Support

No. Catbird is an independent app for Bluesky. It isn’t affiliated with, endorsed by, or officially connected to Bluesky Social, PBC. You use the same Bluesky account in Catbird as you do anywhere else.

You need an iPhone or iPad running iOS 18 or iPadOS 18, or later, and a Bluesky account. If you don’t have an account yet, you can create one from Catbird’s sign-in screen. The app is in English.

Catbird isn’t on the App Store yet. Follow @catbird.blue on Bluesky to hear when you can try it.

Catbird uses OAuth, the standard sign-in method for Bluesky and the AT Protocol. When you enter your handle, Catbird opens your account server’s own sign-in page in a secure browser window. You sign in there and approve access for Catbird, then the window closes and you’re back in the app.

The browser step is what keeps your password out of Catbird: you type it on your server’s page, not in the app. The window is a private browsing session, so it doesn’t use or keep your Safari sign-ins.

No. You enter your password only on your account server’s sign-in page. Catbird never receives it.

Yes. When you sign in, your account server issues sign-in tokens to Catbird’s server, not to your device. Catbird’s server stores them encrypted and uses them to pass most of the app’s requests on to your account. Your device keeps a session ID that points to that session, not the tokens themselves.

The session expires after 30 days without use, and every time you use the app the 30 days start again. Signing out ends it immediately. The privacy policy explains what Catbird’s server handles.

Open your profile, tap the More button (the circle with three dots) at the top, and choose Sign Out. On iPad, your profile is the Profile tab. On iPhone, open the feeds menu from Home and tap Profile.

Signing out deletes your session from Catbird’s server and asks your account server to revoke Catbird’s access.

In Catbird, go to Settings, then Account, and tap Account Deletion Options to find instructions from the provider that hosts your account. Opening the provider’s website does not delete your account; follow its instructions to complete the request.

For accounts hosted by Bluesky, you can also use the account settings in Bluesky’s own app or at bsky.app. If your account is on another server, follow that provider’s instructions. Deleting Catbird from your device does not delete your account.

Your posts, follows and likes live on your account server, and your direct messages with Bluesky’s chat service, not on Catbird’s server. Deleting them happens through Bluesky.

Catbird’s server holds your sign-in session, which signing out deletes. It also keeps data it needs for notifications, such as your notification settings and each device’s push registration, and signing out doesn’t remove that. To ask for that data to be deleted, message @catbird.blue on Bluesky from the account the request is about, so the request can be matched to it. The privacy policy lists what Catbird’s server keeps.

Open a post’s menu to choose Report Post, Mute User, Block User or Mute Thread. On someone’s profile, the More button has Report User, Mute User and Block User. You can also report feeds and labelers.

When you report something, you choose which moderation service receives it: Bluesky’s, or another labeler you subscribe to. To review your muted words and tags, muted accounts and blocked accounts, go to Settings, then Moderation.

Catbird can’t turn adult content on. You can turn it on in Bluesky’s web app: sign in at bsky.app in a web browser and turn it on in its moderation settings. The setting belongs to your account, so Catbird follows it.

You can turn adult content off in Catbird at any time, in Settings, then Moderation.

Ask Catbird uses Apple Intelligence and runs on your device. It needs iOS 26 or iPadOS 26 or later, a device that supports Apple Intelligence, and Apple Intelligence turned on in the Settings app. On other devices you may still see Ask Catbird in menus, but it can’t answer.

Ask Catbird can suggest actions, like following someone or drafting a reply. Nothing happens until you confirm.

If you’re testing Catbird through TestFlight, the quickest way is TestFlight’s feedback. Take a screenshot in Catbird and choose Share Beta Feedback, or open the TestFlight app, choose Catbird and tap Send Beta Feedback.

You can also open an issue on GitHub, where Catbird’s source code is published. Issues there are public, so leave out anything private. Or message @catbird.blue on Bluesky.

This is a known issue: Catbird doesn’t deliver push notifications for Bluesky direct messages yet. Your messages still arrive, so check the Messages tab. A fix is being tested.