Bluesky's Private Friend Finder Rolls Out

Bluesky has introduced a new friend-finding feature designed with user privacy as a top priority. This innovative tool allows users to connect with individuals from their phone's contact list, ensuring that matches are only made when both parties have consented to participate. The company highlighted past privacy concerns with similar features, such as phone number leaks and unwanted invites, stating its commitment to a more secure method.

The new feature prevents the common practice of social apps using contact imports for lead generation or sending unsolicited invitations. Instead, users must manually initiate sending invites to their friends. To prevent abuse, users must verify their phone number before uploading contacts. Bluesky employs hashing techniques, combining user numbers with contacts' numbers, and stores encrypted data with hardware keys separate from its main database for added security.

This privacy-conscious friend-finding functionality is currently rolling out to users in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. As more users opt in and upload their contacts, the feature's effectiveness in finding connections is expected to increase.