There are lots of ways to discover interesting accounts on topics you are interested in, see below for a complete list.

(If you want to follow people you already know in real life, the most reliable way to do that is to exchange account addresses with them. Click here to go to the account address guide.)

Do a keyword search

You can find a lot of interesting accounts nowadays just by typing keywords into the search box on Mastodon. Once the results come up, choose the Profiles section to only see accounts. (Searching for profiles works a lot better after changes made in the Mastodon 4.2.0 update from September 2023.)

Follow hashtags

Maybe the easiest way to discover new accounts on particular topics is to follow hashtags. Posts with followed tags will appear in your home timeline automatically as soon as they’re posted, so you don’t have to go looking for them. Click here for more details on how to follow hashtags.

Browse directories

Another method is to browse human-run Fediverse directories. They only list a fraction of the users on the Fedi, but they’re a really good way of beginning the process of building up your timeline. The accounts you follow will also share posts from others, and soon you’ll be discovering even more new accounts just by browsing your own timeline.

Here are some good Fediverse directories:

• Fedi.Directory ⧉ is a human-curated collection of Fediverse accounts that tend to post about specific topics, so it’s a smaller selection but with more guaranteed quality. (By the way, as mentioned above, I’m the one who maintains this directory 🙂)
• Trunk is a community-run opt-in directory ⧉ of people looking for followers. Users decide which categories they go in, and the listings are moderated by the site’s maintainers.
• Fediverse.info is a keyword-based opt-in database ⧉ of people looking for followers. Users decide which keywords they have on their profiles.
• OwnCast Directory ⧉ is a directory of livestreamers and livestreams using the OwnCast software. If an account has their Fediverse feature activated, there will be a Follow button on their OwnCast website.

Look at trending posts and hashtags

Mastodon has a built-in feature for seeing which posts and hashtags are trending, this can help you discover interesting accounts and active topics:

• To access trends on your server’s website, click the # Explore link on the right of the screen. You can also browse Explore on other servers’ websites if you want to, as it doesn’t require logging in.
• To access trends on the official apps click the magnifying glass and leave the search box blank. There’s no Explore label on the official apps, but it’s the same contents as Explore. This will show you trending posts and hashtags which will help you discover even more interesting people.
• You can also see trending posts and hashtags on third party apps, they will have their own interfaces for seeing them, usually labelled “Trending” or similar.

Trending posts are based on how often they have been recently shared, trending hashtags are based on how often they have been recently used.

Join Groups

Groups are special kinds of accounts which share posts on particular topics. If you want to post to the group, you just mention the group’s account and your post gets shared with all the group’s followers. Click here for more details about groups and how they work.

Pay attention to posts that other people share

When you follow an account it will usually share interesting posts by others too, and those shared posts might be good accounts to follow too. There is no algorithm on Mastodon and the Fediverse, it’s all human beings, and word of mouth is a significant way to discover interesting accounts.

Browse other people’s follow lists

You can usually browse an account’s follows and followers by visiting the account’s original page. (Bear in mind though that some people have their follow lists to private, in which case the lists will be hidden.)

If you browse a profile’s follows and followers without going to the original page, it will just show accounts from your server. That’s why the original page is better as it shows you the complete lists.

Follow FediFollows

I run an account over at @FediFollows@social.growyourown.services ⧉ which publishes themed lists of interesting accounts to follow, with a new topic every day. The accounts are all hand picked and currently active. You can also browse previously suggested accounts organised into categories at fedi.directory ⧉.

Follow curators

There are human-run accounts dedicated to sharing interesting posts on specific topics or areas. Following them can offer you lots of suggestions for interesting accounts to follow.

• FediVideo ⧉ shares videos and livestreams from around the Fediverse. If you’re interested in video-based Fedi accounts to follow, this is a good way to discover them. You can follow at @FediVideo@social.growyourown.services ⧉.
• The Flipboard curation service has many themed accounts on the Fediverse which boost interesting posts by others, including News (@NewsDesk@flipboard.social ⧉), Science (@ScienceDesk@flipboard.social ⧉), Technology (@TechDesk@flipboard.social ⧉), Culture (@CultureDesk@flipboard.social ⧉) and Art & Photography (@ArtPhotosDesk@flipboard.social ⧉).
• The account @curator@mastodon.art ⧉ shares lots of interesting art accounts of all types. If you’re interested in discovering artists you should follow them.

Follow the hashtag #FollowFriday

The tradition of #FollowFriday is alive on the Fediverse, you can follow the hashtag to see people’s suggested follows each week.

Install StreetPass for Mastodon on your web browser

There’s a free open source web browser extension called StreetPass for Mastodon ⧉ which checks if websites you’re browsing have featured their Mastodon address using a verified link. The extension gradually builds up a list of Mastodon accounts you might want to follow, based on which sites you’ve browsed.

Search for flag emoji to find accounts in particular countries

You can also use Mastodon’s search function to search for standard emoji. If you paste or type a particular country’s flag emoji into the search box, it will show you accounts and posts using that flag, which are usually located in the flag’s country.

For example, if you put the Swedish flag 🇸🇪 into the search box, most of the profiles containing that emoji are Swedish.

Hang out on the timelines

Finally, the most traditional approach to discovery is simply to hang out on the timeline, search for particular hashtags, browse the Local or Federated timelines and follow any accounts you find interesting.

