While Bluesky and Mastodon are both decentralized social media networks, they operate on different protocols, ActivityPub and AT Protocol. You might not ever know that unless you’re our kind of nerd and / or someone who’s trying to expand their reach on other platforms without starting from scratch. Tools like Bridgy Fed exist for broadcasting across the two aforementioned social media networks. And now A New Social, the nonprofit responsible for that very tool, has debuted a new one called Bounce, which lets you migrate your account from Bluesky to Mastodon without losing followers or the ability to post on Bluesky. It’s launching soon, but no specific date has been announced yet.
Bounce is built on the work of Bridgy Fed, which makes your Bluesky posts visible on Mastodon and vice versa. Using Bounce will bridge your accounts, in case you haven’t already set up Bridgy Fed. Then, Bounce can move your account from Bluesky to Mastodon by shifting personal data servers and utilizing the native “move” functionality that ActivityPub and AT Protocol have in common. A New Social CEO and executive director Anuj Ahooja tells The Verge, “Folks on Bluesky will likely never even know you’ve Bounced to Mastodon.”
A New Social considers Bounce to be a “moving truck” for Bluesky users, letting them move their accounts without losing their stable of followers (and people who they’re following) when using Mastodon. Should your Bluesky followers decide to bridge their accounts with Bounce, they will automatically follow you on Mastodon, too. They won’t have to follow you again.
There are minor caveats. A New Social says that if “a Bluesky user who isn’t bridged interacts with you, it won’t be visible on the Mastodon side,” yet it’s close to launching a feature that will notify you of any “off-bridge” interactions. Also, this beta feature currently works for users who want to go from Bluesky to Mastodon, not the other way around, due to Bluesky only allowing third-party tools such as Bounce to “leave” their personal data servers, not to “enter or re-enter,” Ahooja says. The team at A New Social has spoken with Bluesky, which said expanding the feature is on its roadmap.
