The visibility of a post or reply on Mastodon depends on its visibility setting. These settings decide which other accounts have permission to see that particular post or reply.
On Mastodon there are four types of post visibility. You can set the visibility of a post by clicking the icon that represents it in the row below the message editing window. It’s usually a 🌐, 🔒, 👥 or @ icon, but some apps may use slightly different icons.
Some more details about each setting:
- Public – Anyone can see it, even people who aren’t on the Fediverse, and the posts will be visible in searches on Mastodon. If you go to a person’s public profile page you will see all their public posts. This is normally indicated by a globe icon 🌎.
- Unlisted (aka Quiet Public) – Anyone can see it, but it won’t appear in the trending posts list or the Local or Federated timelines, and it won’t show up in search results. This can be useful for replying in threads, so that you’re not filling people’s timelines unnecessarily. Normally indicated by an open lock icon or a crescent moon.
- Followers-only – Only your followers can see these, normally indicated by a closed lock 🔒 or people 👥 icon. If you use this setting, it’s a good idea to switch on follower requests, otherwise anyone could follow you to see your followers-only posts.
- Mentioned (aka Specific People) – Only people you @ within the message can see the post, normally indicated by an @ symbol. Be really careful who you @ because they will see the post.
- Local – Only people on your server can see it. This option is only available on servers running Hometown Mastodon ⧉ or Glitch Mastodon ⧉. Most people are on servers running standard Mastodon and will not have this option.
Sending DMs in Mastodon
You can send people messages by setting a post’s visibility to @ Mentioned, then @ the people you want to receive the DM. If you use your server’s website or the web app, there’s a Private Mentions option in the menu which lets you see all your mentioned posts in a separate inbox.
⚠️ If you @ someone they will be able to see it, even in DMs or Followers-Only modes
In all modes including DMs and Followers-Only, if you @ someone in a post they will see that post! Because of this, you need to be really careful who you @ in a post.
If you absolutely have to mention an account but don’t want them to see it, try replacing the @ symbols with the word “AT” instead and make sure you’re using a visibility they don’t have access to such as Followers-Only (if they don’t follow you) or Mentions. Removing the @ symbol will break the address, and prevent the account holder seeing the mention.
I can’t see Unlisted as an option on my app?
Unlisted is available as a visibility option on almost all versions of Mastodon including the website, the web app and the third party apps. However, for some strange reason it is not included on the official apps.
If you want the official apps to support Unlisted and you’re comfortable using Github, you can let the developers know you want it added on the iOS version ⧉ and the Android version ⧉.
How do I set my default visibility for new posts?
To set the default visibility on new posts:
- Log onto your server’s website or the web app
- Click on ⚙️ Preferences (or ⚙️ on mobile web) at the right of the screen
- Click on Other at the left of the screen (or ☰ and then Other on mobile web)
- In the Posting Privacy dropdown menu, choose the default visibility you want
- Click the Save changes button in the top right
NOTE: This is only a default setting. You can always set it to a different visibility for individual posts or replies by clicking their visibility icon when you’re writing them.
Is it possible to edit post visibility after it is published?
You cannot edit the visibility of a post or reply after you’ve published it, so make sure you choose the correct visibility when writing it.
If you absolutely have to change the visibility, your only option is to delete the post and start again, which is most easily done by clicking ⋯ below the post and then Delete & re-draft. If you use this option, the original post will cease to exist, its boosts and bookmarks will disappear, links to it will break and its replies will be orphaned.
Who can see my boosts?
When you boost a post, it will immediately appear in the home timelines of all your followers. The original author of the post will also get a notification to say that you boosted their post.
When do replies appear in the Home timeline?
Replies will appear in your Home timeline if any one of these are true:
- The reply mentions you
- You wrote the reply
- The reply is by someone you follow AND mentions someone else you follow
- Someone you follow is replying to themselves to create a thread
- Someone you’re following has boosted the reply
When do Unlisted posts and replies appear in the Home timeline?
In Home timelines, Unlisted posts and replies will appear exactly like public posts and replies. Unlisted posts will only be hidden in the Federated and Local timelines, in search results and in the trending posts list.
What about visibility in searches? How do I set the searchability of posts?
Posts and replies will only show up in search results if they have a Public visibility setting. If you want a post or reply to be searchable, you need to set its visibility to Public.
You also need to decide if you want your public posts and replies to be searchable by full text or just by hashtags. By default it’s just hashtags, but you can also allow the entire contents to be searched by opting into the full text search system.
What about Local-only visibility? How do I make a post only visible to people on my server?
Servers running the standard version of Mastodon do not have a Local-only visibility setting. However, servers running forks of Mastodon such as Hometown Mastodon ⧉ or Glitch Mastodon ⧉ may include a fifth visibility setting called “Local” or “Local only”.
Posts or replies using the Local visibility setting can only be seen by people whose accounts are on the same server.
If I’m replying to someone else’s post, do I have to use the same visibility setting on my reply? How do I send a private reply?
You can adjust your reply to have any visibility setting you want, regardless of the original post’s setting. Bear in mind though that some settings may exclude the author of the original post from seeing your reply.
If you want to send a post’s author a private reply, use the @ Mentioned visibility and make sure you @ them in the reply.
What about federation? How widely can my posts be seen by people on other servers?
Have a look at the guide to which posts can be seen from servers.