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Skylight , a inauguration learn on TikTok with a more subject choice , is launching its nomadic app to the public on Tuesday after just 10 weeks of active growing . The app , which is backed by Mark Cuban and others , is nowone of many to build on top of the AT Protocol — the same applied science that underpins the social networkBlueskyand agrowing number of other apps .
Developed by co - beginner Tori White ( CEO ) and Reed Harmeyer ( CTO ) , Skylight offers a short - var. picture app experience with many familiar feature , including an in - app video editor in chief ; the ability to comment , like , and share video ; typeset up your own drug user profile ; and come others .
Because it ’s also build on theAT Protocol(or “ ATProto ” for short ) , users will straightaway be rap into Bluesky ’s meshwork ofover 33.8 million user . That means video station on Skylight can be encounter and engross with by exploiter on Bluesky and other ATProto - based apps , like the morephoto - centrical app Flashes , for exemplar .
The caller is funded by a pre - seed round from Cuban , who said to begin with this year thathe wanted to fund a TikTok alternative build on the AT Protocol . Leslie Feinzaig’sGraham & Walker Venture Fundalso invested .
White , who used to be a change of location influencer and is now a self - learn software package developer living in Seattle , pronounce she and co - founder Hermeyer were inspired to create Skylight when they first heard thatTikTok was getting banned in the U.S.
“ The first matter that interested us about ATProto was that Bluesky was not failing , ” Harmeyer tell TechCrunch atthe ATmosphere Conference in Seattle in March . “ We did n’t see the ‘ fail whale , ’ ” he state , a denotation tothe graphic that appear in Twitter ’s early dayswhen the app was constantly crash . “ That made us sense comfortable about the underlying applied science . ”
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Harmeyer and White before long realized this was an ideal clip to work up a new social app on the protocol that could be “ Bachelor of Arts in Nursing - cogent evidence . ”
exploit into her influencer desktop , White began document Skylight ’s developing on TikTok , which helped bring exposure to the merchandise and build a followers of potentially interested drug user .
“ We started with dispersion , ” White explicate . “ I actually made a video recording before we ever write a line of code for this … [ so ] everyone can follow our journey as we work up , ” she tell TechCrunch at the league . “ We were like , oh my gosh , we are build this thing that we recall is so cool , but no one cares yet . So we have to build a way to tell people about it so that theywouldcare , because we know masses require it , ” she say .
Today , White’s@buildwithtori TikTok profilehas virtually 50,000 follower , many of which grow into early tester .
Like Bluesky , Skylight support television uploads of up to three transactions in length , a recent increasefrom the one - mo - long video recording hold up antecedently . But White see Skylight becoming more than just a decentralized TikTok ringer .
She hints that Skylight in the time to come will allow users to custom-make their provender , include by utilizing Modern gesture beyond swiping and scrolling .
Other features in the work admit support for sounds , duets , stitching , bookmarks , and playlists .
The app is in genus Beta on the Google Play Store and is now available in public on Apple ’s App Store after initial testing .
