You don’t need an account to just read Bluesky: How to create a “Following” timeline without logging in

Bluesky is a decentralized social media that’s attracting attention as an alternative to X (Twitter).

On X, if you view an account profile without logging in, you can only see some of that account’s popular posts, but on Bluesky you can view almost all posts even without an account.

How to view Bluesky without an account

On Bluesky, you can view almost all posts even without an account (even if you’re not logged in).

If you open the official Bluesky website (bsky.app) while not logged in, you can browse feeds and search for accounts and posts from the sidebar.

Bluesky’s feeds are the equivalent of X’s timeline, and feeds are available for specific topics.

The equivalent of X’s “For you” timeline is Bluesky’s Discover feed.

If you want to see posts from a specific account, search for and open that account, or open the account link.

Also, even without a Bluesky account, you can effectively create a “Following” timeline using the method described later, so if you want to regularly check posts from multiple accounts, please refer to it.

You can’t view every account

Even though you can view most posts without a Bluesky account, there are cases where you can’t view posts from some accounts.

Bluesky has a setting called [Visibility to logged-out users], and accounts that are set not to be shown to logged-out users cannot be viewed unless you log in.

How to create a “Following” timeline without a Bluesky account

On Bluesky, you can display posts even without an account, but if you want to regularly check posts from multiple accounts, it’s inconvenient if you don’t have something like X’s “Following” timeline.

Of course, if you create a Bluesky account, you can use the “Following” timeline, but in fact you can create an effective “Following” timeline even without an account.

Bluesky supports RSS, a mechanism that distributes website update information in a format that computers can easily read.

RSS is a mechanism supported by many blogs and news sites, including this site, and by using a dedicated RSS reader you can display a list of updates from registered websites.

Depending on how often the RSS reader fetches information, the information may be displayed a few hours late rather than in real time.

However, if you occasionally visit the accounts you want to see without an account, it won’t be real time either way, so I think an RSS reader that can display a list is convenient.

You can use any RSS reader, but I’ll list a few personal recommendations.

• Feedly: Can be used with a Google account and can display reposts as well. Available on iOS, Android, and the web
• Feeder: Can be used without an account, but it’s Android-only and does not display reposts
• NetNewsWire: Can be used without an account, but it’s iOS-only and does not display reposts

Once you have an RSS reader, add /rss to the end of the URL of the account you want to see, and register it in your RSS reader.

For example, my Bluesky account URL is https://bsky.app/profile/roboin.io, so you would register https://bsky.app/profile/roboin.io/rss.

Conclusion

I introduced how to view posts on Bluesky without creating an account, and how to create an effective “Following” timeline.

By using RSS feeds, you can display a list of update information from websites and accounts you care about without endlessly scrolling through a recommended timeline, so I recommend it.

Please try making use of it.