They’re friendly but Germ works without permission from the Bluesky company as far as I know. The PDS has the ability to sign content with arbitrary keys now I think. And that’s how Germ does it. I haven’t looked at the details in a couple of months so things might have changed.
Germ brings end-to-end messaging to Bluesky. It's a messenger based on MLS encryption (like nostr:nprofile1qqs8t4ehcdrjgugzn3zgw6enp53gg2y2gfmekkg69m2d4gwxcpl04acpzpmhxue69uhkummnw3ezumt0d5hsp4ll8s for Nostr). Germ is a separate company and has their own app separate from the BlueSky app. Unclear if this is a partnership or "just" and integration.
Interesting: in the BlueSky iOS app, pressing a Germ link in someone's bio doesn't download the Germ app but opens an "App Clip" which is a light version of the app that doesn't need you to install the whole app. I believe that Android also has this (unterutulised) feature.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/30/germ-brings-end-to-end-encrypted-messages-to-bluesky/
Discussion
No replies yet.