fedilab

#Fedilab 3.36.0-beta-3 is available (bug fixes).

Release notes at https://codeberg.org/tom79/Fedilab/releases/tag/3.36.0-beta-3

There is one interesting feature we didn't add yet for Mastodon quotes: The ability to see all quotes for a message. We will add that asap #Fedilab

#Fedilab 3.35.0 has been published.

This version brings a full support to #Mastodon quotes.

Check the release notes for all details: https://codeberg.org/tom79/Fedilab/releases

We will not turn on the option to remove tracking parameters in URLs as it needs to opt-in.
What do you think if #Fedilab warns when tracking parameters have been detected when tapping an URL with an option to opt-in for removing them?

The combined boost/quote button in #Fedilab looks so smug

I love it

We hope you like the new layout. Details are now displayed on two lines.
The reblog/quote button has a new design.
If you are the original poster, tapping on the quote number will display all messages that quoted your post.

PS: We will fix asap the edit feature which is currently broken.

Thank you for all your feedback! #Fedilab

#Fedilab already caches your home timeline in the background when you have a good connection. Everything could be transparent: you see messages offline and can interact with them. The app would act like Holos, queueing your actions to process them automatically later when you're back online. Would need some work but seems like an interesting feature?

#Fedilab 3.35.1 has been published:

Added:
- Extend filters to quoted messages

Changed:
- Replace "No one" by "Just me" for the quote approval policy
- Add x.com domain to the alternate frontend URL patterns

Fixed:
- Crash when editing messages

Release notes:
https://codeberg.org/tom79/Fedilab/releases/tag/3.35.1

What default policy do you think to set with quotes ?

More about quotes: https://docs.joinmastodon.org/user/quote-posts/

#Fedilab #Mastodon

From time to time, we ask you on Mastodon what is for your things that we should fix or improve in priority with #Fedilab.
This is an important moment of exchanges where everyone can participate.
To see all replies, think to tap on the top right "target" button.
Be nice, and don't hesitate to share your feedback here. Thank you.

RE: https://mastodon.social/@HolosSocial/115787546493472485

This is a feature we could bring to #Fedilab

Concerning the grouped button reblog/quote with #Fedilab?

#Fedilab release v3.35.0 (F-Droid) cannot edit posts. It stores edits as drafts. @apps

Happy New Year 🎊

We wish you health and success in your projects for the year ahead.

#Fedilab keeps our full attention for 2026. We know we've been heavily focused on #Holos development lately, but both are independent projects and each has its place. Fedilab remains our flagship client. Holos explores data sovereignty with on-device servers.

Thank you for your continued support.

We are really happy that #CastLab reached the official #FDroid repo. This was not so easy for us, but thanks to the help of two volunteers, they made it possible. So a big thank you to them.

https://f-droid.org/packages/app.fedilab.castlab

Concerning #Fedilab, we keep working on fixes and enhancements thanks to your feedback. We already fixed several of them.

#Fedilab remembers your position (and updates your Mastodon marker, so you can keep the same position between apps). Of course it has a limit when cache is enabled. If you have an active Home timeline, the app will remember your position but you might end up in a gap where many messages are no longer available on your instance. We introduced background Home retrieval while you don't use the app. It's not perfect but it helps. Otherwise, you can disable cache in settings.

Hello @apps, would it be possible to implement search timelines in #Fedilab? It would be nice to be able to set up lists of timelines based on searches for multiple terms or tags. I could create timelines focused on design or development (for example). Thank you for your attention.

I've been testing #snac2 for a few days now, more specificly I want to see if it can replace my #friendica installation that I have been using since 2019. This will be a somewhat longer piece that is also meant to see how Snac copes with longer Markdown formatted text.

Friendica

First things first. Friendica is awesome. It is the everything and the kitchen sink of the Fediverse and does a lot of things right. The only downside I see is the reason why I am looking for an alterantive though. Over time it has become harder and harder to host Friendica on my vserver with 8GB of RAM. I could of course opt for a bigger server, but honestly I am only using a fraction of Friendica's features and would prefer something less demanding.

Snac

Snac is lightweight, easiy to install, uses no database and does not even require coockies or Javascript in its Web-UI. I mean, how cool ist that!

Compared to Friendica, its featureset is basic at best. But compared to other Fediverse tools like #mastodon it does not fare so bad. But how usable is it as an alternative to my peronal Friendica use.

The good stuff

Setup is really easy for anyone who has self-hosted any services before. The documentation in manpage format might be old school but it is very complete - read it. If you're on Debian you can even use the package from trixie-backports which is kept very current!

