Introduction:
I've been using alternatives for Twitter in recent days such as Hive Social (more Instagram like, buggy and slow, no known users, account mess), Koo (no active EU users mostly Brazil and Indian users), Post.News (only site, no apps yet) looks good though. BlueSky Social (sign up list) and Tumblr (currently more Instagram like), Pleroma (not much known users, limited amount of apps: Tusker, B4X). I haven't used Parler, Truth Social and Tribel since I think these are to biased (my opinion). The best option for me a(s a person living in the EU) is Mastodon in the end.
Mastodon:
Some background on what Mastodon is and that it is different from Twitter please read: https://mastodon.help/ and also TechCrunch wrote a good article about the features and limitations.
You can create an account and select a service via: https://joinmastodon.org/
The official Mastodon app is really limited so better not use that.
In general all apps do lack certain features which the browser version has but some of these apps haven't been around for long but rolling out tons of features (e.g. Mastoot, tooot).
Mastodon in general isn't perfect but it does do the trick mostly for me. Hoping that more Twitter users make the switch and that a federate search so to search in all instances will be possible in the future.
I'm missing in general on Mastodon:
- there is no way to search in all instances (to my knowledge) which is a big limitation, what you can search
- quote toot doesn't officialy exist (as available on Twitter), however there are some third party apps that offer support for it (Ice Cubes, Trunks)
- you can only add people/accounts to your List(s) if you are following them (different from Twitter)
- you can't see followers / following in apps for users that have an account at another instance, only possible to see via browser (I hope third party apps can get this fixed if technically possible).
- DMs aren't private messages, they are username posts
Do definitely also check out this Google Docs Spreadsheet for a more detailed (and more up to date) comparison which doesn't contain all apps (e.g. Pipilo, Fedigardens, FediFriend, Twoot it!, Think Social, Komondor, Trunk and Twidere X). In addition it contains some older apps which haven't been updated in years. This wat originally posted on Reddit.
The (third party) iOS apps around are:
- Ivory (App Store, account on Mastodon, website, TestFlight) - subscription based: 1.99 euro month or 17.99 euro year - by Tapbot (which created the well known Tweetbot) - has list support, multiple accounts, slick UI, push notifications, iPad column layout, edit post, edit profile, add GIF to post
Cons: only partly hashtag support (follow hashtag timeline is still missing to my knowledge), no option to draw, no emoticons, no history of post edits.
- Woolly (App Store, dev. account, website) - subscription based: 0.99 euro month or 7.99 euro year - UI really nice, fast, adjustable columns, great iPad multi column layout, hashtag support, easily access to hashtags and lists, GIF in post, edit post
Cons: lacks edit/add list, edit profile, no private note
- Mona (App Store, dev. account, ) - free, full version pay once (11.99 euro)
It has tons of features it supports, not all but most of them. Great to see a pay once client soon in the App Store.
Cons: not my favorite UI (personal opinion)
- trunks (Mastodon account, App Store) - free (no tracking) Is a really nice Mastodon client: fast and slick UI (my opinion). There is also a nice web client (in alpha) and on Android as well. It is slick, fast and has language translation option, full list and hashtag support, see edit history of a post, edit profile, has a column layout although posts side by side not lists and hashtag side by side for iPad.
Cons: GIF to post support, no private note, create a drawing and add to post, adjustable footer, bug that you can move cursor in post creation, doesn't follow Mastodon API for followed hashtags you need to manually search and pin them to have the easily accessible, no true iPad column option for e.g. lists and hashtag side by side (only posts or notifications side by side), can't press links in bio or press on stats 'posts' on profile page.
- Ice Cubes (website, App Store, TestFlight, dev. account, app account) - free, with optional in-app - lots of features: full lists support, full hashtag support, push notification, multiple accounts possible, remember last position in time, edit post, edit profile, read and save other instances and love the fact lists, hashtags and other instances are really quickly accessible via the timeline (top), find a user with their name (besides with their username)
Cons: slow response time when switching between tabs/starting the app. Some of the feature wishes: add audio to post (you can view/listen them in timeline), schedule post, full iPad column support like Mammoth/Woolly have, GIF to post support, toggle excl. boosts + replies in timeline, report user, create a drawing and add to post, adjustable footer
- Manny (website, App Store) - free, with optional in-app to support developer - quite some customizable options but still lacking quite some features
- Mammoth (website, App Store) - free, but will might become subscription based - lots of features (save hashtags, lists, History of post edits, total replies, edit posts), iPad column layout Feature wise it's the best option around however see cons:
Cons: was really unstable, haven't used it in a while
- tooot (website, App Store, dev. account) - free - UI excellent and tons of handy features: toot history, posted by client, has support for multiple accounts, list support, full hashtag support, push notifications, edit profile, edit post, note: do turn off in settings the anonymized tracking when using. Cons: Clean UI, however lacks customization for e.g. lists and hashtags to be more prominent instead of at Profile, lacks iPad columns layout
- Mastodon for iPhone and iPad (website, App Store) - free - trending hashtags, follow/unfollow hashtags, push notifications, edit profile, multiple accounts, iPad column layout
Cons: no list support, no edit post option, lacks many other features third party clients like e.g. Ice Cubes, Mona and Trunks do have.
