Pixelfed, a decentralized alternative to Instagram, has released its official mobile app. The service currently runs on the same ActivityPub protocol that powers open source X alternative Mastodon, YouTube competitor PeerTube, and other decentralized social apps, and now Meta's Threads and Flipboard (plus its new app Surf) These include a more open social web known as the Fediverse.
Pixelfed was originally developed by Daniel Supernault in 2018. He also recently created Loops, a federated rival to TikTok. Similar to Instagram, Pixelfed allows users to share and explore photos and videos, as well as send direct messages to others. However, quite unlike Instagram, Pixelfed is ad-free, open source, decentralized, and uses a chronological feed by default. This is the selling point to users.
If TikTok's ban is upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, it could mean users are distancing themselves from Meta's (no longer fact-checked) socials at a time when people would rather join another Chinese app than return to Meta. Pixelfed apps are more likely to succeed because they are trying to do this. media.
To get started with Pixelfed, like other federated apps, users can choose to join one of the community's servers or self-host a Pixelfed instance.
Image credit: Pixelfed
Before Pixelfed's mobile app debuted, you could use Pixelfed over the web or through third-party mobile apps like Impressia. The service now offers its own official mobile app on both Android and iOS, following an earlier beta test.
Android Pixelfed was released ahead of the iOS app on Tuesday, and it took just two days to reach 10,000 downloads, Supernault said on his Mastodon account. The app is currently the No. 1 social app on Google Play in many markets, including the US.
He also said that 11,000 new users have joined Pixelfed.social, one of Pixelfed's top instances, in the past 24 hours. This server alone had over 78,000 posts on Tuesday alone.
The Pixelfed app is free to use and no user data is collected.