Pixelfed #11 in Android app store

feddit.org/pictrs/image/1f136503-8e71-4f47-98c7…

submitted by Ulrich

Pixelfed #11 in Android app store

I almost never look at the app store but I popped in today in the wake of the TikTok ban and was shocked to see this.

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140 Comments

Sergio

https://pixelfed.fediverse.observer/dailystats

Be interesting to see what it looks like a month from now -- the size of plateau and drop-off.

ByteOnBikes

Me working with small businesses to switch off of Instagram

Ulrich [OP]

Thank you for your service

JustEnoughDucks

My girlfriend runs a kid-friendly café for younger moms and sadly it would probably tank her business moving over to pixelfed... It's quite a big risk for those kind of small businesses..

Blackmist

You can post the same stuff on as many social media platforms as you want.

cm0002

Hot damn, it moved up 3 spots from just the other day!

GO PIXELFED GO!

suoko

37th pos in italy. 1st is Rednote :-O

ByteOnBikes

Wait what?!

Why is Italians... When it's Americans... I'm so confused!

suoko

Me too. I guess because a lot of Italians like to pretend to be americans.

Lemminary

Fuck it, I'm joining now.

LifeInMultipleChoice

If they had gotten loops into the stores they could have gained so many users this past week im sure

breakfastmtn

Imagine being the one guy who runs both of those and having them both blow up at once though 🪦rip

Raglesnarf

I only heard of Pixelfed because of a post somewhere that was saying Facebook was blocking links to the website. I made an account and started using it for fun to spite Facebook. *Now* this could have simply been a bait post to drive engagement to Pixelfed **or ** Facebook is dumb and did some kind of Streisand effect.

It doesn't matter either way

Ulrich [OP]

And if you didn't already know, you now know about the Streisand effect.

Jimmycrackcrack

Is there any progress towards marrying these different fediverse services together so I could use my Lemmy account on any of them? Is this a goal at all?

Ulrich [OP]

Ahhh I'm sure I've read something about it but I'm not the best person to ask.

I know it's possible because you can sign into Pixelfed with your Mastodon account right now.

TrueStoryBob

You can follow Lemmy threads and users on Mastodon right now, but it's super clunky just from the fact both platforms are so different from each other. Here's this thread, as seen from my Mastodon account on the Tusky app.

ThomasCrappersGhost

You can sign in to Pixelfed with a Mastodon account…presumably this is how you can share your Pixelfed posts to your Mastodon account. Although the poster that posted about this said it wasn’t a good option and I can’t remember why. You can also see Mastodon posts on Lemmy….or maybe vice versa.

AbsoluteChicagoDog

Do we actually want that? I like that each service is its own.

Ulrich [OP]

I actually agree. Some of these federated services are fundamentally different and when they interact, shit can get weird. Don't get me wrong, I don't think, for example, Sharkkey shouldn't interact with Mastodon, because they are both microblogging platforms, but I wouldn't want to see a picture of a tweet from Mastodon on Pixelfed.

nasi_goreng

Some people on Mastodon or other microblogging fediverse basically using their account for image only gallery.

It definitely nice to see Misskey.design or Mastoart.social post on Pixelfed.

Lurker

Lemmy currently don't have API for that.

😈MedicPig🐷BabySaver😈

EXPLAIN Pixelfed to me like I'm 5?

Can I use it to post photos into Lemmy groups?

I'm currently using a generic, slightly sketch website.

JaggedRobotPubes

It's a non-shitty instagram.

viking

It's Instagram with no content or algorithm. To me it's an empty page, because I have no idea how to subscribe to things that I would like.

I tried keywords like fun, sketch, photography etc etc, but those are catch-all phrases that get too much shit, and narrow keywords are so specific, I see next to nothing.

ouRKaoS

I have the same issue on Mastodon & Loops: lack of ways to find new content.

There needs to be a Lemmy thread of interesting people to follow so I can get some use out of the rest of the fediverse... Suggestions welcome!

Blackmist

I think there needs to be a way to plug algorithms in for those that want them.