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• The Mastodon equivalent of “Likes” are “Favourites”, click the star ⭐ to favourite a post. Favouriting tells the author that you liked their post, but does not affect the post’s visibility at all.
• The Mastodon equivalent of a “Re-Tweet” is a “Boost” (and some apps call it a “Re-Blog”). To boost a post, click the circular arrows icon 🔃 or the rocket ship 🚀. Boosted posts will appear in the timeline of everyone who follows you, and boosting will also help a post appear on the trending posts chart in the Explore tab. Boosts are the only way to make a post more visible.
• There’s also a third option called “Bookmarks” which lets you keep a private list of posts you want to read later. Only you can see your bookmarks, the people you bookmark do not know about it. To bookmark a post click ⋯ underneath the post and then “Bookmark” (some interfaces will also show a bookmark logo which you can click instead).

How do I browse all my Favourites and Bookmarks?

All your favourites and bookmarks are stored for you to browse, but are not shown to the public. Here’s how to browse them:

• On the official Mastodon apps, go to your profile page and click on the star or bookmark icons at the top of the page.
• On your server’s website or web app, click on the favourite or bookmark icons on the right side of the screen.
• Third party apps will have various interfaces, try looking on your profile page or on the options/settings menus.

How do I browse my past Boosts?

You can see all your past Boosts by browsing your profile page, they will be mixed in with your own posts in chronological order based on when you boosted them.

My bookmarks are disappearing! Is this normal?

Bookmarks should not be disappearing. If this is happening to you, it is probably because your server has an incorrect setting for “Content cache retention period”. Please let your server admin know if this is happening, and send them this link to a guide for how to fix it.

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You can search for posts and profiles on Mastodon by typing ordinary words or hashtags or emoji into the search box:

• To search on the official app, tap the magnifying glass icon at the bottom of the screen, and type in the search box at the top of the screen. The results will appear below it.
• To search on your server’s website, type into the search box and press enter. The results will appear beside or below the search box, depending on your window size.
• If you’re using the website through a phone, click on the 🔍 magnifying glass icon at the top.
• Third party apps will have various interfaces for search, but they’re usually quite obvious, using a magnifying glass icon or the word “search”. (One exception is Toot! which has its search function bizarrely hidden away in the ⋯ menu in the top right corner.)

What order are search results shown in on Mastodon?

Chronological, with newest posts at the top.

How do I make my own posts more visible in search results?

If you want your post to be more easily found in searches, opt into full text searches and also include relevant hashtags. Remember to use CamelCase on hashtags that contain multiple words. Hashtags are really good for actively indicating a topic being discussed, instead of a word just used accidentally or incidentally.

Although hashtags are no longer required to appear in search results on Mastodon servers, hashtags are still important in making posts visible, because many people follow hashtags and many people search for them (especially as some servers still only allow hashtag searches). You can find out more about hashtags in this special guide.

How do I search just my own posts?

To search just your own posts, include the phrase from:me in your search. If you want to also search posts that you’ve interacted with (such as bookmarks, likes, boosts), include the phrase in:library in your search.

There are lots more operators like this, scroll further down this page to see them all.

Are there any special operators for filtering searches on Mastodon?

Yes, Mastodon 4.2.0 introduces a number of operators you can use to filter your search results with:

• has:media – Only shows posts with an attachment (images, audio, video)
• has:poll – Only shows posts with a poll
• has:embed – Only shows posts with a link that produces some kind of embedded media (such as a YouTube or PeerTube link)
• language:fr using language codes – Only shows posts using that language, the example would filter for posts in French. Click here to see a complete list of language codes on Mastodon.
• is:reply – Only shows posts that are replies
• is:sensitive – Only shows posts marked as sensitive
• from:(FEDIVERSE ADDRESS HERE) – Only shows posts by that particular user, for example from:@FediTips@social.growyourown.services
• from:me – Only shows posts you have made yourself
• in:all – Searches all posts visible to you
• in:library – Only searches other people’s posts you have interacted with (such as bookmarks, likes, boosts etc) or your own posts
• before:date, during:date, after:date – Filters for posts before, during or after the selected date. Dates are written in the format YYYY-MM-DD, so for example posts after 1st June 2023 would be after:2023-06-01

Make sure there’s no space between the : and the other words when using these operators. For example, to search for posts with the word “elephant” that are in English, you would search for elephant language:en

Wait, what’s an “operator”?

It’s a special phrase you include in your search that makes the search behave in a special way. The list above describes all of the ones available in Mastodon.

Can I use several operators in the same search?

Yes, just include several operators along with the keyword or hashtag you’re searching for.

Can I use negative operators to exclude certain kinds of posts?

Yes. Just add a minus sign before the term, for example to exclude posts with polls from results you would include the operator -has:poll

Can I exclude posts with certain words?

Yes, just include the word in your search with a minus sign in front of it. For example batman -robin would show you posts containing the word “batman” but hide those containing “robin”.

How do I search for stuff I’ve bookmarked or boosted or liked?

Include the operator in:library, this will also search your own posts too.

How do I opt in to my posts being searched by words as well as hashtags?

If you want your public posts to appear in keyword searches as well as hashtag searches, click this link to find out how to opt in to being in full text search results.

Even when I search for stuff, there’s never anything I want!

If you’re on a very new server, it’s possible that it hasn’t noticed much of the Fediverse yet. Try following some groups as they will send all their content to everyone who follows them. Also try asking your server’s admin if they might connect to a relay server, so that the server can see more of the Fediverse.

Wait… I can search for emoji?

Yes! Any emoji can be entered in the search box, and will show posts and profiles containing that emoji in the search results.

It’s a bit more complicated with custom emoji though, you may have to strip away the colons :: around the alt text that appears when you add a custom emoji to a post. The alt text without the colons will show you posts and profiles containing that custom emoji.

