S 🌱 L V I Ξ›Jan 21, 2025

By popular demand, a single post to boost global switch day across multiple platforms on February 1st 2025.


For those who can no longer get behind Musk or Meta's new policies and feel like switching (e.g. from #Whatsapp to #Signal, from #Instagram to #Pixelfed or from #X to #Mastodon) I made you some graphics to use freely in communicating with your contacts.

Let’s lead by example πŸ™‚

Show threadGhurirJan 21, 2025
@sylv_a What about Facebook, by its sheer size, it seems irreplaceable for a lot of people.
Show threadKnittingMittens (She/Her)Jan 21, 2025
@Ghurir @sylv_a I think it'll need multiple replacements. I'm switching to the Buy Nothing App for my Buy Nothing Group. Nextdoor for community discussions/announcements and marketplace. I don't use Facebook for social uses, but I've heard Friendica is good for that.
Show threadD1re_W0lf
@KnittingMittens @Ghurir @sylv_a Unfortunatlly Friendica / Streams don't have neither Android nor iOS apps and for must people, specially if the idea is to do a transition, that's a big no.
Jan 21, 2025 at 4:53pmPhanpy
Show threadThe Gym NerdJan 21, 2025

@d1re_w0lf @KnittingMittens @Ghurir @sylv_a the cool thing is... It doesn't really matter that much if someone uses #friendica or #mastodon or #misskey or #Pixelfed or #PeerTube or what ever platform that is built around #activitypub

The same principal that enables different mastodon instances to speak with each other also allow instances of other types to speak with each other.

It's all just more a question of UX and what type of content is preferred. #fediverse

Show threadD1re_W0lfJan 21, 2025

@TheGymNerd @KnittingMittens @Ghurir @sylv_a ActivityPub is a full dictionary and most, if not all, software only implements a part of it. Not even considering that mastodon throws it own MastoAPI to the party.

In this case, Friendica / Streams uses, among other things, circles and groups that, for instance, Mastodon doesn't "understand" (Bonfire is adding something similar but still not quite ready yet).
So, AFAIK there's no mobile app that can fully interoperate with Friendica or Streams.

Show threadJupiter RowlandJan 22, 2025
@D1re_W0lf So, AFAIK there's no mobile app that can fully interoperate with Friendica or Streams.
There are multiple dedicated Android apps for Friendica. First and foremost, there is RaccoonForFriendica, but there are also DiCa and Friendiqa. I can't say how much of Friendica's functionality either of them covers; I left Friendica many years ago.

There is also Relatica for both Android and iOS, but it's a closed beta, you have to apply for testing it, and it may be buggy.

As for (streams), no, there isn't any mobile app for it. And it's highly unlikely that there will ever be one. After all, the goal for such an app should be to be a full replacement for the Web interface. Just look around Mastodon; there are plenty of users who have been around since October/November, 2022, or longer, and who have never even seen the Web interface. So even a mobile app for (streams) with a native mobile UI that only covers what users are likely to need sooner or later would be more complex than FairEmail, and FairEmail is a monster.

Also, (streams) tends to change quickly and without notice. (streams) isn't a project that ceremoniously rolls out new releases like Mastodon, Friendica or Hubzilla, and Fediverse Report has something to cover in its news. Instead, even if the main dev has declared himself retired from Fediverse development, (streams) rolls out new versions every couple days without telling anyone. And a native mobile (streams) app would always have to catch up with these changes.

By the way, there has been one attempt at building an Android app for Hubzilla. It is named Nomad, it's still available on F-Droid, but it hasn't been updated in over five years. Most of it is not native, though; it mostly displays the Web interface. Granted, Hubzilla actually manages to be even more complex than its own descendant (streams).

@KnittingMittens (She/Her) Friendica was made to replace all important functionality of Facebook from the get-go, and not just yesterday, but in 2010, over five years before Mastodon was made. The only Facebook features "missing" from Friendica are Facebook's games, data mining and half the population of the planet having an account on the same website.

If Facebook has it (on its Web interface anyway), and it's actually needed for social networking (FarmVille isn't, for example), then Friendica has had it readily available for almost a decade and a half.

(streams) is from Friendica's own creator and down a long path of forks of which Hubzilla was the first. It still carries Friendica's DNA (minus Friendica's many connection and federation options), but it's technologically more advanced and more geared towards privacy, security and resilience which also gives it a bit more of a learning curve.

Also, both do have groups built-in. Friendica can optionally have private groups, and (streams) can have public groups on three security levels plus private groups, all with some extra permissions configurable.

Here are some comparison tables with Mastodon, Friendica, Hubzilla and (streams) which I've made this week; they should clear a few things up.

CC: @The Gym Nerd @Ghurir @S 🌱 L V I Ξ›

#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #Facebook #FacebookReplacement #FacebookGroups #Fediverse #FediverseGroups #Friendica #Hubzilla #Streams #(streams)
Jupiter Rowland

Show threadThe Gym NerdJan 22, 2025

@jupiter_rowland @KnittingMittens @Ghurir @sylv_a

I'm not sure but I think what @d1re_w0lf meant is, that there isn't a single mastodon client, that fully understand all the content coming from a friendica instance... Which I believe is true.

ActivityPup doesn't automatically mean everyone can do all the stuff the same way as a completely unrelated other platform does.

Show threadJupiter RowlandJan 22, 2025
@The Gym Nerd There is no Mastodon that covers Friendica's entire functionality, yes. That's because Mastodon apps generally only cover Mastodon's functionality. Only Fedilab goes further, but even FediLab isn't a full-blown Friendica app.

Dedicated Friendica apps like RaccoonForFriendica, Friendiqa, DiCa and Relatica should cover a great deal more of Friendica's functionality. I'm not quite sure if either of them cover everything, e.g. if you can use them to manage the files in the file storage or integrate a Tumblr account.

ActivityPup doesn't automatically mean everyone can do all the stuff the same way as a completely unrelated other platform does.
I don't think there's a single mobile app that uses the ActivityPub C2S API. All Mastodon apps are built against the Mastodon C2S API, and the Mastodon C2S API doesn't cover anything that Mastodon can't do either.

Friendica has its own client API which dedicated Friendica apps make use of.

A hypothetical universal Fediverse app that covers everything of everything would also have to use all Fediverse client APIs out there.

CC: @KnittingMittens (She/Her) @Ghurir @S 🌱 L V I Ξ›

#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #Facebook #FacebookReplacement #FacebookGroups #Friendica #MastodonApps #RaccoonForFriendica #Friendiqa #DiCa #Relatica #FediLab
Netzgemeinde/Hubzilla