Tapbots teases a new Bluesky app, Phoenix, saying it can’t ‘survive on Mastodon alone’

There’s a new Bluesky app in the works from a popular developer of iOS applications. Tapbots, the company behind the popular Mastodon client Ivory, born out of its earlier efforts with Tweetbot (RIP), is readying a new app called Phoenix, designed for Bluesky’s growing social network of over 32 million users.

In a post on Bluesky, the company shared its website teasing the new app, which is expected to launch sometime later this summer.

On its site, Tapbots clarified that its work on a Bluesky client doesn’t mean it’s abandoning its efforts in the fediverse, also known as the open social web. However, Ivory’s development will temporarily slow as the new efforts are underway.

Ivory, which launched in 2023, brought back Tweetbot’s look and feel and several of its features to offer an alternative to Mastodon’s official social app, an open source, decentralized alternative to larger platforms like X. As a federated app, Ivory is integrated with ActivityPub, the protocol powering a host of federated social apps including not only Mastodon, but also PeerTube, Pixelfed, Meta’s Threads, Flipboard, and others.

Bluesky, meanwhile, is built on a different protocol, the AT Protocol (or atproto for short).

Since Twitter’s acquisition by Elon Musk and its transformation into X, many former Twitter users have moved on to other networks, including Mastodon and Bluesky. For an indie operation like Tapbots, that meant its customer base was split between two services, making it harder to generate revenue with just one app.

“… For us to continue to thrive as a company, we must support both,” Tapbots shared on its website. “Unfortunately, we can’t survive on Mastodon alone.”

The company also explains that it decided to launch a dedicated app for Bluesky users instead of combining the two networks into one app because this would offer users a better experience. Those who want to maintain a presence on both social networks will be able to take advantage of a planned cross-posting feature, it added.

Unfortunately for Mastodon users, work on Ivory will need to slow as the team works to launch Phoenix.

“It would be a lie if we said Ivory would be in full development while we are trying to get Phoenix up and running,” the website explains. “However, we did not want to start Phoenix development until after we released Ivory v2.3. Once Phoenix is out the door, development will happen concurrently and both apps will get all the huge improvements we have planned throughout the apps.”

News of Phoenix’s launch was first reported by MacStories.

Though the company has not announced Phoenix’s monetization strategy, it will likely be a subscription model similar to Ivory’s — a free app with in-app purchases for access to premium features. Currently, Ivory is $1.99 per month or $14.99 per year.

Phoenix will enter a limited public alpha phase ahead of its summer 2025 launch.