- Mastoot (website, App Store, dev. account) - free - tons of features and pretty good UI, timeline sync, push notifications supported, theme support, has support for multiple accounts, hashtags (save/remove, read saved hashtags, trending hashtags), features are constantly added after launch in April 2022
Cons: lacks lists, showing total characters for a toot, not showing total replies only 1+, can't add multiple images in one go for a post (you can do it but one by one), no option to edit profile in app but redirect
- Toot! (App Store, dev. account) - paid: 3.99 dollar (once) - push notification support, supports multiple accounts, has full list support, theme support and has it's own hashtag support (on iPhone tap the lower right button to see Federated timeline where you will also see hashtags that you saved with Toot! (it won't recognise the main hashtags you created in other clients).
Cons: lacks showing separate toots and toots and replies on profile, no option to edit profile in app but redirect, personal opinion: not a fan of the UI, e.g. Search in at '...'
- Metatext (website, App Store) - free - lots of features (lists: view, add, create, see trending hashtags, (no option to save read saved hashtags) push notifications, multiple accounts possible, thread posts in one go, remember last position in timeline).
Cons: slow and timeouts, lacks edit toots, lacks saving/reading saved hashtags, no option to edit profile in app but redirect - Note: the developer has paused development due to health issues.
- Tusker (App Store, in TestFlight, dev. account) - free - has full list and hashtag support, has support for multiple accounts, Cons: lacks edit/delete posts, no push notifications possible, no option to edit profile, you can't search in other instances (you can save instances though), you can't see total followers/following on your profile
- Tootoise (App Store, dev. account) - free - UI nice but lacks features
- Komondor (TestFlight, dev. account) - really limited functionality last time I tried
- Trunk - (TestFlight) - really limited functionality currently
Haven't been updated / poor quality:
- Mercury for Mastodon (last update 2021)
- Tootle for Mastodon (last update 2020)
- Tootter (with ads)
- StarPterano (ugly UI and not much features)
I've been using alternatives for Twitter in recent days such as Hive Social (more Instagram like, buggy and slow, no known users, account mess), Koo (no active EU users mostly Brazil and Indian users), Post.News (only site, no apps yet) looks good though. BlueSky Social (sign up list) and Tumblr (currently more Instagram like), Pleroma (not much known users, limited amount of apps: Tusker, B4X). I haven't used Parler, Truth Social and Tribel since I think these are to biased (my opinion). The best option for me a(s a person living in the EU) is Mastodon in the end.
Mastodon:
Some background on what Mastodon is and that it is different from Twitter please read: https://mastodon.help/ and also TechCrunch wrote a good article about the features and limitations.
You can create an account and select a service via: https://joinmastodon.org/
The official Mastodon app is really limited so better not use that.
In general all apps do lack certain features which the browser version has but some of these apps haven't been around for long but rolling out tons of features (e.g. Mastoot, tooot).
Mastodon in general isn't perfect but it does do the trick mostly for me. Hoping that more Twitter users make the switch and that a federate search so to search in all instances will be possible in the future.
I'm missing in general on Mastodon:
- there is no way to search in all instances (to my knowledge) which is a big limitation, what you can search
- quote toot doesn't officialy exist (as available on Twitter), however there are some third party apps that offer support for it (Ice Cubes, Trunks)
- you can only add people/accounts to your List(s) if you are following them (different from Twitter)
- you can't see followers / following in apps for users that have an account at another instance, only possible to see via browser (I hope third party apps can get this fixed if technically possible).
- DMs aren't private messages, they are username posts
Do definitely also check out this Google Docs Spreadsheet for a more detailed (and more up to date) comparison which doesn't contain all apps (e.g. Pipilo, Fedigardens, FediFriend, Twoot it!, Think Social, Komondor, Trunk and Twidere X). In addition it contains some older apps which haven't been updated in years. This wat originally posted on Reddit.
The (third party) iOS apps around are:
- Ivory (App Store, account on Mastodon, website, TestFlight) - subscription based: 1.99 euro month or 17.99 euro year - by Tapbot (which created the well known Tweetbot) - has list support, multiple accounts, slick UI, push notifications, iPad column layout, edit post, edit profile, add GIF to post
Cons: only partly hashtag support (follow hashtag timeline is still missing to my knowledge), no option to draw, no emoticons, no history of post edits.