My server says search options are unavailable, what’s going on?

Advanced search options require the server to be running a special add-on called “Elasticsearch”. If the operators don’t work and/or you can’t search posts by keyword, ask your server’s admin about this. It’s possible they haven’t installed Elasticsearch, perhaps because they lack the resources as it costs extra.

However, hashtag searches should work fine on all servers, even the ones without Elasticsearch.

I thought Mastodon only allowed searches with hashtags?

Before September 2023 Mastodon searches were entirely based around hashtags. Since then Mastodon also allows full text searches where you just type what you want and it searches the entire texts of posts for matches.

HOWEVER… for privacy reasons the full text search system is opt-in, so you can only get search results for people who have opted into their posts being included in full text searches. If you want your posts to be fully searchable you need to opt into this system, click the link to find out how.

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On your profile page you can set your display name, picture, banner image and short text (also known as a “biog”) about yourself. You should see an Edit profile or Edit Info button on your profile page which lets you change all these things.

How do I find my profile page?

If you’ve already set a profile image, you should be able to just click on the icon that looks like your profile image to get to your profile. Your profile image is visible on the website and all the apps, usually in one of the corners of the screen.

If you haven’t set a profile image, the icon for your profile will normally be some kind of blank sihouette, depending on what you’re using to access Mastodon.

Fill in your profile’s text

It’s really important to fill in your profile’s text description (also known as a “biog”) if you want people to notice your profile. The first line of the profile text is used in Mastodon’s discovery systems, so it’s a good idea to have this sum up what your account is about.

Upload a profile picture and banner

You can upload or change the profile image and banner for your account on the Edit profile page. However, images aren’t as important as the text, and many blind people do not use profile images at all.

The images can be JPG, PNG or GIF files up to 2 megabytes in size. Pictures will be downscaled to 400×400 pixels, banners will be downscaled to 1500×500 pixels. GIFs and PNGs can be animated, though some people’s settings may prevent the animation playing when they look at your profile.

⚠️ WARNING: Do not use rapidly flashing animations on your profile images. These can be extremely dangerous to people with certain neurological conditions.

Fill in your Mastodon profile’s Extra Fields

On Mastodon, there’s also a special feature called Extra fields which creates a special section of your profile page with clearly labelled website links or any other info you want to highlight about yourself. (Extra Fields were previously known as “Metadata”.)

For example, you could have a label saying “My website” in one box and “https://example.com” in the other box next to this label. Or “My other accounts” and links to your other account addresses on the Fediverse. Or you could have a label “Favourite pizza” next to a pineapple emoji. It’s totally up to you how you use this feature.

If you add a website link in your extra fields, it’s important to include https:// at the beginning of the address so that it is clickable, and if it’s your website you can optionally verify it to prove you are the owner of the site.

Extra fields appear as prominent boxes on the website version of Mastodon, and on the official apps it appears in the About section of your profile. Third party apps will show these in various ways, usually boxes on your profile page.

To edit your profile’s Extra Fields feature through the website:

1. Log in through your server’s website
2. Click on your profile image to go to your profile page
3. Click Edit profile, then go to the Extra Fields section of the page
4. Fill in up to four labels and content. The labels can be text or emoji, the content can be links, text or emoji. If you do put links in, remember to put the https:// at the start so that they are clickable.
5. Click Save changes

To edit Extra Fields through the official apps:

1. Click on your profile image to go to your profile page
2. Click Edit Profile or Edit Info
3. Scroll down to the About section and click on the + button or Add Row to add a field
4. You can edit an existing field by tapping on its title or contents to edit them
5. When you’ve finished, click the Done button at the top

Third party apps may also support editing Extra Fields, and will have various interfaces for doing so.

Verifying your account

Verification on Mastodon happens mainly by adding a special link to your website, click here for more info about how it works.

How to add video, audio, images and even more text to your profile

If you want to greatly expand the introductory material on your profile page, try creating a post with the extra material and pin it to your profile. Pinned posts will always appear at the top of the profile for everyone who browses it, and you can pin up to five posts on a single profile.

Pinned posts are particularly useful if you want to let people know about images, video or audio you have created, as media can be attached to posts.

If you do create an introductory post about yourself you might want to include the hashtag #Introduction, as this is the most widely used tag for new people introducing themselves.

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Fediverse accounts only let you log in on one server, because all the servers are independent. The server you joined is your gateway into the wider network, because all the different servers talk to each other to form a single network, despite being separately owned.

If that seems confusing, think of it this way: you can’t sign in on Yahoo Mail with a Gmail account, but you can still send emails between Yahoo Mail and Gmail accounts. The reason this works is because the different email providers talk to each other, despite being separate companies.

But I thought Pixelfed lets people log in with their Mastodon accounts?

Not really. Pixelfed servers have an option on their websites called “Sign in with Mastodon”, but what it actually does is create a new Pixelfed account and automatically copies over settings from your Mastodon account. You still end up with two separate accounts at the end of it (the original Mastodon one and the new Pixelfed one). If you do the same thing again on more Pixelfed servers, you will end up with even more Pixelfed accounts, all with info copied from your Mastodon account.

What if I want to use features that are only available on a different kind of server? For example tracking my reading on BookWyrm?

If you just want to follow people from other types of server, you can do that from your Mastodon account. Go to the profile page of the account you want to follow and click Follow, or if their profile isn’t visible in Mastodon then paste their account addresses into the search box on Mastodon.

