Decentralized social network Mastodon launches iOS app

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Mastodon calls itself
Mastodon calls itself "a platform that is community-owned and ad-free."
Photo: Mastodon

The nonprofit group responsible for the decentralized social network Mastodon rolled out a new iOS app designed to get more people involved with the service.

The free app, Mastodon for iPhone, supplements the network’s open-source website, which helps people build independent communities rather than giving them a central place to gather. There are also third-party apps that give people mobile access to Mastodon content. The network and its content run on the decentralized social networking protocol ActivityPub.

Getting to know Mastodon

Mastodon is sometimes described as looking a bit like Twitter, although the user experience has also been described as similar to that of Reddit.

Mastodon lacks a central hub. You create an account on a community of your choice — say, art, music, or technology. But you can follow and share messages with people in other communities. You can have multiple profiles for different communities, too.

Not every feature is included in the app

The new iOS app supports features like polls and sensitive content filters in its ad-free spaces, TheVerge reported. “However, you won’t find a section for local and federated timelines — Mastodon’s firehose of all public posts from your home community and the communities of people linked with it, respectively,” the publication said.

TheVerge reported that Mastodon has plans for a similar Android app. But no timeline exists for its release as of yet.

— Via TheVerge

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