The people should own the town square

For any enquiry regarding this announcement, please contact press@joinmastodon.org Mastodon was founded on the principles that people should be able to control their social circle online, curate their own timeline, and convene freely with any community of their choosing. We belie … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 1 day ago

Annual Report 2023

If you’re curious how Mastodon is doing by the numbers, the 2023 Annual Report is finally here. A bit late in the year, perhaps, but we’ve got a lot more numbers to share this time! Mastodon is a non-profit, and open-source, so we revel in the transparency. How large is our budge … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 22 days ago

Trunk & Tidbits, November 2024

Trunk & Tidbits, November 2024 Hi everyone! We’re back with our monthly engineering update, looking back at a busy November. General news We were pleased to see our friends at NGI (Next Generation Internet) announce a major transition to using Mastodon and PeerTube as primary com … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 1 month ago

Trunk & Tidbits, October 2024

Trunk & Tidbits, October 2024 Welcome back to our monthly engineering series. In October, our long-anticipated plushies got out into the wild (mostly in Europe, for now), and we were busy tuning the code and planning what’s next. This is also a larger entry in our blog series, fo … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 2 months ago

Trunk & Tidbits, September 2024

Trunk & Tidbits, September 2024 Hello, friends! It’s time for another installment of our engineering updates series. Here’s what’s been happening in the code this past month. Releases Mastodon 4.3 is here! After 12 months of hard work, several beta versions, and a release candida … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 3 months ago

Mastodon 4.3

Mastodon 4.3 just landed! If you’re a mastodon.social user, you might have already seen some of this in action as we’ve been gradually rolling out these updates over the course of the last 11 months in nightly releases, but we’re finally making a new stable release available to t … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 3 months ago

Trunk & Tidbits, August 2024

Trunk & Tidbits, August 2024 It was a big month for the Mastodon team, with a lot of work going into getting the first beta release of version 4.3 ready - but that’s not all that we’ve worked on. Here is our monthly update on what we’ve been up to. Releases During August, we rele … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 4 months ago

Trunk & Tidbits, July 2024

Trunk & Tidbits, July 2024 Hey, friends - here is another instalment in our engineering updates series. This is what has been happening in the code lately. Team Updates At the very end of July we opened a role for an iOS developer to look after the official Mastodon for iOS app. … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 5 months ago

The European Union must keep funding free software

The European Union must keep funding free software The Next Generation Internet (NGI) program from the European Commission has been crucial for the development of many open-source products, including Mastodon. They are one of the best initiatives worldwide to finance work on OSS … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 5 months ago

Trunk & Tidbits, June 2024

Looking back at June (and just sneaking in to the start of July), we have a lot to share with you. Let’s dive in! Growing the team First of all, we are delighted to announce a new member of the core development team - David Roetzel joined us as a core web developer. Welcome, @dav … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 6 months ago

Highlighting journalism on Mastodon

To reinforce and encourage Mastodon as the go-to place for journalism, we’re launching a new feature today. You will notice that underneath some links shared on Mastodon, the author byline can be clicked to open the author’s associated fediverse account, right in the app. This hi … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 6 months ago

Trunk & Tidbits, May 2024

Welcome again to Trunk & Tidbits, our engineering updates blog series. Let us fill you in on what we’ve been focused on during this past month. Releases you should know about During May, we released some important updates for the 4.2 and 4.1 releases, and nightly builds. They con … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 7 months ago

Trunk & Tidbits, April 2024

Welcome to the first in a planned ongoing series of updates from the core Mastodon engineering team. We’ll also take a quick look at what’s been happening around the broader community. What we’ve been working on The Mastodon 4.3 release is around the corner - we only have one big … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 8 months ago

Mastodon forms new U.S. non-profit

As part of our commitment to supporting the growth and operational capabilities of Mastodon, we have established a 501(c)(3) non-profit entity in the United States aimed at facilitating our efforts, including being able to receive tax-deductible U.S. donations and in-kind support … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 8 months ago

Mastodon stuffed toy coming soon

After we’ve released our new line of merch last year, we’ve heard a lot of questions about a potential stuffed toy. After all, our official mascot is so suitable. But it is, problematically, a two-dimensional character. We sat down with our artist, Dopatwo, to try and imagine wha … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 9 months ago

