How to Change Your Username on Bluesky

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In this tutorial, we'll learn how to change the username that appears after the at (@) symbol on Bluesky, also called the handle.

To do this, following the following steps:

1: on the side menu, click on "Settings" or access the link:

A menu with the options: home, search, notifications, chat, feeds, lists, profile, settings (in bold), and a blue button "New Post."
Bluesky's side menu, with Settings active.

This will make the "Settings" page appear.

A page titled "Settings" display the avatar of the user @virtualcuriosities.com in its header. Options: Add another account, Account, Privacy and Security, Moderation, Content and media, Appearance, Accessibility, Languages, Help, About, and Sign Out.
The "Settings" page of Bluesky.

2: on the Settings page, click on "Account" to view your account settings.

An page titled "Account." Options: Email (me@virtualcuriosities.com), Change email, Birthday (Edit), Password, Handle, Export my data, Deactivate account, Delete account.
The "Account" settings page of Bluesky.

3: on your "Account" settings page, click on "Handle." A dialog box will appear.

A dialog box with the title "Change Handle." In it a text field with an at (@) symbol as label, its value: "virtualcuriosities." A message: "Your full handle will be @virtualcuriosities.bsky.social." A link at the bottom that says "I have my own domain." Two buttons: Save and Cancel.
The "Change Handle" dialog box on Bluesky.

4: in the dialog box, type your new username.

5: click "Save."

Using You Domain Name as Username on Bluesky

On Bluesky, it's possible to use a domain name as your handle. That is, if you own a website, like virtualcuriosities.com, you can make this domain with the dot appear on Bluesky.

To do this, follow the following steps:

1: click on the button "I have my own domain" in the Change Handle dialog box.

2: type your domain (with .com) in the text box. Don't type the www. If your website is hosted in a subdomain, e.g. nasa.tumblr.com, you won't be able to use this function, you need to be the owner of the second level domain.

3: you'll need to verify the ownership of your domain name using the code written in the text box. To do this, go to the website (registrar( where you contracted the domain and add a TXT record as indiciated.

Although this sounds complicated, after you learn how to do this once it's easy, and this method to verify domain ownership via DNS is very common.

In my case, I had to create a record with the name _atproto nad the value did=did:plc:ug7meewa7rcuznpxvd6onsar. Note that when you create a TXT record, you will write did=... in the record and place all of this in a single field. It's a bit confusing because it seems like they're telling you to create a field called did with the value did:plc:ug7..., but that's not how DNS works. You copy the entire thing and paste it.

Observe also that this confirmation code isn't a secret, like a password or something of sort. It's only to confirm that you have control over the domain. The value written in the TXT record is public and anyone can see it.

After adding the record to your domain, try to confirm that you are the owner on Bluesky. It's possible that this doesn't work immediately and it takes a few minutes for the DNS to be updated, so try again after waiting a while.

Revisions

2024-11-20: Bluesky changed its interface, so screenshots had to be updated.

Comments

One response to “How to Change Your Username on Bluesky”

  1. R Avatar
    R

    Thank you for the helpful explanations. Hope you have a nice day

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