If you want to actually use features that aren’t available on Mastodon, such as the book database on BookWyrm, then you’ll need to set up a separate account on a server that has those features. In the example of BookWyrm, you would need to set up an account on a BookWyrm server.

If you do set up separate accounts, it’s a good idea to mention these on your Mastodon profile so people know to follow your other accounts too.

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The most reliable way to follow an account on Mastodon and the rest of the Fediverse is to follow its account address, also known as its Fediverse address. All Fediverse accounts have a unique address that looks like this:

@ username @ server

Your address is visible on your profile page, just below your profile picture and display name.

If you want people to follow you on the Fediverse, give them your full account address from your profile. Addresses are by far the most reliable way to find an account’s profile. You can exchange Fediverse addresses with friends in real life the same way you would exchange phone numbers.

Each full account address is unique because only one account has that username on that server.

You can follow an account by copying and pasting its address into the search box on Mastodon (or whatever Fediverse server type you’re using) and then searching for it. The account associated with that address will appear in the search results, and clicking on it will take you to the account’s profile page. You can then follow it by clicking the Follow button.

If you can’t see the search box, click here to see how to access search on the apps and website.

Other types of Fediverse addresses will also work on Mastodon

As well as Mastodon addresses, the above process will also work with other types of Fediverse address including Pixelfed, PeerTube, OwnCast, BookWyrm, Friendica etc. When such an address is viewed within Mastodon it will look like a Mastodon profile, but it’s actually on another server type. If you open its original page you will see what it “really” looks like.

Why do Fediverse addresses look like email addresses?

Fediverse addresses look like email addresses because they use a similar structure for federating their networks together. Each server is independent and the servers talk to each other, so the address includes both the server’s name and the user’s name to make sure messages get to the correct account. Because only one person can register a particular username on a particular server, an account’s full address is always a unique combination.

Why does it usually show just the first part of my address in posts? Why does it sometimes show the full addresses?

In order to make the posts easier to read, Mastodon and many other Fedi platforms abbreviate addresses to just show the first part of the address when you’re @-ing people within a post. However, if there are two addresses with the same username being discussed in the same post, then Mastodon will show the entire addresses to avoid confusion.

Think of it like names and full names in real life: in a conversation you would probably just use part of someone’s name (“Have you met John?”), but if there were two identical names in the same conversation you might say both names in full to distinguish them (“Have you met John Smith and John McDonald?”).

Why can’t I just find accounts by searching?

You can find accounts by searching, however if an account is very new or if no one on your server has ever interacted with it, it may not be visible in search results yet. This is why account addresses are so useful, because they force your server to notice that account straight away.

Does registering a username on one server reserve that username on all other servers?

No. Fediverse account addresses are structured like email addresses: your address is unique because it’s a particular combination of username and server that no one else has.

Someone else can register the same username on a different server, but then their address will be different because the server part will be different. This prevents the accounts being mixed up by the network.

To avoid confusion, Mastodon shows the full addresses if two accounts with the same username are mentioned in the same post.

(This is how email works too: the person with the email example@gmail.com may not be the same person as the one with example@yahoo.com, even though the username part is the same.)

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You can use Mastodon entirely through your server’s website if you prefer. This works especially well on computers, but the mobile web interface is good too and appears automatically on small screens. To log in through the web:

1. Go to your server’s website
2. Click the Sign in button
3. Log in with the same email and password you use to sign in on the app

What’s my server’s website address?

It’s usually the same as the name of your server. For example, if you joined Mastodon through the server kind.social you would log in through the website kind.social ⧉.

Why would I want to use my server’s website instead of a mobile app?

Mastodon’s official website interface is the reference platform for Mastodon’s development, and it usually receives the latest features first. Most features are eventually adopted by apps too, but they tend to be released first for the website interface.

Also, some features on the website are still not on any apps, and some account settings can only be adjusted from the website interface.

Can I install Mastodon as a web app on my home screen?

Yes! Mastodon supports being installed as a web app on Android and iPhone / iPad. See this site’s complete guide to installing web apps for Mastodon and the Fediverse.

How does the website interface cope with small or large screens?

It adjusts its layout to cope with whatever your current screen size is, and includes layouts specifically for computers, phones and tablets.

Can I see the tablet and phone interfaces on a computer?

If you’re on a computer and want to see what the phone and tablet interfaces are like, try making your web browser’s window narrower. When it’s medium width it will show you the tablet interface, and when it’s narrow width it will show you the phone interface.

Can I log in from other servers’ websites?

No, you can only log in from your own server’s website. Each server on Mastodon and the Fediverse is independent and has its own website for that server’s members.

It’s exactly the same situation as with email: there is no central email website, you can only log into email through specific email providers such as Yahoo Mail, Gmail etc.

Although the Fediverse’s servers talk to each other to form a single network, you have to log in on your own server so that you can access this shared network.

I have a web link to a post on another mastodon server. How do I interact with it on my server if I can’t log in on other servers?

Copy and paste the web link into the search box on your own server. This will make the post appear within your own server and you will be able to interact with it.

My password doesn’t work! I can’t remember my password! I can’t log in, help!

If you are unable to log in through your server’s website, try doing these steps in this order:

1. Make sure you are logging in on the correct website. You have to log in through your own server’s site, which will usually be the same as the server’s name. If you don’t know your server’s name, it’s in the last part of your account address.
2. Make sure you are typing the password correctly. Passwords are case sensitive, so you need to make sure each letter’s case is correct.
3. Underneath the login form there will be a link that says something like “Forgotten password?” or “Having trouble logging in?”. Click this link, then enter your email address and it will send you an email with a reset link in it. If the email hasn’t arrived after a few minutes, check your spam folder in case it’s there,
4. If you’re still having trouble logging in on Mastodon, go to your server’s website and click on the Learn more link (if you’re on the desktop website) or ⋯ (if you’re on the mobile website). This will take you to your server’s info page. Your server admin’s public email address will be shown in the info page’s section marked “CONTACT:”, you can send them an email to ask for help with logging in even if you get locked out.

