I’m aware of the official client, but also interested in third-party apps that support multiple accounts, etc.
There is a plethora of apps, so looking for experiences you have had.
@johnatl@fosstodon.org
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I think I’ve tried all of them, and so far Twidere X has been my favorite!
@dennyhenke@social.coop
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That seems to be a Twitter client, or did I miss something?
Yes, you did miss something! It’s an unfortunate name choice. I suspect it started out as a Twitter client, but it also does Mastodon! I was surprised upon first opening it that it supports Mastodon so well. In my opinion much better than the other apps that only do Mastodon.
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I’m currently using Metatext, which was recommended as “better than the official”. It’s an iOS/iPadOS app but runs fine on M1 Macs.
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I’m also using the (open source) Metatext App on iOS/iPadOS.
I still have an Intel Mac, so unfortunately I can’t run it on my Mac.
Unfortunately none of the Mastodon Apps comes closes to Tweetbot 
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I really hope Tapbots (maker of Twitterbot) or the Iconfactory (maker of Twitterrific) will build nice clients. I read yesterday Tapbots requests in doing so has increased massively.
I’m using the official iOS app for now.
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My experience of Mastodon so far has been… far from enlightening, to put it charitably. I understand the desire to move away from the increasingly hot Twitter dumpster fire, but Mastodon needs some serious development before it becomes a contender.
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Could you elaborate? I’m curious… 
Okay, thanks!
I read the description on the appstore, and it was Twitter this, and tweet that.
Will have a second look.
I read the description on the appstore, and it was Twitter this, and tweet that.
I was also mislead by that, but I’m giving it a try now (like it so far).
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For those that want a Twitterrific or Tweetbot like experience, I think Twidere X comes closest.
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I’ll have a go.
The biggest issue is that Mastodon is a service running on many different servers, each managed by a different person or team on, at the moment, a voluntary basis. You pick a server to sign up to. In one sense it doesn’t matter which one, because all users on all servers can be visible. In other senses it matters a lot, because it’s hard to find criteria to pick a server and many just can’t cope with the vol7me of new users. After all, no-one’s charging for this and so much of what’s on offer is running on bits of slate capacity.
Some of the more popular servers (“instances” in the jargon) have had to restrict new signups because they’ve run out of steam. It’s all a bit chaotic right now. For those of us who remember the internet in the 1990s, it’s quite refreshing really. But not great if you just want an alternative to the bird.
That said, persevere - I think it has potential and the early adopters will get to define how it looks and works in the future
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Thanks for that. It’s the third client I have tried and I’m liking it the most so far.
I’m not sure how long I’m going to last on Mastodon. It seems a lot of people have no idea what’s possible with Twitter, as most of the “improvements” aren’t any different. It’s doing my head in. If it turns into a shouting match, it may be my fault.
Tootle is a bit buggy but it’s got a unique feature where you add tabs for other instances and follow their public timelines. I wouldn’t use it as a full-time client but it’s an interesting extra for discovery.
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I totally agree. For newcomers the on-boarding is not so straight forward, especially due to the high volume of new joiners right now. mastodon.social had so much trouble in the last week, needed much bigger servers etc.
That said, I really like the federation aspect, so you can join every server you like which is open for registration. The biggest thing is that there is not one single company behind the servers, instead several communities pay for the server and maintenance and also do the moderation stuff.
You need some time getting used to the local, federated timeline but after all it works quiet well and as you said has some spirit of the old internet days 
I just created my own instance. Find me at https://social.stefanberger.net/@stefan
That should be no ad or whatever. Just let me know if you need some more info or help regarding mastodon.
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Yes, the federation aspect of Mastodon and the larger Fediverse has a lot of potential over the long term to become something pretty amazing! Having an interoperable social network that is standards based (ActivityPub) could be a pivotal point “social media”. There seems to still be a lot of misunderstanding about how it works out, or a lack of appreciation for what it might mean in the long term.
Imagine for a moment if businesses and government agencies set up their own Mastodon servers from which their employees/representatives could then communicate with one another or the public. They would be in control and have their own local view of internal postings. It’s the foundation of a very flexible communications network that provides for local rules and moderation as needed But also allows for cross communication to the public!
Podcast networks like relay FM, could set up their own instances for hosts and staff. Or people who enjoy Apple focused discussion could get together and form an instance. Or perhaps you’re into your local history and genealogy, for a small amount of money you can set up your own instance for your local history club, and there again your local timeline would be based on the postings of your membership. So at any given moment, you can just enjoy a small local timeline based on this local group. Want more than that? Go to your “Home” timeline and look at the things that are being posted by all the different people you follow. Perhaps you have a friend that focuses mostly on photography and they have set up an account on pixelfed which is an ActivityPub based service similar to Instagram. Well, because it’s based on activity pub. You can follow them right from your Mastodon account and still see their pictures. Or perhaps you’ve got a friend that’s on Micro.blog? Because micro.blog has support for ActivityPub built-in you can follow their account right from Mastodon. Even better your friend that is hosting at Micro.blog can also follow you even though your account is on Mastodon.
Any service based on ActivityPub interoperates allowing for communication between members if they follow one another. It’s a whole new way to think about services that we previously thought about as siloed requiring different memberships in each different service. One account on a server lets you cross communicate just like email allows communication between different services in doesn’t care where the who or where the host is.
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In Germany there is an instance from the government hosting accounts from several federal agencies.
https://social.bund.de/explore
The EU also has an instance at https://social.network.europa.eu/explore
I’m really looking forward into this stuff.
Let’s see what happens next
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Great pitch.
I am another fan-in-theory. Maybe folks here can help clarify something that relates to the social media utopia Denny’s described: what if you want to join multiple instances?
E.g., say I join an academic community foremost, and my workplace also wants to launch a different instance. Does this mean two accounts? Using the original account in the workplace account? Either?
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I thing work and private accounts is always something different. Often companies do not want to mix with private accounts of employees.
But in general, you can create an account say @ryan@mastodon.social. With that account you can
- follow whoever you want on all other instances
- can see the local timeline (posts from other accounts on this specific instance)
- can see the federated timeline (all post of accounts in other instances which are followed by accounts on your instance)
Posts (toots) of an account 1 are copied from instance A to B if there is someone on B who follows account 1.
That means posts available on an instance are managed by the users themselves by choosing who they are following.
The admin of an instance can block accounts and also entire other instances.
Hope that makes sense.
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