Mastodon for Android update

At the beginning of February, our team attended our very first conference at FOSDEM in Brussels. As a remote-only company, it was also the first time a lot of us met each other in real life. It was a very fun time, and a lot of people came up to take selfies in front of our compa … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 10 months ago

Improving the quality of conversations on Mastodon

In our most recent Mastodon for Android release, we’re testing a new feature aimed to curb unneccesary negativity that comes from being on the Internet. Complete strangers using an overly familiar tone, offering unsolicited advice, or starting arguments that are completely beside … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 1 year ago

Thank you Sujitech

Today we would like to thank Sujitech for kindly donating $100k USD to Mastodon, by far the largest single donation to our non-profit so far. Building Mastodon, which encompasses the core software on one end, and two native mobile applications on the other, is not cheap, and we c … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 1 year ago

Mastodon for Android update

The most recent update of Mastodon for Android introduces a highly anticipated feature–lists. With the new update, you now have the ability to create custom lists and categorize your follows based on specific topics or interests, while removing them from your home feed. This not … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 1 year ago

Annual Report 2022

Some of your were asking for it, some of you had no idea it was coming. The 2022 Annual Report is ready! As a non-profit organization supported exclusively by donations, we like to keep our community updated on our yearly progress, and 2022 was an interesting year to say the leas … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 1 year ago

Mastodon 4.2

As Mastodon continues to grow, we’d like to make sure we’re doing all we can to help you connect with your friends and your interests. Most importantly, we want to bring you features that make it much easier to connect with people that matter to you. In this version we overhauled … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 1 year ago

New merchandise

To help us raise more funds for our development efforts, we are launching a new line of merchandise for Mastodon including t-shirts, mugs, enamel pins, and stickers. Our artist, Dopatwo, has come up with brand new, exclusive designs for each item, and we’ve partnered with FRESH M … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 1 year ago

What to know about Threads

Today, Meta is launching its new microblogging platform called Threads. What is noteworthy about this launch is that Threads intends to become part of the decentralized social web by using the same standard protocol as Mastodon, ActivityPub. There’s been a lot of speculation arou … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 1 year ago

Mastodon for Android update

While usually our app updates don’t get a dedicated blog post, this one is a bit bigger and provides a good opportunity to reflect on how the Android app changed since launch roughly a year ago. Today, Mastodon for Android has received a complete Material You redesign. We left no … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 1 year ago

A new onboarding experience on Mastodon

Today we’re making signing up on Mastodon easier than ever before. We understand that deciding which Mastodon service provider to kick off your experience with can be confusing. We know this is a completely new concept for many people, since traditionally the platform and the ser … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 1 year ago

Twitter suspends Mastodon account, prevents sharing links: Our statement - Official Mastodon Blog

On Dec 16, Twitter suspended our @joinmastodon account after we shared a link to the newly registered Mastodon account of @ElonJet, an account that broadcasts public flight path data of Elon Musk’s private jet, which was previously suspended from Twitter itself. At the same time, … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 2 years ago

Twitter suspends Mastodon account, prevents sharing links

On Dec 16, Twitter suspended our @joinmastodon account after we shared a link to the newly registered Mastodon account of @ElonJet, an account that broadcasts public flight path data of Elon Musk’s private jet, which was previously suspended from Twitter itself. At the same time, … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 2 years ago

Scaling Mastodon: What it takes to house 43,000 users (2017)

My instance mastodon.social has recently surpassed 43,000 users. I have closed registrations both to have more time to investigate the infrastructure and ensure a good experience for existing users, and to encourage more decentralization in the network (with a wonderful effect — … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 2 years ago

New website launch

I’m pleased to announce that our new joinmastodon.org website is now live. We teamed up with the design agency Oak to give our project a modern and professional presence. The website is responsible for explaining what Mastodon is, why it is better than other social media platform … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 2 years ago

New website launch

I’m pleased to announce that our new joinmastodon.org website is now live. We teamed up with the design agency Oak to give our project a modern and professional presence. The website is responsible for explaining what Mastodon is, why it is better than other social media platform … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 2 years ago

Mastodon branding updates

We’re teaming up with the design agency Oak to update our homepage and our brand. We’re leaving the ubiquitous blue that every social app seems to have behind in favour of a vibrant purple. Our logo also gets some subtle shape fixes that makes it look more precise. I originally p … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 2 years ago