By the way, if you have a computer using Mastodon through the website is perhaps the best way to experience it. Fans of the multicolumn Tweetdeck may also want to try the advanced web interface.

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Many people start on Mastodon through the official app, which is simply called “Mastodon” and available on the Apple App Store, Google Play and F-Droid. However, you don’t need to do this! In fact, you will probably enjoy Mastodon a lot more if you use a third party app or your server’s website.

(There are also lots of other options such as web apps, desktop apps, third party web interfaces, command lines and retro apps.)

Also important to note that you don’t need to sign up via apps. Sign-ups work better when done through server websites, and you can use your account on any apps you want. You can even use several different apps at once with the same account if you want to compare them.

Here are more details about all the different ways of accessing Mastodon with your Mastodon account:

Official Mastodon apps

Mastodon was originally launched in 2016 and all of its apps were third party. The official apps (for Android and iPhone/iPad) were only introduced in 2022 as new people were expecting there to be an official app. However, it was intended just as a beginner’s app and was not meant to replace the third party apps.

Third party apps tend to have more and better features than the official app, and most people who try them prefer them. Because Mastodon uses open technical standards, all apps have equal access to all of Mastodon’s features. The official app has no special advantages or privileges compared to third party apps.

Third party Mastodon apps

There are lots and lots of Mastodon and Fediverse apps out there. The official Mastodon website has a very long list ⧉, but if you just want a few quick simple suggestions here they are:

Mastodon websites and web apps

Mastodon’s official web interface is excellent and well-developed. You can use Mastodon entirely through your server’s website and you can also install your server’s website as a web app on your phone or tablet. The web app works very much like a normal app, including notifications.

The Mastodon web interface is excellent and generally gets the latest features first. It can be used on computer, tablet or phone, and automatically changes to a mobile layout when used on a small screen.

Third party web interfaces

There are also third party web interfaces you can use instead of your server’s official website. You can log in using the same details as you do on your server’s website, but it will work through a different interface.

One of the most popular third party web interfaces is called Elk, however it is still having a lot of bugs ironed out. You can try it at elk.zone ⧉ and if you’re a techy person you can find out more at Elk’s Github page ⧉.

Desktop Mastodon apps

There are a number of desktop apps for Mastodon.

Command line and TUI apps

If you’re a techy person, you can use Mastodon through a CLI or TUI if you prefer.

Retro computer apps

There are (amazingly!) Mastodon apps available for many home computers of the 1980s and 1990s.

What happens to my posts and messages and followers if I switch to a third party app or use the website?

All your Mastodon posts, followers, messages etc are stored on your server, and not on any app.

Your account will be exactly the same whether you’re using the website, the official app or a third party app, as these are all just different methods of accessing the same account on the same server.

What about safety? How safe are third party apps compared to official apps?

Obviously it’s a bad idea to ever install random unknown apps from sources you don’t trust. However, the apps listed on this page are all well-established and recommended on the official Mastodon website’s apps page ⧉ (scroll down past the official apps section).

Also, most of the apps listed are open source so their workings are visible to anyone in the outside world. Any shenanigans in what a widely-used open source app does would be noticed fairly soon by outside observers.

How do apps handle my account password? Do the apps find out what my password is?

The security of your Mastodon account works like this:

• The sign-in process on all apps (including official, third party and web apps) happens through your server’s website, which the app opens in a built-in web browser window. That’s why the sign-in page on apps looks like your server’s website, because it is your server’s website.
• None of the apps listed on this page ever find out your password, all they know is that your server confirmed the password is correct and the server gave the app a special access token so it could work with your account. (Tokens are just a special code that lets apps and servers talk to each other.) That’s why the sign-in process always includes asking you about permissions, it is your server asking if you want to give that app an access token.
• If you don’t want an app to work with your account any more, you can cancel its access token by logging in on your server’s website and going to Preferences > Account > Authorised Apps, then click the Revoke button for the app you want to remove permission from. Revoking will stop that app having any access to your account. (On the mobile website, you may need to click the cog icon ⚙️ and then ☰ in the top right corner to get to the Account section.)
• You can make your account even more secure by enabling two-factor authentication, an extra layer of security which means even if someone found out your password they would still be unable to log into your account.

Can I use more than one app at the same time?

Yes, you can use the same account on many different apps simultaneously if you want to. You can also be logged into your server’s website or web app.

Can I use more than one account on the same app?

Yes, you can use multiple accounts on the same app, the apps all let you be logged in with several accounts and switch between them when posting etc.

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The reason the Fediverse exists is to be spread out on lots of separate servers, it means no one person or company controls the network and if anyone does something bad they can be blocked by others.

By keeping the network spread out, if means if you are unhappy with how your server is run you can move elsewhere, or even start your own, and there are many other benefits for users. Click here for more about why the Fediverse is spread out on many servers. If everyone joins a single massive server like mastodon.social, the advantages of the Fediverse disappear.

I thought the largest server meant it was the best server?

