First of all, it’s worth saying that most people do not need to use multiple accounts. The Fediverse is designed in such a way that people on different servers can interact seamlessly, as if they were all on one network. For most people, one account is enough, because it lets you interact with people on the whole network.
However, some people may need separate personal and work accounts, or an extra account that focuses on a specialist topic which they wish to keep separate from their main account. Also, some server types are specialised in particular kinds of content, and people may have multiple accounts on multiple server types.
Whatever your reasons, it’s very easy to use multiple accounts on Mastodon and the Fediverse! Here are some tips:
- If you are going to have multiple accounts, it’s strongly recommended that you sign up on a different server for each account. Because the servers are independent, you can use the same email address for all of them and you can be signed into all the accounts simultaneously on the web and on apps. Signing up for accounts on different servers also means that if one server goes down your alternative accounts will still work.
- If you use the Fediverse through the web, you can log into all the accounts at once and switch views by keeping each account open in a separate tab.
- Official and third party apps let you be signed into multiple accounts at once, and switch between them whenever you want. The interface for switching differs from app to app.
- On the official Mastodon app, you can add accounts and switch between them by holding down your profile image in the bottom right corner. A menu will appear which lets you add or switch accounts.