On Monday, Bluesky announced three updates to enhance notifications, allowing users to personalize their experience while decluttering their notification center and reducing unnecessary alerts.
The updates include the ability to receive activity notifications for specific accounts, as well as options to adjust notification preferences to control which alerts you receive. For instance, users can choose to be notified only when certain accounts reply to them among other options.
Bluesky users can now navigate to Settings and then Notifications to customize alerts for various interactions, including new followers, likes, replies, mentions, quotes, and reposts. There is also an “Everything Else” option, which covers general notifications, such as when someone joins through a Starter Pack or verification alerts.
Each option can be customized to apply only to accounts they follow or to everyone, and can also be disabled entirely.
Additionally, users can now receive notifications when someone likes their repost or reposts content they’ve shared. This feature is especially useful for people who primarily reshare posts rather than create original content, helping them feel more engaged.
Bluesky said the previous “priority notifications” feature has been replaced. That feature allowed users to filter notifications to receive updates only from accounts they follow. To achieve the same result, users must change reply, mention, and quote notifications to “people you follow only.”
The new activity notification feature resembles those found on platforms like X and Threads, allowing users to choose to be notified whenever an account posts something new or replies to a post.
To enable this feature, visit a profile and tap the bell icon next to the follow button to receive notifications every time that account publishes a new post. There is also a separate option for reply notifications.
Users can manage their activity notifications in settings, removing accounts from their list if they no longer wish to receive updates.
One caveat is that accounts can disable this feature entirely, meaning users may not be able to turn on activity notifications for every account they wish to follow. Account owners can also enable activity notifications for only the people they follow.
