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While Twitter is busy limiting the number of readable tweets<\/a> and breaking its Tweetdeck app<\/a>, open source Twitter alternative Mastodon is celebrating the launch of a significant refresh of its Android app. The new app, released over the weekend<\/a>, features a complete Material You redesign \u2014 Google\u2019s design language<\/a> for Android \u2014 as well as revamped features including tab bars, settings, a compose screen, and more.<\/p>\n Mastodon founder and CEO Eugen Rochko shared news of the update on the Mastodon blog<\/a>, as the social network \u2014 including its mobile apps, web version, and third-party clients \u2014 now reaches an active user base of 1.4 million monthly active users<\/a> according to the company\u2019s own data. That monthly active figure is up 19%, the website also notes, but is down from Mastodon\u2019s peak popularity in the wake of Elon Musk\u2019s Twitter takeover late last year, when it had then seen<\/a> 2.5 million monthly users.<\/p>\n Today, Rochko shared<\/a> that the number of active users across Mastodon rose by 294,000 over the weekend, and posting activity roughly tripled \u2014 figures likely tied to Twitter\u2019s troubles<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to Rochko, the new Android app out now features dozens of ways to customize the user experience in the new settings screen, ranging from being able to change the default posting language to reminding yourself to add alternative text for your media uploads to being about to hide the \u201cboost\u201d and \u201cfavorite\u201d counters \u2014 the former, Mastodon\u2019s version of Twitter\u2019s retweet.<\/p>\n Android users can also access information about the server they\u2019re connected to and view its rules. (In Mastodon\u2019s decentralized social network, users join a server that is connected \u2014 or federated \u2014 with other servers across the wider network, and each server has its own admin(s) and moderation guidelines.)<\/p>\n In addition, the Android app\u2019s refreshed user profile section will now display all the featured content that was previously missing from the app, Rochko notes, including things like pinned posts, featured hashtags, and endorsed users.<\/p>\n Plus, users can now filter Mastodon\u2019s content, by creating filters for phrases or keywords, and then customizing when those filters should apply. Users can also temporarily pause notifications for those times when they want to take a break.<\/p>\n Another change is how the app displays verifications<\/a>. On Mastodon, users can self-verify by placing a specific link on their website that points to their Mastodon profile, then editing their profile to add the link to their website. This doesn\u2019t give them a \u201cblue badge\u201d as on other social networks, but verifies someone\u2019s broader identity across the web.<\/p>\n Now, when profiles have a verified link, Mastodon\u2019s app will surface it in the search results and in other lists so it\u2019s easier to tell different profiles apart. This could help to address one of the complaints from users that finding notable people to follow on Mastodon is too difficult.<\/p>\n The refreshed app is available via the Google Play Store, but it\u2019s not the only option for Android users. Other popular Android clients for Mastodon include Tusky, Megalodon, Fedilab, Tooot, and others. iOS users, however, have a wider selection, including newer apps like Woolly<\/a>, Mammoth<\/a>, Radiant<\/a>, and Ivory<\/a>, which sprung up amid the Twitter exodus after Musk\u2019s acquisition and API changes that put Twitter apps out of business<\/a>. Because Android users have fewer third-party options, an update to Mastodon\u2019s official mobile app on Android has a more significant impact than it would on iOS.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n