No, this isn’t true:

• The largest servers are the easiest for nasty billionaires to buy out, which puts the network as a whole at risk. By staying spread out on many servers, you are helping to protect the network from anyone taking it over.
• The largest servers tend to have the worst staff-to-member ratio, which means the moderation will be worse. Also, if you have a technical problem it will be a lot harder to get hold of anyone who can fix it.
• Servers of all sizes talk to each other to form a single giant network, and people can follow each other regardless of which server they are on. You don’t need to be on the largest server to follow your friends.
• You don’t need to be on the largest server to get lots of follows and followers. The fedi.tips account ⧉ has over 200,000 followers but is on a single user server.
• The experience of following an account is identical whether you’re on the same server or not. You don’t need to be on the same server as people you follow.
• Smaller servers usually have a friendlier community atmosphere on their Local timelines, while the Local timeline on large servers is an unreadable firehose.

Why is mastodon.social in particular not a good server to join? What does “too big to defederate” mean?

There are four main problems with mastodon.social:

• Mastodon.social is by far the largest Mastodon server now. As it becomes an ever-larger percentage of the overall network, the more it puts the Fediverse in danger of being bought out. It’s not a question of absolute numbers but of percentages: if most of the network is on one server, then that server effectively controls the overall network.
• There’s a second problem: mastodon.social’s moderation has suffered, as the growth means it has fewer moderators per person. It is getting harder for mastodon.social’s moderators to keep tabs on what happens.
• Added to this is a third danger: mastodon.social is so much larger than other servers, that other servers have become afraid of defederating it. Normally if a server’s moderation or behaviour goes downhill, other servers can block it, and the more a server is blocked the more isolated it becomes. This gives all servers an incentive to be well moderated. But if one server is far larger than the others, it makes it much harder to defederate because it would mean cutting users off from a massive chunk of the network. The more of the network is on a single server, the harder it becomes to block it, and the worse moderation becomes across the entire network.
• The fourth issue with mastodon.social is who owns it: Mastodon gGmbH, the organisation owned by the lead developer of the software that all Mastodon servers run on. This organisation also owns the official Mastodon apps and the official Mastodon website, and owns the trademark for the word “Mastodon” in relation to social networks. This is a massive concentration of power in a single organisation owned by a single person.

Putting these together creates a nightmare scenario for the Fediverse: a server that is too big to block, with moderation going downhill, which controls the official apps and trademarks and website, and which is now using these official channels to grow their own server at the expense of other servers. In short, mastodon.social is helping to centralise a network which was set up to be decentralised.

How does mastodon.social control the official Mastodon apps and official Mastodon website?

Mastodon.social is owned by Mastodon gGmbH, the organisation owned by the lead developer of the software which runs on Mastodon servers. They also make the official mobile apps, and own the trademark of the word “Mastodon” in relation to social networks. There is a tremendous amount of power concentrated in one place here, and joining mastodon.social makes the situation even worse.

I’m already on mastodon.social. How do I move my account elsewhere? Can I keep my followers and follows? Can I move back if I change my mind?

If you want to move your account to another server, click here to see the account transfer guide. You can keep your followers and follows, they will be moved automatically as long as you follow all the steps. You can move back to the old account if you change your mind.

Can someone steal my username if I move off mastodon.social?

No. Once an account has been registered, no one else can ever register that username on that server. Even if an account is deleted, the server keeps a permanent list of usernames to prevent impersonations and will refuse signups with those usernames.

If I move off mastodon.social, will people know where to find my new account?

Yes, when you move servers your old account will redirect people to your new account. You can also manually add a message to your old account profile telling people about your new account.

But the Mastodon app said to join mastodon.social! Why would it do this if there was anything wrong with it?

The official Mastodon apps and official Mastodon website are owned by the same organisation as mastodon.social. This organisation is owned by one person, the lead developer of the software which runs on all Mastodon servers.

Ths organisation has highly irresponsibly started driving people to sign up on mastodon.social by default, which goes against everything Mastodon stood for when it was founded. It’s unclear why they are doing this now when they opposed it before.

Isn’t it just easier for non-technical people to join a single server? Isn’t that why the official apps suggest joining mastodon.social?

It makes sense to choose a server and say to unsure non-technical people “just sign up on this server”. That does make sign-ups easier.

However, it doesn’t make sense to tell new users to sign up on the largest server. Promoting the largest server doesn’t make it any easier to sign up, but it does put the network itself in danger. Also, centralising the network like this undermines the entire point of signing up on a decentralised network in the first place.

There are lots of other servers with good track records going back many years ⧉, these are the servers that new non-techy people should be steered towards. It will be just as easy for them to sign up on these servers, and it won’t put the network in danger.

But I thought mastodon.social is the default server? Doesn’t it have some special status in the network?

No, mastodon.social is not special in any way. All servers are totally independent, and do not depend on mastodon.social in any technical sense.

Mastodon.social became a very big server mainly because it was the first Mastodon server and is owned by the Mastodon software’s lead developer. It has no technical advantages or privileges over any other server. It would be like expecting the oldest telephone company to be better than the others because ir was first.

But even if everyone joined mastodon.social, it would still be decentralised? People could still join other servers?

There is nothing technically requiring Fediverse servers to federate. There is an option in Mastodon’s software called “isolated mode” where all federation is shut off and the server runs as a single centralised social network. It’s rarely used, but the technical option exists. If the people running mastodon.social wanted to stop federating with others, they could do so.

But even if the technical option didn’t exist, decentralisation is only meaningful on a network when the network is spread out. If most of a server’s interactions are with people on other servers, the server’s admin will be forced to consider the opinions and needs of other servers and rely on their existence. But if most of a server’s interactions are within that server, the server’s admin will no longer need to think about other servers and will no longer depend on their existence. The network will effectively be centralised.

