Android Mastodon Apps: 1/5
1. "Official" Mastodon app, found when you search for Mastodon on Android/Google app store. It is very limited and does not show the federated timeline. It also doesn't allow multiple tabs -- I could only get three tabs working: Home timeline, local timeline, and notifications. My lists didn't show in app.
Accessibility: Screenreader did not read posts smoothly, some parts were garbled. Inputting image description was difficult and hard to pull up.
Recommend? No.
2. Yuito is a fork of Tusky. Can set to way more than 5 tabs: multiple hashtags, lists, home, local, federated, notification tabs. It has adjustable font size, dark/light themes, positioning tab toolbar, turn off colorful gradients on CW posts, show indicator for bots, and other accessible features. Has a limited bandwidth and wellbeing mode.
Accessibility: screenreader read posts well including user names. Image descriptions easy to add and view. Easy to navigate and post.
Recommend? Yes.
3. Tusky. All the features I mentioned in Yuito is also on Tusky. However, Tusky limits the tab count to five: home, local, federated, notifications, and final tab can be hashtags or lists. It has all the same options as Yuito, except it does not have a low bandwidth mode.
Accessibility: screenreader read posts well and smoothly. Image description easy to add and read. Posts are easy to write and interface easy to navigate.
Recommend? Yes.
4. Tooot recently debuted on Android. Posts don't have clear edges like Tusky and Yuito, so they blend together more. Options for accessibility is limited to only changing font size and dark/light theme. Read more for long toots is not intuitive (click on "long post x more lines" to expand).
Accessibility: screenreader was unable to read people's usernames, not a smooth read. Image descriptions show as semi transparent "Alt" in pic corner.
Recommend? No due to limited accessibility options.
5/5
Those are the four main ones on Android that I tested. If y'all would like me to test others, let me know. Also, let me know if you got questions on accessibility features. It was hard to fit all my observations into 500 characters.
I hope this helps!
#MastodonAndroid #accessibility #NEISvoid #Disabled #Disability #Android #DisabledMastodon
Per request, FediLab! This will be a longer review as there is a lot of features to this app. So part 1/3:
Available on GooglePlay for around 2.74. Can download free through F-Droid but will need to install a separate app in F-Droid for push notifications.
Fedilab is packed full of options, far more than any app I've reviewed so far. It's highly customizable. The left-side menu has a section for My Account, where you can pull up various lists, filters, followed tags, drafts, interactions.
Part 2/3: My Instance section lets you see announcements, trending hashtags, and follow suggestions.
My App section holds settings, timeline management, and cache. Settings customize timelines, notifications, interface, compose, privacy, themes, languages, and export/import settings. It has all the accessible settings that other apps have plus more for how app runs/looks. Very robust; love the slide rather than toggle options.
Translate messages feature works fairly well with most languages.
Part 3/3:
Accessibility: Sadly, my screenreader really struggled. Due how timelines load, this can cut off the screenreader mid-sentence, which requires 2 to 3 tries to read a post. It failed to read image descriptions unless I clicked on image twice: once to focus on image and twice to load alt text.
Alt Text: It's easy to add the alt text, but a bit harder to access it once posted.
Recommend? Yes and no - until screenreader bugs are dealt with, it's usability for blind/low-sight is limited.
More on #ScreenReaders:
The screenreader read the best on #Tusky and Yuito.
Mastodon and #Tooot was hit and miss: often misread usernames as generic placeholders. Alt Text wasn't consistently read without prompting.
#FediLab, due to how its cache and loading works, kept interrupting the screenreader. Once cache is stored and loaded, the screenreader did a bit better on FediLab, but it didn't auto read Alt Text without my prompting it.
Hopefully, this review inspires app creators to fix this!
Next up:
I'll collate these posts into a blog eventually.
I also plan to go through and do reviews on PInafore and the Mastodon fork that was mentioned. If y'all have any other Android apps for me to test or if you want further information on the specifics of the settings of apps already reviewed, let me know! I'll detail them further. :)
#WebBased apps:
Pinafore is a browser app that you can set up for your phone. It has a sleek design and accessibility options similar to Tusky. There is various themes that adjust colors to aid with readability.
