Not sure about the rest of the world, but in the UK you need to pass Age Verification to use Bluesky DMs. 8 assume this will apply to this too, not sure.
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
incredible
You can easily bypass this with a VPN, or any third party Bluesky client though, not difficult.
The devs purposefully made it this way.