There is also a precedent for decentralised networks becoming centralised: Facebook’s messenger system used to be part of a wider open messaging standard called XMPP, which allowed Facebook members to message with people outside Facebook. Then one day Facebook just switched off federation ⧉, and its members could only message with each other while those outside Facebook were cut off from Facebook members. If the XMPP network had been more spread out, it would have been much more difficult for Facebook to switch off federation.

What about the other non-Mastodon platforms on the Fediverse?

At the moment, Mastodon’s userbase is larger than all the other Fediverse platforms put together several times over.

It would be fantastic if other Fediverse server types took up a larger percentage of the Fediverse, and an ideal situation would be if no one platform had a majority. But as things stand, Mastodon servers have by far the largest percentage of the Fediverse’s total userbase.

I’m on a very new small server, but it seems a bit quiet. How do I make it busier?

If your server is quiet, especially if it is new, perhaps it can’t see the rest of the Fediverse yet. As more people sign up on your server, and as your server’s members follow accounts from other servers, it will gradually start noticing more of the Fediverse and start to feel busier.

However, if you want to speed up this process of discovering the rest of the Fediverse, there are ways of doing this:

• Join some Fediverse groups. Groups are available on a wide range of topics, and actively send all their posts to everyone that follows them, regardless of the size of their server.
• Ask your server admin if they would consider using relay servers. This will quickly give a server a much wider view of the Fediverse, and are especially useful if they’re topic-specific relays.
• Discover accounts to follow via directories, as these sites don’t depend on federation.
• Discover accounts to follow from the Local and Federated timelines of established servers. You can do this by going to their websites and clicking on Local or Federated, you don’t need to log in. Copy and paste account addresses into your own server’s search box to follow them from your server.

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Fediverse servers do sometimes decide to close for a variety of reasons. However, all of the servers listed at JoinMastodon.org ⧉ and Fedi.Garden ⧉ have promised to give at least three months notice if they are going to close down. This gives the server’s members lots of time to transfer their accounts to other servers. The transfer process lets people keep their followers, follows, blocks etc.

What do I do if my server is closing down?

1. Go to Fedi.Garden ⧉ or JoinMastodon.org ⧉ and choose a new server that suits you.
2. Follow the instructions on the account transfer guide
3. If you have any links to your account outside the Fediverse, remember to update them to your new account

How do I avoid being on a server that closes down suddenly?

Your best option is to choose a server listed on Fedi.Garden ⧉ or JoinMastodon.org ⧉ as all the listed servers have promised to give three months warning if they intend to shut down.

Do servers shut down because they’re small?

No.

Any online service of any size may shut down one day, even really huge services used by hundreds of millions of people ⧉, and those that keep going may not be quite the same ⧉. If an online service is centralised, which almost all commercial services are, then when it closes you lose your account and everything in it, no matter how huge and immortal the service might seem.

Mastodon and the Fediverse aren’t centralised. They are federated, which means you aren’t trapped if a server decides to shut down. If a server on a federated network says it is going to close, you can transfer your account to another server and keep your account alive. You can even set up your own server if you want to.

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If you’re totally new to Mastodon and the Fediverse, the safest and easiest way to join is probably to go to JoinMastodon.org ⧉ or Fedi.Garden ⧉ and pick one of the listed servers. After you’ve signed up, you can use your account on the server’s website, or use the same account on an app if you prefer, or use both web and app.

Many of the servers are themed or intended for particular kinds of people, but many of them are just general. If you can’t make up your mind, just pick one of the general servers from those lists.

The servers listed on those sites have all committed to specific standards of technical reliability and responsible content moderation ⧉. (There are also many other much longer server lists, but the longer lists don’t have the same requirements to be listed, so tend to be less safe to use.)

Is there a more direct, in-depth way to find out about a server?

If you know the server you want info about, go to its website and click on the Learn more or ⋯ links, which will take you to that server’s About page. A server’s website address is usually the same as its name, so for example the server laserdisc.party would be at the web address laserdisc.party ⧉

The About page will contain general information about the server, as well as a list of the server’s rules and a link to the server administrator’s page (along with their public email address). It may also show a list of other servers that the server has blocked, which can be a useful indicator of the server’s priorities and how responsibly it is run.

What are the differences between servers?

Each server is totally independent: it is owned by the person or group who maintains it, it makes its own rules of acceptable behaviour and is responsible for moderation, it chooses which other servers it blocks, and all these things together give it a general vibe or atmosphere. The sense of community is usually much stronger and friendlier on medium and smaller servers.

Because Mastodon and the rest of the Fediverse is built on open technical standards, servers are free to offer features that aren’t available on standard Mastodon. For example, some servers allow you to write longer posts.

What’s to stop a server shutting down?

Any kind of internet site can disappear ⧉, but the Fediverse reduces this risk by letting you move your account to another server if the one you’re on is closing.

All of the servers listed on Fedi.Garden and the JoinMastodon.org sites have promised to give three months warning if they intend to shut down, so that users have time to move their accounts to a different server without losing their followers or follows.

Another way of mitigating the risks of shutdowns is to join a server that has been around for a long time. The Fedi.Garden website has a section which lists recommended servers sorted by the year they were founded ⧉. You can also check a server’s age by clicking on the administrator’s profile link on its About page. Because the admin is usually the one who founded the server, their joining date on their profile page usually tells you the server’s age too.

Do I need to join more than one server?

No. You don’t need to join more than one server, because the servers talk to each other seamlessly. If your friend is on another server you can still follow each other, and being on different servers doesn’t affect that at all. (It’s similar to friends being on different phone providers, they can still call each other.)