#Accessibility: Screenreader hiccuped a few times, but overall read posts and alttext well. The alt text shows up easily.
You have a home timeline, notifications, and third timeline (can chose local, federated, or list from settings).
Recommend? Yes. See: https://front-end.social/@AmeliaBR/109474368379141637
@[email protected] @[email protected] Pinafore.social is a "progressive web app". You install it from the website in your preferred web browser. Chrome, Firefox, & Samsung Internet all support installation on Android. There should be an "install" menu option when you're viewing the website. After that, you can use it like a app, no app store required. The default Mastodon web app is also an installable web app, although the exact features might vary a bit depending on your host server.
Halycon https://halcyon.anoxinon.de/login
This browser app was designed to look like Twitter, which it does admirably well. I found it a bit slow on my phone but it worked fine on my laptop browsers. The accessibility options were not as robust as Pinafore.
Accessibility: I couldn't get my screenreader to work with it. I may fiddle around and see if it's on my end or the apps' end. Alt text showed similar to how Twitter shows it.
Recommend? Not unless you really like Twitter's design.
Sengi: https://nicolasconstant.github.io/sengi/
Sengi can be downloaded and used as a separate program on computers but can be used in browsers with phones. Has accessibility options similar to Fedilab. A downside was I had to clear its cache or restart it when it froze.
Accessibility: Screenreader was inconsistent. Due to how Sengi loads content, screenreader would cut off mid-sentence and have to be restarted. Alttext was easy to read, find, and enter at least.
Recommend? Maybe once more bugs are fixed
I checked out Megalodon, which is a fork of the Mastodon app. While it does offer more customizable settings, it lacks the ability to have multiple tabs. It's home, search, and federated only.
Accessibility: Screenreader read posts well. AltText read well too. Inputting AltText was easier than Mastodon app. There is a light and dark mode and color customization (like FediLab or Tusky). Notifs were separated by type.
Recommend? Maybe. Lack of tabs is frustrating.
Twidere for Android now supports Mastodon.
It has a lot of features to set up timelines, appearance colors, refresh and low bandwidth, composition, and storage options. I could set up multiple tabs, but couldn't make a custom one like in Yuito.
Accessibility: Screenreader read posts well, but for AltText, Screenreader couldn't read it - it was a jumble of code instead. Major fail. AltText isn't easy to input either, and app has no option to read it after you post.
Recommend? No.
AndStatus is a Fediverse app available on F-Droid for download. Supports Mastodon, Twitter, ActivityPub (Client to Server), GNU social and Pump.io. Default timeline is all accounts combined into one timeline (nice!). Can customize what is included via right menu or switch to different timeline. Click on a toot for actions menu.
Accessibility: Screenreader read ok but could not read AltText. Can input AltText but it's inaccessible after. Few options for customizing accessibility.
Recommend: No.
Notes: To add, AndStatus does a really great job of taking all your accounts and combining into one timeline. It shows which post in your timeline is from which account, so when you interact with that post, it will automatically do it with the correct account. That's great honestly.
The reason I can't recommend it is because it fails to have even basic accessibility features. Like readable AltText, disabling GIF animation or slowing down animations, or other small access features. Bummer.
The #disabledsocial admin investigated Cuckoo+ for a possible client to use. It failed a lot of the accessibility tests.
Cuckoo+ does not retain AltText for images. It is advised to not use this web-client to log into our disabled.social server. Any AltText input into posts will not be retained and won't be accessible on any other app or client.
I've tested it yes. It's pretty good and my review is further up the thread. In the end, I hop back and forth between Yuito (a fork of Tusky) and Fedilab for my android phone.
For my browser I sometimes use pinafore. Was playing with Sengi but not sure if I wanna keep using it or not - its buggy with loading stuff still.
New blog post: "Retiring Pinafore" https://nolanlawson.com/2023/01/09/retiring-pinafore/ Probably not going to surprise anyone, but I'm stepping back from Pinafore. Thanks to everyone who followed along with this project over the years!
Good News! A fork of Pinafore is in beta right now!
Semaphore: https://fosstodon.org/@semaphore/109732196442356646
I've gone and tested it, and it has all the same functionality of Pinafore right now. Accessibility options, AltText, and Screenreader all work well. The developers also have more accessibility to add as they develop it further. This is quite exciting!
