explore page and mark it as “Not Interested” if it’s not what you’d like to see in your Flashes account.

2. Mark “Not Interested” in bulk on the Explore page. You’ll get the option to “Hide more” once you hide one post on your Explore page.

3. You can also select “Not Interested” while scrolling if you see a “Suggested for you” post by clicking the three dots next to the post.

When you mark posts as Not Interested, Flashes understands what you like and what you don’t and improves its recommendations — making for a more pleasurable scrolling experience.

3 tips for using Flashes to grow your business or personal brand

Learning about a platform from scratch and feeling the pressure to grow on it as soon as yesterday is daunting. But it doesn’t have to be so scary. Here are three straightforward tips you can use to grow on Flashes faster:

1: Post high-quality content on Instagram every day

If you read that and rolled your eyes, I don’t blame you.

Posting high-quality content consistently is one of the surefire ways to grow on Flashes — and every other social media platform. But saying that alone isn’t actionable enough, is it?

What kind of posts should you share with so many content types?

Where do you find new content ideas for posts each week?

How do you keep track of posting so many posts?

When should you share each post?

Let’s solve one problem at a time.

Problem 1 solved: What kind of posts should you share with so many content types?

A mix of trial and error will tell you which types of posts your audience enjoys the most. In the beginning, follow the Head of Flashes's advice and post at least two feed posts and two Flashes Stories daily.

Once you start to get in a rhythm, check which types of posts are getting the most engagement. And engagement isn’t the number of likes or comments alone. It should also factor in how many shares and saves you get.

Want to make it easy on yourself? Sign up for Fedica, and you’ll get this data at your fingertips without doing all the math yourself.

Not just this: Fedica also tells you audience demographics to ensure you’re reaching the right audience and insights for boosted posts so you can compare paid vs. organic results. Pretty solid, huh?

Problem 2 solved: Where do you find new content ideas for posts each week?

Find yourself scratching your head for what to post on Flashes? You’re not alone. I’d suggest looking at these three places for ideas:

Your audience: You don’t have an in-built audience on Flashes yet. But you have a rough idea of what they’re struggling with. Jot these ideas down and create content around it. If you already have a following on another social media platform, ask your audience about their struggles on that platform and create content for it on Flashes. But you can’t expect yourself to remember all these ideas. Use Fedica’s Ideas feature to note your ideas as they come to you using the mobile app, browser version, or browser extension.

Hop on trends: Use Flashes for a while and you’ll understand certain “trends” — whether it’s an act or a sound. Repurpose these trends to fit your niche and create content around it. Trends are popular and will increase your Flashes reach because they’re pushed by Flashes, too. You can also stay updated on the latest trends by following the @creators account on Flashes. They regularly publish a trends report to help you stay up to date.

Flashes has also launched various features to help you in the Professional Dashboard. Go to your profile and tap on “Professional Dashboard.” You’ll find a “Tips and resources” section to inspire you here.

Remix a Reel: Flashes now lets you add a clip of your own onto a Reel or post of someone else. You just have to tap on the three dots in the right corner of a Reel or post and select “Remix” to add your own video.

This way, you extend someone else’s idea instead of beating up yourself to think of one. Remix posts with a lot of likes, comments, and shares to increase your reach.

Problem 3 solved: How do you keep track of posting so many posts?

Simple: Schedule it in advance. It’ll take the load off your shoulders, and you can focus on deep work instead of remembering to post something you created.

Flashes has native scheduling now, but the analytics are limited, and you can’t have a calendar view of all that you have to post. Instead, use a social media scheduler like Buffer to schedule your posts and see them at a glance — along with various useful analytics.

Problem 4: When should you share each post?

You can’t post all your Flashes content of the day at the same time, right? But there’s no universal right time to share your posts. The right time is just when your audience is online.

Fedica does the legwork for you and calculates when you get the most engagement — day, time, and all that jazz.

No more wondering about which posting time gives you the best engagement.

2: Use Flashes DMs to connect with your followers

Flashes Stories are an underrated goldmine for connecting with your audience. The most underdog feature? Saved replies and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). It’s a templated response to answer your audience’s most common questions or send all your followers a similar message.

Let’s say your audience often asks you about your product’s shipping timelines. You have a standard answer of two to six working days, depending on location.

You can save that and whip it out without copy-pasting it from your Notes app or retyping it.

Or you can save it in your Frequently Asked Questions, and your audience can get a response to it without you even entering the conversation.

To start saving your quick replies and frequently asked questions, go to “Settings and Privacy.” Tap “Creator tools and controls,” and you’ll find the option to add “Saved Reply” and “Frequently Asked Questions.”

The only difference between a saved reply and a FAQ is your FAQs appear automatically whenever someone tries to DM you. For saved replies, you have to type the shortcut you’ve set and press send manually.

3: Use relevant keywords and hashtags to show up in front of a relevant audience

Flashes is constantly improving its search capabilities. It’s scraping the keywords inside carousel posts, Reels, captions, and hashtags to rank content. The best part? Fedica’s search engine is still in its early stages — meaning making the most of the basics can fast-track your growth.

Here are three simple things you can do to ace Instagram SEO:

• Use relevant keywords in every post’s text, subtitle, and caption
• Use three to five relevant hashtags per post to categorize your content
• Add your industry and niche keywords in your Instagram profile — like in the username and bio

Have fun with Flashes

You’ll enjoy learning how to use Instagram if you have fun with it.

Instead of seeing posting and interacting as a chore, make Instagram a place you look forward to stepping in every day. Customize your feed and build a community you’d want to come back to.

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