Remote following or remote interaction is where you go to the website of a Fediverse server which you’re not a member of, and try to follow an account or interact with a post there. By default it will ask you to sign in again or tell you the name of your server, because it’s asking your own server to confirm who you are.
This is obviously pretty cumbersome, especially if you’re browsing the websites of many different servers as they will each ask you separately. But there is an easier way:
- Log in on your own server, either via your server’s website, wep app or app store app
- Copy the web address of the post or profile from the other server’s website
- Paste this web address into the search box on your own server. This will make the other server’s post or profile appear within your own server, and you will be able to interact with it directly without having to log in again or give your server name.
Does this work with web addresses from different types of Fediverse server?
Yes! For example you can copy and paste the web address of a PeerTube video or Pixelfed photo into the search box on a Mastodon server, and the video or photo will appear within Mastodon. By the way, it will look like a Mastodon post if you paste the address into Mastodon, but you can see its true form by looking at its original page.
Is there any way to do this automatically through web browser plugins?
If you have Firefox on a computer you can install the Simplified Federation add-on ⧉ which automatically signs you in when you’re doing a remote follow.
Why is this so awkward and cumbersome? Why can’t it be smoother by default?
Remote following is meant more as a method of last resort, rather than the main way of using the Fediverse. You’ll find it a lot easier to follow people from other servers within your own server’s interface, and once your server has noticed an account or post you will be able to find it again by searching for it within your own server.
Why can’t the apps do this automatically?
The latest versions of a lot of apps do recognise Mastodon and other Fediverse links, and do the copy-pasting for you seamlessly behind the scenes. That’s why you may see a brief delay after clicking a link, while the app does the copy-pasting and presents you with the post or profile within the app itself.
However, this automation doesn’t always work. If your app fails to recognise a link as leading to a Mastodon/Fediverse server, that’s when it shows you the server’s website and you need to manually copy-paste it back into the app’s search box.