Ulrich [OP]

Agreed. Bluesky-style customizable algorithms (I've played around with creating these myself) in conjunction with "recommended follows" curated by the instance admin would go a long way.

Coldcell

Agreed, you could pick your own algorithm(s) to follow just like hashtags, maybe just a "follow this hashtag and similar engagement posts". It might be an easier transition from the imposed monolithic algorithm God that meta/google impose if people are in control of how the app feeds them.

mapleseedfall

Thats the problem that their algo tries to solve. When you do it in scale some kind of algo is needed.

Ulrich [OP]

Start following hashtags that match your interests.

suoko

I guess looking for interesting people is not the way the fediverse is supposed to be used. People should look for interesting content to imitate or to learn from, content coming from any user, not from users paid to do unbelievable actions or stunts

warmaster

Open source and decentralized Instagram alternative.

Loops.video is an open source and decentralized TikTok alternative.

llkkjjhhggffddssaa , edited

just being pedantic here, not confrontational, but loops.video is implementing federation but hasn’t finished yet. i was a tad disappointed but have hopes for the future that they get it done and it doesn’t flounder

Ulrich [OP]

Well the very simple version is that it's an Instagram alternative (I assume 5 year olds know what Instagram is). Similar in almost every way, minus the ads.

Theoretically you can use it to share photos to Lemmy, but I have no idea how. There was discussion of Pixelfed groups at one point, not sure if they ever came to fruition.

grue

(I assume 5 year olds know what Instagram is)

ELInot5 what Instagram is?

Seriously, I've never understood the point of it.

Ulrich [OP] , edited

I don't really understand it either. I think it's dumb. And I think PixelFed is dumb. And Mastodon. And Loops. But I'm glad they exist. Everyone is better off if people start switching. Everyone except Meta.

I'm happy with Lemmy+Photon.

MutilationWave

It's a place to post your photos cropped into squares. You can get gratification there because all your friends have to like your photos.

Hanrahan

Seriously, I've never understood the point of it.

To sell Ads, like most commercial meida eg newspaper, TV etc etc. Flogging advertising makes money for metas stockholders and others.

Phegan

Instagram

Matt

Instagram minus Meta.

can

It's like federated insta. But for your purposes you can upload images directly to your lemmy instance.

😈MedicPig🐷BabySaver😈

I use a 3rd party app, "Boost" and I mostly get errors trying to upload photos.

catloaf

For you maybe. I had to scroll to #79 to see it.

Avid Amoeba

Did filter on Social category? I'm pretty sure the screenshot is for Social.

Ulrich [OP] , edited

Really? That's weird...

E: this is the top free apps under the social category.

catloaf , edited

Much like Google search results, it's probably tailored to be more relevant to each person.

Ulrich [OP] , edited

The "top" apps shouldn't be relevant to anyone but I guess I shouldn't be surprised Google is just lying again.

Thorry84

Can confirm these are highly personalized. I have two different lists on two different phones. One I use for work and has work apps on it, the other for personal use. Both have different top charts which seems to be based on location and installed apps.

cm0002

Gotta go by category, social media category specifically

With Play store Top Free across all categories, 79 is actually pretty good, even Amazon is "just" at 53

Grandwolf319 , edited

130 for me, but I’m in Canada and I don’t think we’ve banned tick tok yet

Edit: in the social category it’s #15, not bad! Not bad at all!

Sol 6 VI StatCmd , edited

Can we advertise instances? lol I started one for makers making things. (it's brand new so its empty) Edit: It's https://pixels.makearmy.io for anyone who's curious. We're on a small time server so no promises as to performance, still working out the bugs and such but if you're curious check it out.

Ulrich [OP]

Fine with me 🤷

secret300

Does it work better on iOS? Because for me the app is very slow and sometimes just never loads anything

Ulrich [OP]

I don't know. That's probably not an issue with the app but with your particular instance/server.

secret300

Dang, alright. I tried pixelfed.social and SDF. Guess I'll keep making accounts until I find one that works

Ulrich [OP]

.social works fine for me. I mean it's not lightning fast but it's not slow either.

