Notices by Boris Mann (boris@cosocial.ca)

Why? WHY??? Well, because there’s the Mastodon API, there’s the ActivityPub backend spec, and there’s a ActivityPub Client spec.

Mastodon is widely deployed and “easy” to check for, so that will work most reliably.

And, every client app dev writes their own link checker code: different programming languages and licenses is one reason that it can’t be re-used directly, although documenting how to fingerprint different types would be a good first step.

@feditips

🧵/4

Testing how links to posts from different flavours of ActivityPub servers work in mobile apps with @feditips

The “good” experience is that apps check to see if the link is an AP post, and slides it open in app if it is.

When it opens in app, users can favourite / boost / reply, visit the user profile and follow, all very seamlessly.

This is the default, great experience for those like me that are native mobile app primary for their Fediverse usage.

🧵/1

The bad experience (and the default in a browser interface), is your app can’t tell that a link is an ActivityPub post or profile, it opens in a browser window in app or in your mobile system browser, and…

You’re not logged in, so can’t interact with the post.

And you’re faced with a completely different UI than browsing in your app.

You might be able to use search to interact with it (see next thread post)

@feditips

🧵/2

So you’ve got a link to what you think is an ActivityPub enabled item - either a post or a profile.

You can paste this link into your search interface*.

Ivory is bad at this, Mastodon, Ice Cubes, Toot! are good at detecting this, letting you find and follow Lemmy, PeerTube, MicroDotBlog, probably WordPress in the future.

Mastodon native app is good at search…BUT pretty much opens everything in browser 🤦♂️🤷♂️

*This “paste into search” is the expert flow on web front ends

@feditips

🧵/3

@feditips on Ivory, new browser window, AND copy paste search doesn’t work.

I’ve found Mastodon mobile app to be most successful in copy paste search (search works with this link in Masto, also in Toot & MetaText, all do new browser window)

So yes, this is a known thing that Mastodon fingerprinting is prioritized and easiest to do.

Having this as a library package for re-use would be good, including adding other server types.

@feditips @IceCubesApp so, this could also be network settings.

As far as I can tell, each app will hit a known fedi endpoint of the link (I think asking for the JSON version of the link, which will succeed if it is a Fedi server).

I read something about this, could search IceCubes source code to see.

Maybe you have OS or local network settings that is blocking those requests?

@feditips @IceCubesApp yeah for sure happy to jam on this. We’re nerdsniping each other 😅

I’m Ivory primary, but just bringing Ice Cubes into Home Screen as I poke at again.

@feditips @IceCubesApp 1.7.6

I just checked and there’s a 1.7.7 version waiting for me in the App Store.

@feditips @IceCubesApp

Of course! Let’s do all 4 I have.

- IceCubes
- Ivory
- MetaText
- Toot!

@feditips tried with MetaText, both links open in app.

@feditips just tried on Toot! and both links load in app.

It has a little loading icon that shows when I click which is where I assume it’s checking the link type. I captured it in the screenshot.

(o be clear — I’m experimenting here digging in, not discounting your experience! I hope this shared research is helpful)

@feditips in both Ivory and Ice Cube, it loads the first link in app.

In Ivory, the second profile link loads in app, in Ice Cube it opens in browser.

I think Ivory might be prefetching links to check for Fedi API responses and then loading via the API if it is a Fedi server (probably heavily Mastodon first fingerprinting).

(Trimming folks)

@feditips @seachanger @noondlyt @LoganFive maybe I’m misunderstanding.

I’m on Ice Cubes and I see an account boosted into my feed. I click on it and the profile loads in the app, no pop up.

I can click follow / unfollow and there’s no pop up or browser window.

My other profile as screenshot example.

@feditips @seachanger @noondlyt @LoganFive most of the native mobile apps work like Ivory.

The apps hold your login and it’s more a seamless system, no browser window it’s just integrated as data gets fetched and sent.

This can’t easily be done in browser because of security between servers and the front end.

An app is more like a “backend” Integration — it uses APIs directly.

@feditips @misc awesome, thank you.

Do you know of a canonical reference for this other than implementation code?

This feels like convention (which is good!) but also it essentially describes the “algorithm”

1) A chronological feed of original posts by the people you follow

2) Boosts by people you follow

3) Replies where you are mentioned or to mutuals

@misc very plain instance. And it could literally be that I misremember and that the “Only followers of both see replies” is being applied.

(And of course — just browsing a user profile will show the replies if they are public or unlisted)

I follow a lot of people and will generally follow more based in part on whom they are talking to.

I haven’t searched, but do you know of a reference for how this is supposed to work?

@kissane @jdp23 I seem to see a lot of Kissane’s replies to everyone else here (on Ivory).

Not a setting as far as I know, this may be something with the default Mastodon web interface? (I don’t use the web interface much)

So put me in the category of “no clue when I do see this vs not”.

I thought Unlisted made this not happen, but maybe it’s because I follow @jdp23?

@kissane @jdp23 I think as evidence from elsewhere shows, many people do in fact see all of your replies. You’re welcome / I’m sorry 🤷

@misc I’m over here poking at settings and trying stuff. I know I don’t have high confidence that I know what the intended behaviour is supposed to be.

On Twitter, starting with an @-reply hides from non followers.

I don’t believe that’s the case on Mastodon?

So someone following Kissane sees all her replies as well.

I have not looked at the spec. I do seem to see all replies of people I follow.

The fact that we are unsure highlights Kissane’s affordances post