Twitter buyout puts Mastodon into spotlight

The news of Elon Musk buying Twitter has put Mastodon into the public spotlight as an alternative social network, rapidly exploding our growth with over 30,000 new users in just a single day. This is because at Mastodon, we present a vision of social media that cannot be bought a … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 2 years ago

Official apps now available for iOS and Android

With the release of our Android app on the Play Store we are now present on both major mobile platforms. The apps are gaining overwhelmingly positive reviews, some even going so far as to claim that our onboarding is smoother than any other social media platform’s; our iOS app is … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 2 years ago

Official apps now available for iOS and Android

With the release of our Android app on the Play Store we are now present on both major mobile platforms. The apps are gaining overwhelmingly positive reviews, some even going so far as to claim that our onboarding is smoother than any other social media platform’s; our iOS app is … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 2 years ago

Mastodon 3.5

Work on multiple features in this release has been kindly sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research through the Prototype Fund. We’ve added one of the most requested functions among our competitors, the ability to edit posts. Since older Mastodon versions … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 2 years ago

Official Mastodon for Android app is coming soon

Following the successful launch of our official iOS app, in January we’ve begun the development of an Android version. We continue working with the NYC design agency Lickability and welcome Gregory Klyushnikov, better known as grishka on the fediverse, as the lead Android develop … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 2 years ago

Mastodon Recap 2021

Disclaimer: Since Mastodon is decentralized, different Mastodon servers have a different view of the network depending on user activity, and providing an objective data summary across the entire network is not currently possible. Data provided in this blog post is provided as-see … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 3 years ago

Trump's new social media platform found using Mastodon code

From media reports and individual findings that various people have presented to us, it seems that the new social media platform owned by the former president of the United States, Donald J. Trump, so-called Truth Social, is using Mastodon’s source code with various visual adjust … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 3 years ago

EUNOMIA public pilot launch

On behalf of the EUNOMIA project, in which I represent Mastodon, I am happy to announce that after nearly 3 years of development there is now a public pilot for the Mastodon community. But first, what is EUNOMIA and who is EUNOMIA? EUNOMIA is a “digital companion” for social medi … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 3 years ago

EUNOMIA public pilot launch

On behalf of the EUNOMIA project, in which I represent Mastodon, I am happy to announce that after nearly 3 years of development there is now a public pilot for the Mastodon community.But first, what is EUNOMIA and who is EUNOMIA? EUNOMIA is a “digital companion” for social media … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 3 years ago

Mastodon now a non-profit organisation

In June, I was able to officially register Mastodon gGmbH after nearly 8 months of legal work (“gGmbH” means “non-profit limited liability company”). A non-profit limited liability company in Germany is structered and operates similarly to a for-profit limited liability company w … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 3 years ago

Developing an official iOS app for Mastodon

One of the ways Mastodon sets itself apart from current-day Twitter is its API-first approach (every function available through the web interface is available through the API, in fact, our web client is just an API client that runs in the browser). A third-party app ecosystem con … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 3 years ago

Mastodon 3.3

It’s Mastodon 3.3 time 🎉 We’ve got security fixes, performance fixes, new moderation tools and quality of life features! | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 3 years ago

Mastodon 3.3

It’s Mastodon 3.3 time 🎉 We’ve got security fixes, performance fixes, new moderation tools and quality of life features! | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 3 years ago

Why EUNOMIA builds on Mastodon

An ever growing problem of the modern social media-rich world is misinformation. The trust that was previously placed into government officials and journalism has eroded; the internet gave everyone a voice but with it made it so much more difficult to distinguish truth from fabri … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 4 years ago

Why EUNOMIA builds on Mastodon

An ever growing problem of the modern social media-rich world is misinformation. The trust that was previously placed into government officials and journalism has eroded; the internet gave everyone a voice but with it made it so much more difficult to distinguish truth from fabri … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 4 years ago

Mastodon 3.2

The new Mastodon release brings you a much better audio player and improved support for different audio and video formats, as well as some additional security mechanisms.The audio player has been completely reworked to have a more eye-catching design. It will extract album art fr … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 4 years ago

Mastodon 3.2

The new Mastodon release brings you a much better audio player and improved support for different audio and video formats, as well as some additional security mechanisms.The audio player has been completely reworked to have a more eye-catching design. It will extract album art fr … | Continue reading


@blog.joinmastodon.org | 4 years ago