Shellbeach

I'm on social but I can't log in the app because it says the instance is running an outdated version of pixelfed. Am I missing something?

Ulrich [OP]

That's weird, I don't know, sorry.

pelespirit

It's worth it. It's quiet and old school, kind of like here.

TheMinions

Let me know which works best for you. I tried pixelated.social and also saw some slowness issues.

Sergio

pixelfed.social's starting to slow down. I think the growth's hitting it hard.

Ulrich [OP] , edited

I appreciate that they offer more than their first party server on sign-up (unlike Mastodon) but the first party one is still at the top with nearly 4x the number of users than the next highest.

It should be simple enough to allow instances to opt into being shown and then shuffle them periodically.

Sergio

I wonder if that actually helps their growth tho. When I first started joining lemmy I was put off by the contradictory instructions that it didn't really matter what instance I joined, but IT WAS VITALLY IMPORTANT that I pick the right one (because of "defederation" and "local communities" -- terms that meant nothing to me at the time.) But if you're joining pixelfed and you can choose either the overwhelmingly largest instance or a tiny one, then you're just going to pick the largest one.

nonfuinoncuro

does pixelfed not... uh... federate?

Sergio
  • "local feed" on a smaller pixelfed instance will be smaller
  • "global feed" on every pixelfed instance will see all pixelfed and all (image) mastodon posts, but comments made on mastodon posts using pixelfed will not be seen on mastodon
  • in theory you can see Lemmy posts and subscribe to Lemmy communities with pixelfed but I haven't got it to work. I've seen someone post from pixelfed to Lemmy but commenting didn't really work.
Ulrich [OP]

It does but like every federated service, it can also choose to *defederate* from another specific instance, and as a user you may or may not object to that.

breakfastmtn , edited

Yes. The Android app has some serious problems right now. Pixelix is probably the best Android app for now - though it has it's own rough edges. It's $2.99 in the Play store but free on F-Droid.

Using them together, however, does make for one complete (but inconvenient) app.

Edit: one of the worst Pixelix pain points was that notifications didn't actually link to the things it was notifying you about. This was just fixed in an update. The only thing you really lose out on is push notifications in the official app now.

secret300

Alright I'll check it out. Next I just need SDF's instance to work because I love SDF and want to use them but the validation email won't send

finley

Banned

Vashtea

Pixelix

NOT_RICK

My issue is any post marked nsfw is blocked on the app for some reason, regardless of whether or not it’s porn. Been digging around in settings but I can’t seem to figure out how to adjust it.

scrumples2007

It sometimes acts somewhat slow but nothing wild.

prof_wafflez

I’m on iOS and the app is having similar behavior for me.

BlemboTheThird

Yeah I can't even log in on metapixl

SatanClaus

Hopefully they can get the app to run well. It's seemingly shit on android right now. Unsure if it's something on my end.

Ulrich [OP]

Most likely nothing to do with the app itself, just the server. As with any product that experiences sudden growth.

eestileib

There's no way to follow a hash tag in the android app. That makes it pretty pointless imo.

Ulrich [OP]

I mean. It is fundamentally pointless, in my opinion, but whatever.

wesley

I'm using the android app and I've found it decent. I think the UI/UX could use some quality of life improvements but it's a simple and straightforward app to use.

SatanClaus

I ran into a bunch of issues trying to use it. Fields I should be able to type in just not allowing me to click on them to start typing. It failed to upload my image then double uploaded it. No dark mode. (What the fuck?) Profile picture wouldn't upload properly then after a refresh it was seemingly fine. Just a bunch of strangeness that made me feel like the app isn't ready for any type of day time usage.

Dogs_cant_look_up

I still can't post anything and have pretty much given up at this point. Tried a second account on a different, more local, instance and still won't actually publish the photo i'm trying to add. Even turned my private dns off my phone just in case but didn't make any difference.

brb

9th in Finland

torille

xorollo

Deleted by author

IngeniousRocks

Pixelfed.art is all artists posting their work!