It shows the timeline chronologically but with nested threads. This is the only way that makes sense to me and is exactly what I use in Friendica (where different settings are available). This means every new activity on a thread brings it up again (partly collapsed) so you always see the necessary context to follow conversations. For me this is the most important feature, I would not even have continued testing without it. Snac just does it right!

It has the looks! Well at least after applying some stylesheets. Calling the vanilla install basic would already be an overstatement. But have a look at the styles that are linked from snac's Reaedme. I chose the next.css style and have attached an image of how it looks below. The screenshot is from an Android phone and this works remarkably well, even on mobile (some caveats below)!

It's compatible with Mastodon apps. I have only tested #Fedilab because I use it for other stuff too. Everything just works as expected. Although I have to admit, I like the native Web-UI (next.css) even more.

Long Text with Markdown formatting. 500 character per Toot - No thank you, I am not chatting here!

What is missing (or is it?)

There is only the timeline and you can follow Hashtags, that's it. No Channels, no groups, no theme-specific timelines. But honestly, I did not use any of that on Friendica, mainly for performance reasons. So this is a non-issue for me personally.

Following RSS feeds. This feature I will really miss. In Friendica I could direclty follow Feeds and interact with them from my timeline exactly like with ActivityPub Notes or Articles. I will have to use an external translation service or write my own for that (having written an ActivityPub related tool with tootgroup.py before.)

Message formatting is somewhat less flexible but this post shows what is possible still. Sometimes I like to put images in between paragraphs but not having that is also not a big deal.

Event Calendar. This is not a feature I expect Snac to support but I do use it on Friendica and will have to think about how to replace it.

What could be improved

I love that snac works without Javascript and cookies - that's exactly how I still build my webpages. But there is one usecase where a bit of one or the other would make life much easier - when using the Web-UI on mobile platforms.

I have already stated how great the mobile experience is when using the next.css stylesheet. The only downside is that I have to login with username/password again and again, every time the mobile browser is sent to sleep by Android.

Optionally enabling the use of a login cookie would make life much easier. Even better would be enabling Snac to be installed as a Progressive Web App, but I have to admit, I'm not sure how hard or feasible this would be.

Overall, I do not see many shortcomings with Snac. Obviously it offers less features than Friendica, but what it does, it does very well and at least in my view, the important stuff is exactly where it needs to be.

Conclusion

I am pretty impressed with snac. I'll be running my test server for a little bit longer but I do expect replace my Friendica install in the not too distant future.

Adding grunfink@comam.es because maybe you're interested. Please don't treat this as a feature-request or even critizism. It's mostly meant as info for people who have not tried snac yet.

#Fedilab 3.36.0-beta-4 is available. We need feedback from beta testers using #Misskey. Full release notes: https://codeberg.org/tom79/Fedilab/releases/tag/3.36.0-beta-4

If we only have minor fixes with the last beta, we should be able to publish #Fedilab 3.36.0 in production this weekend.
There are a lot of changes and fixes (see all beta release notes at https://codeberg.org/tom79/Fedilab/releases)
Also, Fedilab now supports #Misskey, so don't hesitate to share so we can get more feedback. Thank you!

#Holos differs fundamentally from #Fedilab. As the server runs on your phone, using Holos across multiple devices is currently not possible. The relay caches pending activities and clears them once retrieved (multi-device sync not yet implemented). Traditional apps rely on a server API and are limited to what that server knows. Holos fetches data directly via ActivityPub, giving you access to the full Fediverse.

We've started a FAQ based on your feedback: https://holos.social/faq

#Fedilab not playing some custom emojis or worse not displaying them at all will be fixed in the next release. Also, the issue with long messages being truncated at the top should be fixed too, along with some other older issues. We keep fixing them for 3.36.1

We put a lot of work into both #Fedilab and #HolosSocial. We will never neglect one for the other, both deserve attention. Holos allowed us to push boundaries like E2EE DMs over ActivityPub and portable identity, but Fedilab is the app we've been working on since 2017 and will keep integrating new features. This is your app, not ours. Alongside all this, we are volunteers, so if you can help us financially, that would really help. Thank you.

@apps & @krille look here: https://f-droid.org/2026/01/08/unifiedpush-5-years.html
You have been mentioned as the 2 essential apps to support #UnifiedPush in the beginning. 💪️

RE: https://floss.social/@fdroidorg/115904357839472383
#Fedilab #FluffyChat

#Fedilab 3.36.0 is out! Lots of changes. Release notes: https://codeberg.org/tom79/Fedilab/releases/tag/3.36.0

For #FDroid users who don't use our repo, please expect a few days.