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

Amelia Bellamy-Royds (@[email protected])

@[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.

Front-End Social
Sadly Pinafore is being retired: https://toot.cafe/@nolan/109660134942211650
Nolan (@[email protected])

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!

Toot Café

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!

#AppReviews @disability

Semaphore (@[email protected])

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

Fosstodon