Ulrich [OP]

Pixelfed doesn't have any sort of "communities" or other way to curate content (not even hashtags) so you're just going to see whatever people are posting.

As another commentor mentioned, you can join a specific instance intended for a specific type of post, but there's nothing stopping someone from joining there and posting selfies other than good will.

Remmy

Looks cool! But I'm confused about the hashtags. I followed a bunch but my home feed hasn't changed at all. What's the point of following hashtags?

breakfastmtn , edited

They should populate your home feed. Mine do. Could be because the site's been a bit wobbly today...?

Edit: actually, it might only work for new posts with those tags!

Remmy

You're right! Only new posts come up! I followed some more general tags and started getting posts. Thanks!

Ulrich [OP]

I don't think you can

catsarebadpeople

I've been loving it. One thing that has to be fixed immediately. You can't click on links inside the post descriptions. I want to follow the link that goes to a news article or website for the sale of a product but I can't click the link or even copy text on mobile.

Devastating

Ulrich [OP]

Another shitty "feature" brought over from Instagram, I suppose.

bane_killgrind

I don't want the content to be outside the app, I want the content to be the photos people post.

catsarebadpeople

Then don't follow any links to outside the app... Why shouldn't they be usable for people who want to though?

bane_killgrind

Because it encourages gamification, advertising, malware, and illegal content.

If you want links, use the link sharing forums.

catsarebadpeople

TIL wanting to follow a link to the website of a game that someone posted a screenshot of encourages illegal activity. Here I thought I was just using the Internet. Pixelfed should not allow text, comments or engagement at all in that case. It could lead to gamification. How dare people enjoy things differently than you want them to?

bane_killgrind

No, it's advertising.

I don't want it for me. It doesn't have it.

You want it for you, you have other options.

7dev7random7

*meabouttoleaveatremendousreviewthere*

surewhynotlem

I still can't log into the darn android app. Takes me to the pixelfed.social login, then does nothing.

But one day I'll love it, I'm sure.

suoko

Check pixelix app

Ulrich [OP]

It seems to be dependent on the browser for login for some reason, which caused problems for me as well.

psychOdelic , edited

which Browser works? i tried several.

edit: i think i read it wrong, anyways, if you figured out how to solve it, please tell.

Ulrich [OP] , edited

Well, the problem I had was likely different than yours. The sign-in link was being picked up by Shizuku and opening it in Moshidon, which obviously didn't work. The solution was trying it 2-3x until it was able to be opened in the browser. I also have my browser set to open links in a private window so I had to go and reverse that temporarily and then go back and reverse it again.

SatanClaus , edited

I had to disconnect from my WiFi to get it to load. I think my PiHole was blocking a link shortener or something they are using.

TrueStoryBob

I've never used the official app for PixelFed, I'm just on Fedilab for both it and Mastodon... is the PixelFed app worth a look?

alekwithak

It's pretty terrible tbh, I keep having to go back to the browser.

TrueStoryBob

Give Fedilab a try. I've been using it for about a year now; it's been pretty smooth and straight forward.

Ulrich [OP]

I dunno. I don't really even care much for PixelFed myself.

ShittyBeatlesFCPres

BlueSky being ahead of X is a real testament to how Mastodon users are insufferable and hostile. I love and use Mastodon but Jesus Christ, make some jokes and relax. Al Gore didn’t take the lead in creating the Internet for people to be insufferable. If a game is on, people might talk about it. Don’t chime in about colonialism or whatever during the game. Relax. We’ll talk about that on a weekday.

TheTechnician27 , edited

"Here's my angry, unpopular, barely coherent diatribe apropos of nothing about this large and diverse group of people definitely being angry and hostile."

ShittyBeatlesFCPres

Sorry, I’ve been in a sour mood of late due to being an American and all my favorite sports teams being in last place. The only thing that can cheer me up is watching college kids do dumb shit on TikTok. Now let me take a big sip of water and open the app.

(I know I can just use a VPN. I’m too crotchety and old to be using TikTok anyway, though.)

Tony Bark

That's like saying all Lemmy users are hostile.

