How to Get a Free Bluesky Invite Code Today
Edit:
Bluesky has removed the waitlist. Anyone can sign up now.
Bluesky’s waitlist is broken, but you shouldn’t pay for a invite code!
Table of Contents:
- Introduction and hustlers/scammers
- Where to find free Bluesky invite codes
- Conclusion
Introduction and hustlers/scammers
Elon Musk’s X (Twitter) is in decline, yet no competitor has emerged victorious in capturing its fleeing user base. The competitors with the widest name recognition appear to be Instagram Threads, Mastodon, and Bluesky.
Bluesky is particularly interesting because it started as a project internal to Twitter, but became an independent entity this year. Contrary to other popular social media platforms, new user sign-up is restricted to a seemingly never-ending waitlist and invite codes from existing users.
The Bluesky waitlist is opaque, meaning once you sign up for the waitlist, you get no information about when you will get off the waitlist. Most people on the waitlist, including myself, complain about being on the waitlist for upwards of six months with no end in sight. Existing users get to invite one new user per week with an invite code.
This makes Bluesky invite codes a relatively scarce resource that hustlers and scammers are capitalizing on. A prime example of this is the subreddit called r/blueskyinvites. Do not bother with this subreddit. There’s no real guarantee that you will receive an invite code.
This subreddit is primarily focused on making you pay directly for an invite code or redirecting you off-platform to pay for access to a Discord server.
Unfortunately, the person running this operation has excellent SEO. The next result on Google for “Bluesky invite code” is this same hustler/scammer community here on Medium. Do not bother paying to join a “community” of people “paying it forward”. People in this community are paying a hustler to join Bluesky or simply getting ripped off by a scammer.
Where to find free Bluesky invite codes
The first place to start is with the official waitlist or your personal network of friends that may already be on Bluesky. If you don’t like those options, here are some ways to get a Bluesky invite code for free today:
- Mastodon’s #bluesky and #blueskyinvite tags
- r/BlueskySocial via megathread comments and DMs
I got my Bluesky invite code on Mastodon’s #bluesky tag. I saw people were politely asking for invite codes and receiving them, so I drafted the below post:
I’m looking to check out #bluesky. Does anyone have an invite code they’d be willing to share with me? Thanks! 😄
But I never had to post that message. I scrolled through the existing messages and people are simply posting their invite codes for free. It took less than 5 minutes after looking for free Bluesky invite codes on Mastodon. Here’s what my interaction was like:
If you do this too, make sure to comment with a thank you if you end up using a posted code. This will let other people know it’s taken and it is a courtesy to the person posting it.
The subreddit r/BlueskySocial is also an option. There is a megathread about giving invite codes away for free. It looks like this happens primarily through the comments and DMs. You can find the latest megathread here. It is against the rules of this megathread to to sell invite codes.
After you have an invite code, head over to https://bsky.app/ to sign up. It didn’t take me long to find a free Bluesky invite code. With this guide, I hope it takes less than 10 minutes for you.
Conclusion
The exclusive nature of Bluesky invite codes makes them seem enticing, but don’t pay a hustler/scammer for a code that may or may not work. In my opinion, the Bluesky experience isn’t currently worth the time it takes to sign up for an account. Paying money to join will likely lead to disappointment in multiple ways.
That being said, I’ll drop my own Bluesky invite codes in the comments as I get them. That is, until I get bored with it 😄
