On Monday, Bluesky announced three updates aimed at improving how users manage notifications, giving them greater control over what alerts they receive and helping to declutter their notification center.
Tailor Notifications by Account and Interaction
Users can now choose to receive activity notifications from specific accounts, such as when an account posts or replies. This is similar to features seen on platforms like X and Threads. To enable it, users can visit a profile and tap the bell icon next to the Follow button to get alerts whenever that account publishes a new post. There’s also a separate option for reply notifications.
In addition, Bluesky has enhanced the settings for notification preferences. Users can customize alerts for interactions like new followers, likes, replies, mentions, quotes, reposts, and general notifications such as verification updates or new user joins via Starter Packs. These notifications can be set to apply to everyone or only to accounts the user follows, or disabled entirely.
A new addition lets users get notified when someone likes their repost or shares content they’ve reshared. This is especially helpful for users who primarily engage by resharing rather than creating original posts.
Changes to Priority Notifications
The previous “priority notifications” feature, which filtered notifications to show updates only from followed accounts, has been replaced. Users seeking similar functionality now need to adjust reply, mention, and quote notifications to “people you follow only.”
Users can manage their activity notifications within settings, including removing accounts from the list if they no longer wish to receive updates. However, some accounts can disable activity notifications entirely, so not all accounts can be followed for alerts. Account owners themselves can also limit activity notifications to just their followers.
Author’s Opinion
These updates represent a positive step for Bluesky, acknowledging that users want more personalized control over notifications without being overwhelmed. Allowing users to focus on activity from favorite accounts or important interactions creates a more meaningful and less cluttered experience. However, the ability of some accounts to disable notifications could limit user choice and transparency, something Bluesky should monitor closely.
Featured image credit: Heute
For more stories like it, click the +Follow button at the top of this page to follow us.