New Update Mastodon - New features, platform & app updates

[CyberTech]

Mastodon, the federated microblogging platform, has been updated to version 4.2, which comes with massive improvements to search and the web interface, particularly for logged-out and first-time users.

One of Mastodon’s many charming qualities is that, unlike Twitter X, Bluesky, Instagram, and most other social media platforms, the user base is split across thousands of instances, each of which can decide to federate with or block any of the others.

This is good in many ways. You can get a nice little intentional community going on your local server, and servers that are filled with abusive, illegal, and harmful content and / or users are widely ostracized. But it presents some, shall we say, unintuitive workflows for people used to single-instance networks. Mastodon 4.2 makes several of them work a little bit more like you’d expect.

For example, as of Mastodon 4.2, you can now use the search box to search for posts. In earlier versions, you could search for hashtags, usernames, and display names but could not search the contents of profiles or posts (except by pasting in the URL, which we’ll get to). Now, it works more like the search box on basically every other website. In the post announcing the new version, Mastodon founder / CEO Eugen Rochko directly acknowledges the search interface in Ivory, a third-party Mastodon app, as an inspiration for the search overhaul.

The rest

Mastodon 4.2 works more like it ought to

The update comes with some very welcome improvements.

www.theverge.com

 

[Ink]

Mastodon for Android update

New Mastodon for Android update finally brings lists and a reworked home tab to the mobile platform.

blog.joinmastodon.org

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 only helps in decluttering your home feed but also allows you to engage with certain topics on your own terms, when you are ready. Additionally, we reworked the home tab to provide easy navigation between your home feed, lists, and followed hashtags, so you can get the most out of your experience on Mastodon.

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