The visibility of your post or reply on Mastodon depends on which visibility setting you have chosen for it. This setting decides which other accounts have permission to see that post or reply.
On Mastodon there are several different types of post visibility, and you can usually set a particular post’s visibility within the box where you write the post. The exact interface for doing so varies in different apps and interfaces but they usually use similar icons and names for the settings.
If you use a particular setting most often, you can set it as the default visibility (there is a guide to setting your default below in the section marked “How do I set my default visibility for new posts?”). Whatever you choose as default, if you want to you can choose a different visibility when you’re creating a new post.
What does each visibility setting do?
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 visibility setting is often indicated by a globe icon 🌎
- Unlisted / Quiet Public – Anyone can see it, but it won’t appear in the trending posts list or the Local or Federated timelines, it won’t show up in search results and it won’t show up in other people’s hashtag follows. Unlisted can be useful for replying in threads, so that you’re not filling search results etc unnecessarily. This visibility setting is often indicated by a crescent moon 🌙
- Followers Only / Followers – Only your followers can see these. This visibility setting is often indicated by a closed lock 🔒 icon. If you use this setting, it’s important to also switch on follower requests, otherwise anyone could follow you just to see your followers-only posts.
- Private Mention / Mentioned / Specific People – Only people you mention within that particular post can see the post, so be really careful who you mention because they will be able to see the post. This visibility setting is often indicated by an @ icon.
- Local – Only people on your server can see it. This option is only available on special 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 mention someone they will be able to see it, even in DMs or Followers-Only modes
In all post visibility modes including DMs and Followers-Only, if you mention someone in a post they will see that post! Because of this, you need to be really careful who you mention in a post.
If you absolutely have to mention an account but don’t want them to see it, try replacing the @ symbols of their account address 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.
What happens if I don’t set a visibility for my post?
If you don’t choose a visibility for a post, it will use your default visibility. You can set your default visibility to be whatever you prefer to use most of the time.
How do I set my default visibility for new posts?
To set your default visibility on new posts:
- Log onto your server’s website or the web app
- Click on ⚙️ Preferences at the right of the screen (if you’re on the mobile web click ☰ in bottom right and then ⚙️ Preferences)
- Click on Posting Defaults at the left of the screen (if you’re on the mobile web click ☰ in top right and then Posting Defaults)
- In the Posting Visibility 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.
Do visibilities apply to replies as well as posts?
Yes, the visibilities work exactly the same way whether you’re posting or replying.
Is it possible to edit a post’s 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 will only show up in search results if they have a Public visibility setting. If you want a post to be searchable, you need to set its visibility to Public. If you use any other visibility setting, your post will not show up in searches.
You also need to decide if you want your public posts 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 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 muting and blocking people and servers? How does that work?
Muting and blocking are separate issue from post visibility. Post visibility is about who can see that post by default, muting is about what you see in your timeline, blocking is about who can see your public posts and follow you.
There are dedicated guides for muting and blocking people, and muting and blocking servers.
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.
Are my DMs encrypted?
See the guide to encryption in Mastodon.