Someone Is Creating an Encrypted Chat for Bluesky and You Can Sign up to Try It Out
Bluesky is a great alternative to platforms like X , especially in 2025. The platform offers almost everything you’d expect from a social network, from serious discussions to plenty of memes and private messages, minus the rage-inducing algorithms. However, Bluesky’s private messages aren’t perfect, especially if you care about your privacy. Despite launching in early 2024, the app has yet to implement encryption for its messaging apps.
Encryption is important, especially for chat features — end-to-end encryption (E2EE) ensures that messages sent and received can only be read by the accounts and/or devices of the conversation’s participants. Without E2EE protection, your chats are open to eavesdropping — consider the recent news of a massive leak involving the viral social media app Tea that exposed the contents of users’ private messages. For now, Bluesky’s private messages are fine for casual conversations, as long as you don’t mind third parties reading them — but not for text messages containing sensitive or personal information. (But please never use chat apps to send sensitive information , encrypted or otherwise.)
While we wait for Bluesky to add its own encryption for private messages, it looks like a promising option has emerged that will allow you to chat with your Bluesky friends using E2EE technology. As reported by 404 Media , “Germ” is an E2EE chat app that is currently working on integrating with the AT protocol , the open standard that Bluesky is built on.
How does Germ work with Bluesky?
The idea is this: You download the Germ app separately from Bluesky. You sign in using your Bluesky handle or AT protocol (your “identity card,” as Germ calls it). Once set up, you look for the Germ link in the Bluesky user bio. Click it, and it takes you to the Germ app, where you can start an end-to-end conversation between your two handles.
Chatting doesn’t happen within the Bluesky app, but that’s also not a call for users to switch to a new chat app entirely — you might not be able to migrate your iMessage or Messenger friends to Signal, but maybe your Bluesky friends will switch to Germ if it’s tied to their current username.
How to sign up to test Germ when it’s ready
The problem is that Germ is still under development. Germ for the Bluesky/AT protocol is not yet available, and there are still a number of vulnerabilities that need to be addressed, such as an independent security audit to confirm its security.
You can, however, sign up to be among the first to try out the Germ beta when it’s ready, at least on iOS. The company hasn’t given a release date yet, but on their site you can enter your name and email address to be notified when it’s available. After you click the confirm arrow, watch for an email from the company — you’ll need to click a button in it to sign up for the waitlist.