Just as Mastodon offers an open source decentralized version of X, Fediverse is getting its own TikTok competitor. This week, an app called Loops started accepting sign-ups for a new platform for sharing short, looping videos. Loops is still in its infancy, not yet open sourced, and not fully integrated with ActivityPub, the protocol that powers Mastodon, Pixelfed, PeerTube, and other federated apps.
But both of these efforts are ongoing, and once completed, Loops will join the growing open social web known as the Fediverse, which currently has over 11.6 million users and over 1 million monthly active users. It allows you to add a new layer of social activity. (Mastodon accounts for about 65% of that activity.) The growth in this space has also led other apps to adopt ActivityPub, including social magazine apps Flipboard and Meta's Threads. The latter is not yet fully integrated, but already has more than 200 million monthly active users.
Loops, on the other hand, was developed by Daniel Supernault, who also created Instagram's federated rival Pixelfed. In fact, according to the website's FAQ, Loops will be run under the Pixelfed project.
In addition to the ultimate benefits of being distributed as open source, Loops does not allow users to sell or provide user data to third-party advertisers, use content to train AI models, or upload content to the service. The company claims that it does not acquire any rights to the content. Instead, users simply give Loops permission to use their content, but retain full ownership of their posts, the Loops website explains.
Like many Fediverse projects, Loops does not rely on investor support. To raise funds, Loops solicits donations from users through Patreon, Open Collective, and Liberapay. We are also finalizing a grant to sustain Loops' development for one year.
Intended for users 13 and older, Loops allows you to follow other users, like, comment, and share videos. However, as part of the Federated Web (the open social web running on ActivityPub), remote users from other platforms such as Mastodon and Pixelfed can also follow your Loops account and view videos in your home feed on their respective platforms. You will be able to view. These remote followers can also like, comment, and share your videos if the platform supports it.
If an uploader has a low trust score, videos published to the app will be held for moderation, but trusted users can skip the queue and publish immediately. According to Supernault, trust scores are also used to hide problematic comments on posts and apply content warnings.
Other features, such as profile sharing and the ability for Loops users to follow Mastodon and Pixelfed users on their behalf, are still “to be announced,” the site said.
Loops sign-ups are now open after a month-long countdown period, and interested testers will receive an email when they can actually start using the new app. . (Due to rate limits, that might take a day or so, Supernault said.)
Supernault says a sideloadable APK will be available to Android users, and the iOS app will be offered first to Apple's TestFlight testing service once approved. The web interface isn't immediately noticeable, but will come later.
The founders are currently seeking feedback from the community regarding Loops' terms and conditions, privacy policy, and are looking for a moderator.