Should I join the biggest server?

No. Joining the largest server is a bad idea. Medium-sized and small servers are much better both for you and for the safety of the network as a whole. There are really important reasons why being spread out on lots of medium and small servers is the best option.

Medium and small servers also tend to have much better moderation. Their ratio of staff to users is much higher than on large servers, so if there are any problems it’s much easier to reach someone who can help.

Can I move my account if I change my mind about which server to join?

Yes! You can always transfer your account to a different server if you want to be somewhere else instead. The transfer process lets you keep your followers and follows, plus bookmarks, blocks, mutes and lists. Posts from the old account remain on your old server, but when people click on the profile name above old posts they will be redirected to your new account’s profile page.

How do I find out how long a server has been going?

Finding out how long a server has been going can be useful, because long-running servers tend to be more stable as they have a proven track record.

If you visit the server’s About page by clicking Learn more or ⋯, there will be a section marked “Administered by”. This will link to the admin’s account profile, and this will show when they joined. The admin’s joining date is usually the same as the time the server was created.

You can also browse recommended servers by year of foundation over on Fedi.Garden ⧉.

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Yes, apart from fedi.tips there are lots of other places you can also get help:

• If you prefer physical books, there’s “Mastodon For Dummies” by Chris Minnick and Mike McCallister (ISBN: 978-1-394-19336-3), available from bookshops and libraries. It’s also available as an e-book from services like Kobo or Kindle, and as an audiobook from all major audiobook platforms.
• There’s a long-running online Mastodon guide about its basics and culture at An Increasingly Less Brief Guide to Mastodon ⧉
• A newer and more elaborate online Mastodon guide is Mastodon Help ⧉
• There’s a really easy-to-understand intro video about Mastodon called “Mastodon in 180 Seconds” ⧉
• An official intro animation about Mastodon called “What is Mastodon?” ⧉
• There’s an excellent friendly and simple (but surprisingly detailed) video called “The Crafter’s Guide to the Fediverse” ⧉. It’s made by a crafting channel but it also works as a general intro to Mastodon and the Fediverse for anyone.
• There’s a practical overview video called “How to use Mastodon: The Complete Guide” ⧉.
• A video looking at the Fediverse including Mastodon, PeerTube and Pixelfed called “The Quick Start Guide to the Fediverse” ⧉.
• An animated quick look at the basic idea of the Fediverse called “What is the Fediverse?”⧉.
• The site at JoinFediverse.wiki ⧉ is a wiki with lots of articles about the Fediverse (including Mastodon)
• If you speak French, there is a guide at Fedi trucs ⧉ and a guide at didiermary.fr ⧉
• If you speak Indonesian, there is a guide at Panduan Fediverse ⧉.
• If you speak Ukrainian, there’s a guide at Як користуватися Mastodon та Fediverse – Основні поради ⧉.
• If you’re a software developer, system admin or just a tech enthusiast, there’s the official documentation for Mastodon ⧉.

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If you call someone on an ordinary phone, your phone provider will connect to the phone provider of the person you’re calling. You don’t need to be on the same provider to call someone. This works worldwide and seamlessly, because all the hundreds of phone providers in the world talk to each other. From the user’s point of view, it’s as if all phones in the world are on the same network.

The Fediverse (or “Fedi”) is basically the same idea, but for social media. The Fediverse is a collection of thousands of independent social media servers that talk to each other seamlessly. This means that the millions of users on these servers can interact with each other as if they were on a single social network.

The most popular type of Fedi server is called Mastodon (or “Masto”) and works a bit like a calmer, more friendly version of Twitter. Click here for a cute animated video about Mastodon ⧉ that explains the basic principles of a federated social network, or click here for an even simpler explanation video ⧉. You might also want to watch this short video about the Fediverse ⧉ that emphasises the importance of common technical standards.

There are many kinds of Fediverse servers, often with a specific purpose such as photo sharing, video sharing, livestreaming, book clubs etc. Although the various types of servers work very differently, they talk to each other with a common technical standard called ActivityPub. The common standard means people on totally different kinds of servers can follow and interact with each other seamlessly.

In fact, the process of interacting with other servers is so seamless, most people don’t even notice that they are communicating with other servers!

Could you give some examples of this in action? How do different kinds of servers interact?

Let’s suppose someone has an account on a Mastodon server, which means they have a Twitter-style timeline and features. They can create short posts, follow other people, reply to posts, share posts, like posts etc. That person can follow and interact with accounts from other Mastodon servers, but they can also follow accounts from completely different kinds of Fediverse servers too.

For example, if they follow a video account from PeerTube, videos from the PeerTube account will appear in their Mastodon timeline just like Mastodon posts do. If they reply to one of these video posts in their timeline on Mastodon, that reply will also appear as a comment below that video on PeerTube.

There are many other kinds of server on the Fediverse, such as Pixelfed for photos, BookWyrm for reviewing books, WordPress for writing blogs etc. All of them can be followed and interacted with from Mastodon accounts.

I thought the Fediverse and Mastodon were the same thing? Where does the word “Fediverse” come from?

Mastodon is currently the most popular kind of Fediverse server, but it’s just one kind. There are many other kinds, communicating through a common standard to form a single network. The collective term for this network of compatible servers is “The Fediverse”, which is short for “Federated Universe”. There’s a short video about the Fediverse ⧉ which sums up its nature.

Who owns Mastodon? Who owns the Fediverse?

No single individual or organisation owns Mastodon or the Fediverse. Ownership is spread across thousands of independent server owners.

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