The slow but steady outflow of Twitter has brought a new abundance of third-party Mastodon apps such as Ivory, Mammoth, and Ice Cubes, connecting users to the increasingly popular open-source and decentralized social network. increase. Today, another solidly built iOS Mastodon client focused on providing a more customizable home screen, a threaded view for reading long conversations, and a TweetDeck-inspired layout for iPad A Woolly release lets us add one more app to that list.
According to Woolly creator Matteo Villa, the main difference between his app and others is his approach to home screen customization. With Woolly, a user can pin multiple remote his timelines, lists, bookmarks, searches, hashtags, and even other user profiles, etc. directly to his tab his bar in the app’s main tabs to view his favorite Quick and easy access to content.
You can also customize the icon associated with each pinned section for a more personalized experience.
Image credit: woolly
On both iPhone and iPad, the various pinned “columns” can be accessed by tapping icons, but on iPad the columns are also visible in a TweetDeck-like view.
This latter option may appeal to those who have relied heavily on Twitter’s often-ignored social media dashboard app. The company appears to be scaling back by dropping the TweetDeck Mac app after dropping support for its mobile client and Windows last summer. (And of course, it’s unclear how long TweetDeck has a future under Elon Musk’s ownership.)
Image credit: woolly
Another standout feature of Woolly’s new app is support for threaded conversations. It resembles Twitter’s own look and feel, with connecting lines between posts that help you follow replies as you scroll down. The purpose of the feature is to provide a “better reading experience with longer conversations,” explains Villa. This was especially missing when I switched to the official Mastodon app.
The similarities between Woolly and Twitter don’t end there. Even the line of icons for engaging Mastodon posts looks a little familiar. The row starts with a reply button on the far left, followed by a retweet (or “boost” in Mastodon parlance) and a heart icon to favorite the post. , like Twitter.
Image credit: woolly
Woolly includes a way to filter your timeline to hide boosts and replies, a setting that allows you to specify whether links open within the app or in your system browser, light and dark mode themes you can choose from, sensitive Hide or hide media, toggle posts with content warnings hidden, access trending posts, links and hashtags.
At launch, Woolly isn’t as feature-rich as other apps like Ivory, including access to analytics, custom timeline filters, and more. However, Woollly is perceived as a polished and stable app that also has the potential to make former Twitter users feel more comfortable when switching to his Mastodon.
Since Musk took over Twitter, the federated social web has gained momentum as some former Twitter users began experimenting elsewhere to socialize online.
As a result, Mastodon’s user base also grew, reaching 2.5 million monthly actives by the end of the year. Some Twitter users have since left, but the network still has 1.2 million monthly active users, and decentralized social app Fediverse has grown to 2.3 million monthly active users. Recently, Mastodon has been on the rise as services like Flipboard and Medium have started setting up their own servers for their customers to use. Additionally, WordPress.com owners have just purchased a plugin that allows their blogs to reach readers on the federated platform. Over time, these moves may increase the number of active Fediverse users.
Available now on the App Store, Woolly is a free download so you can see it in action. However, if you actually want to use the app and post to his Mastodon, you’ll need to purchase an in-app subscription. Currently, this costs $0.99 per month or $6.99 per year and allows you to log into multiple accounts, customize your main tab his bar, unlock more themes, and instantly change your home screen You can also use widgets.