Hello world! Introducing Semaphore an accessible, simple and fast web client for Mastodon. Semaphore continues the work of @[email protected] 's @pinafore, and will prioritise accessibility, continuing Pinafore's track record of integrating improvements from disabled contributors. Follow this account if you'd like to keep up-to-date with releases and news. #mastodon #accessible #a11y #client #app #web #semaphore #pinafore
Yeah, it's upsetting to see them retire! I'm hoping someone skilled gets permission to do a fork of them.
I'm still looking for more apps to test, but it's either web-based or Android that I can do.
I don't think iPhones allow stuff like F-Droid, as it's 3rd party download/install and not thru their marketplace, which is a bummer as many of the ones I reviewed are there too.
@Aaidanbird Pinafore is no longer maintained. Its successor app is Semaphore.
Oops. Nevermind I just saw that you've already done the Pinafore review and found Semaphore too.
I'll get right on that! I do note that it's the paid one. The others I checked were free. I'll add my review to this thread once I check accessibility features. :)
Thanks for that. The set up is actually very easy, once you install fedilab it tells you which app to install to get the push notifications and there's no other steps.
@SARS2isAirborne @RonniesaurusHex
That's all good to know. I went ahead and got it downloaded. Thank you for offer to drop the fee my way!
There is a lot of features here that others apps don't have. Now I'm gonna go thru and test them to see how they fare. This might take me a bit.
@SARS2isAirborne @RonniesaurusHex
And it's up! https://disabled.social/@Aaidanbird/109474329374165984
I admit, I really do like FediLab, but I may submit the screenreader bugs through their bug report menu and see if they can fix that eventually.
I feel like the screenreader test really makes or breaks these reviews.
Per request, FediLab! This will be a longer review as there is a lot of features to this app. So part 1/3: Available on GooglePlay for around 2.74. Can download free through F-Droid but will need to install a separate app in F-Droid for push notifications. Fedilab is packed full of options, far more than any app I've reviewed so far. It's highly customizable. The left-side menu has a section for My Account, where you can pull up various lists, filters, followed tags, drafts, interactions.
Thank you, that's really helpful.
@Aaidanbird
Currently very happy with Fedilab, but didn't test accessibility feature, except to add alt-texts, which works well.
Not free on the Play store, but free on F-Droid.
@Aaidanbird Have you looked at Pinafore? While I don't use a screen reader, I know lots who do.
Thank you!
@CharJTF
I thought Pinafore was web only?
I can do a review on it too though! I've only tested it on my desktop, so need to check if it holds up as well on my phone's browser.
@CharJTF I'm only reviewing Android apps. I couldn't find it in the Android app store or in google play, so it might be just browser only?
I'll still review it and add it to the thread just in case. :)
@Aaidanbird @CharJTF Pinafore.social is a "progressive web app". You install it from the website in your preferred web browser. Chrome, Firefox, & Samsung Internet all support installation on Android. There should be an "install" menu option when you're viewing the website. After that, you can use it like a app, no app store required.
The default Mastodon web app is also an installable web app, although the exact features might vary a bit depending on your host server.
@AmeliaBR @Aaidanbird Thanks!
This is kinda embarrassing (given that it was within the last couple of weeks), but I can't remember what I did to install the app on my phone. But I'm using the app, not Pinafore in a browser.
(Maybe I did what you said and installed it from the website?)
@CharJTF @Aaidanbird Depending on your browser, you might have got an "install the app" pop-up when you visited the web site, and didn't realize that it worked differently from others that download it from the app store?
Either way, once a web app is installed, it works stand-alone, so you probably won't realize that the browser is running underneath. (At least, that's true in Android. On iPhones, it still behaves more like a homescreen shortcut to a website.)
Yes, all the ones I've reviewed thus far are on GooglePlay. :)
It's under Account Preferences. There's an option there called Tabs. Here's 2 screenshots to help.
The Bird
LinaB
Teresa 👩🏼🦯
CharJTF 
(she/her)
elon_masked
Ronnie
Alison
Claude Gohier
Illdikko
Amelia Bellamy-Royds
MJ (they/them)
Salih Kunduz
Susannah The Tired