MelodiousFunk

FUCK YOU!

Pass the beans when you get a chance? Thanks!

Grandwolf319

Are they the kind that make you hold in your poop? Asking for a friend.

argon

You seem like a very relaxed person

ShittyBeatlesFCPres

It’s not really a fun time to be an American leftist in a very blue city in a very red state. But I’m trying to be cautiously optimistic.

Microw

TIL Al Gore invented the internet?

grue

In the same way that Elon Musk created Tesla's cars and SpaceX's rockets, yes.

DankOfAmerica

But the thing is that here in Europe, we are more relaxed than USians because we have government mandated vacation days. It's even better when I get sick at the same time because I can catch a free ambulance ride to the hospital near the beach since there is no "out of network" medical care (whatever that means) here. I can then take mass transit from the hospital to the beach and make university-educated friends with everyone because tuition here is free. Because I didn't die in a mass shooting when leaving the beach, I can order a reasonably-sized meal that doesn't cause instant cardiovascular disease and not leave a tip because our servers are paid a living wage. I can't imagine the horror of living in such an underdeveloped country as USA. I am so glad I am in the EU.

  • Sent from my phone without concern of being doxxed or tracked thanks to EU privacy laws
absquatulate

Hear hear. I subscribed to a couple news accounts and for last minute news its just perfect. But man, start browsing the popular section and you're in for a fuckton of activism.

grue

Al Gore didn’t take the lead in creating the Internet for people to be insufferable.

I dunno man, it seems pretty in-character to me! 🤓

AlexWIWA

How does privacy work with it? In my mind I’d think it’d be terrible because everything is federated. Not something I care about with lemmy, but pictures are a different story.

Ulrich [OP]

Depends on what you mean.

If you set your profile to private, it's most likely private. It is open source so you can audit the code, if you're knowledgeable enough. Then you have to trust whoever hosts your instance that they haven't modified the code.

The difference between other mainstream social sites is that it's not secretly mining all your personal data. It only shares exactly what you give it. At least it's probably not, because there's not a significant amount of it.

But everything you make public is not just available publicly but also archived on thousands of servers. And you can electronically request it be deleted but there's no guarantee they'll honor that request.

AlexWIWA

Good point. My worry is just a federated instance scooping up all of the feed regardless of privacy, but I bet this is a question I can answer by ceasing my laziness and reading their site.

Ulrich [OP] , edited

Yeah again, assuming everything is kosher on your instance, they can only scoop up what your instance, and you, make available.

Anything you make publicly available should be considered to be immortalized. Forever.

But with the advent of a hundred different websites like archive.org and now all these AI sites, you should assume that about the whole internet, I suppose.

I wish there was a truly private social media but it looks like Signal stories is about as close as we get.

Matt

Weird, I don't see it. Instead, I see a bunch of proprietary apps. 1000046546

P4ulin_Kbana

image of an iPhone so tall that it's bigger than skyscrapers

Ulrich [OP]

It's under the social feed.

Matt , edited

Or maybe it can be because I have a Slovak account.

EDIT: It's 43rd in Slovakia.

1000046553

Matt

It is because I'm Slovak since Facebook is one of the most downloaded social media here1000046552

Digestive_Biscuit

You have a very long phone

Matt

Samsung phones have this cool feature where you take screenshot and then you can extend this screenshot by tapping a button.

Digestive_Biscuit

I've never seen that before. That's a good feature.

dumples

Does anyone know if you can only have one pixelfeed account per email address? I want to make one for personal use and one just my garden pictures?

dbkblk

Why won't you be able to create two accounts?

dumples

Some systems tie one email address to one account only. Just wondering. I'll try it out to see i guess

PlainSimpleGarak

As someone who doesn't use these platforms (except Twitter), why does Pixelfed's UI look just like Instagram, and why does Bluesky's UI look just like Twitter? Are they just cut/paste copies?

Ulrich [OP] , edited

They're not cut/paste copies, they're rebuilt from the ground up. The UI is similar because they want to retain familiarity and decrease barriers to entry. Much like Lemmy.