New features in Bluesky update 1.61: In-app video and music player, as well as ‘Hide post’ feature

In preparation for the upcoming year, the popular decentralized social media platform Bluesky has introduced a fresh update. Following closely after the previous update, which involved a logo redesign featuring a butterfly and making posts accessible to non-account holders, Bluesky now presents update 1.61. This latest update includes the addition of an in-app video and music player for links. Similar to the native player on X (formerly Twitter), users can now watch YouTube videos directly on the platform without having to navigate away. Additionally, Bluesky has introduced a new feature called ‘Hide Post’, enabling users to conceal posts they prefer not to view.

Announcing the update on its official handle, Bluesky said, “App version 1.61 is now available. Now has an in-app video and music player for links! YouTube, SoundCloud, Spotify and Twitch embeds now work in the app. This will launch only after a tap. ( No autoplay)”.

Bluesky update 1.61 comes with an in-app player hide message

The in-app player is compatible with YouTube, SoundCloud, Spotify and Twitch. Users who send videos and messages from these platforms will automatically see it embedded in the platform and a video box will appear. Unlike X where these messages are set to play automatically and scrolling the video automatically plays it, in Bluesky users have to manually tap the play button to play the video or music.

In addition to that, a new hidden message feature has also been added. Bluesky said: “You can now ‘hide a post’ if you don’t want to see it again. It will be removed from your feeds and put behind a mask if you visit it directly.” This feature is currently in beta and while users can still use this feature, it will not sync across devices for now. So if you are using the iOS or Android app, it may not appear on the website.

In addition to these, Bluesky has also released several bug fixes. The most significant of which is a fix for a bug that caused muted and blocked account information to be displayed blank. Some users reported seeing a blank home screen due to the bug, which has also been fixed.