- Woolly (App Store, dev. account, website) - subscription based: 0.99 euro month or 7.99 euro year - UI really nice, fast, adjustable columns, great iPad multi column layout, hashtag support, easily access to hashtags and lists, GIF in post, edit post
Cons: lacks edit/add list, edit profile, no private note
- Mona (App Store, dev. account, ) - free, full version pay once (11.99 euro)
It has tons of features it supports, not all but most of them. Great to see a pay once client soon in the App Store.
Cons: not my favorite UI (personal opinion)
- trunks (Mastodon account, App Store) - free (no tracking) Is a really nice Mastodon client: fast and slick UI (my opinion). There is also a nice web client (in alpha) and on Android as well. It is slick, fast and has language translation option, full list and hashtag support, see edit history of a post, edit profile, has a column layout although posts side by side not lists and hashtag side by side for iPad.
Cons: GIF to post support, no private note, create a drawing and add to post, adjustable footer, bug that you can move cursor in post creation, doesn't follow Mastodon API for followed hashtags you need to manually search and pin them to have the easily accessible, no true iPad column option for e.g. lists and hashtag side by side (only posts or notifications side by side), can't press links in bio or press on stats 'posts' on profile page.
- Ice Cubes (website, App Store, TestFlight, dev. account, app account) - free, with optional in-app - lots of features: full lists support, full hashtag support, push notification, multiple accounts possible, remember last position in time, edit post, edit profile, read and save other instances and love the fact lists, hashtags and other instances are really quickly accessible via the timeline (top), find a user with their name (besides with their username)
Cons: slow response time when switching between tabs/starting the app. Some of the feature wishes: add audio to post (you can view/listen them in timeline), schedule post, full iPad column support like Mammoth/Woolly have, GIF to post support, toggle excl. boosts + replies in timeline, report user, create a drawing and add to post, adjustable footer
- Manny (website, App Store) - free, with optional in-app to support developer - quite some customizable options but still lacking quite some features
- Mammoth (website, App Store) - free, but will might become subscription based - lots of features (save hashtags, lists, History of post edits, total replies, edit posts), iPad column layout Feature wise it's the best option around however see cons:
Cons: was really unstable, haven't used it in a while
- tooot (website, App Store, dev. account) - free - UI excellent and tons of handy features: toot history, posted by client, has support for multiple accounts, list support, full hashtag support, push notifications, edit profile, edit post, note: do turn off in settings the anonymized tracking when using. Cons: Clean UI, however lacks customization for e.g. lists and hashtags to be more prominent instead of at Profile, lacks iPad columns layout
- Mastodon for iPhone and iPad (website, App Store) - free - trending hashtags, follow/unfollow hashtags, push notifications, edit profile, multiple accounts, iPad column layout
Cons: no list support, no edit post option, lacks many other features third party clients like e.g. Ice Cubes, Mona and Trunks do have.
- Mastoot (website, App Store, dev. account) - free - tons of features and pretty good UI, timeline sync, push notifications supported, theme support, has support for multiple accounts, hashtags (save/remove, read saved hashtags, trending hashtags), features are constantly added after launch in April 2022
Cons: lacks lists, showing total characters for a toot, not showing total replies only 1+, can't add multiple images in one go for a post (you can do it but one by one), no option to edit profile in app but redirect
- Toot! (App Store, dev. account) - paid: 3.99 dollar (once) - push notification support, supports multiple accounts, has full list support, theme support and has it's own hashtag support (on iPhone tap the lower right button to see Federated timeline where you will also see hashtags that you saved with Toot! (it won't recognise the main hashtags you created in other clients).
Cons: lacks showing separate toots and toots and replies on profile, no option to edit profile in app but redirect, personal opinion: not a fan of the UI, e.g. Search in at '...'
- Metatext (website, App Store) - free - lots of features (lists: view, add, create, see trending hashtags, (no option to save read saved hashtags) push notifications, multiple accounts possible, thread posts in one go, remember last position in timeline).
Cons: slow and timeouts, lacks edit toots, lacks saving/reading saved hashtags, no option to edit profile in app but redirect - Note: the developer has paused development due to health issues.
- Tusker (App Store, in TestFlight, dev. account) - free - has full list and hashtag support, has support for multiple accounts, Cons: lacks edit/delete posts, no push notifications possible, no option to edit profile, you can't search in other instances (you can save instances though), you can't see total followers/following on your profile
- Tootoise (App Store, dev. account) - free - UI nice but lacks features
- Komondor (TestFlight, dev. account) - really limited functionality last time I tried
- Trunk - (TestFlight) - really limited functionality currently
Haven't been updated / poor quality:
- Mercury for Mastodon (last update 2021)
- Tootle for Mastodon (last update 2020)
- Tootter (with ads)
- StarPterano (ugly UI and not much features)
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