this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2023

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ELI5: Would it be possible for a "fediverse" app to exist? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by whenigrowup356@lemmy.world to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.world

37 comments fedilink hide all child comments

By this I mean: something that can view and fully interact with multiple different services like Lemmy, Mastodon, etc.

Does it exist already?

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[–] ViridianNott@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Artemis is an upcoming iOS app that is supposed to work for the whole “threadiverse” (so Kbin and Lemmy).

I think it is generally doable but it end up being double the work - you have to take the independently designed architectures of kbin and lemmy and marry them under one UI. This could lead to more bugs and slower development, especially early on. I can see what most apps are focusing on one or the other.

Implementing Mastodon would be even harder, because it’s post at architecture doesn’t follow the same pattern as kbin and lemmy’s . Would people really use an app where Reddit-style threads are mixed in with Twitter-style posts? I think it’s better that Mastodon is kept separate tbh.

[–] static@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Kbin is doing this for a bit, see the microblogging tab.
Boost is the same as mastodon, and you can follow users.

[–] chimay@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

yes, but you can't see a timeline with followed users only, at least I couldn't find how.

[–] Dark_Blade@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, someone could make a Fediverse app that works with everything, but it’d have to be someone with a lot of time on their hands and enough acumen to make something that can put up a UI for all frontends that can compete with both Ivory and…well, whatever emerges as the big Lemmy/Kbin app.

[–] raze2012@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

Well they are using their free time and talent to make a app for a free service. That's kind of a default.

But I think people are approaching this the wrong way. You don't need to support the entire fediverse at once. I know it's OP's question, but the reality is that you'd focus on 1-2 of the biggest sites and add others later when (if?) any other big instance with a fundamentally different part of the API.

You won't support everything but you can eventually support 99% of where people browse.

[–] exscape@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Artemis is also for Android.
Also I do believe they have Mastodon/microblogging support planned for later!

[–] Lifecoach5000@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah I’m following a couple lemmy.world communities via the mastodon app and it’s a bit of a mess. You can’t distinguish new posts from replies in the mastodon feed. Still really cool though that it’s even possible - it’s just the interface isn’t quite built for it to be conducive.

[–] HerrLewakaas@feddit.de 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You would have to support each service separately, because they all work differently.

What connects Lemmy, Mastodon and other fediverse services is the ActivityPub protocol, that's the standardized communication protocol that makes everything run. The individual instances run different software that offer entirely different APIs (application programming interface; basically the language that defines how an app talks to a service) so in order to support Mastodon, Lemmy and Kbin, an app must explicitly implement the APIs for those three services.

So an app that generally just supports every service that will be added to the fediverse in the future can't be made unless we agree on some form of standard API, which we haven't (yet) and which may not even be feasable, because different services have much different capabilities.

A fediverse discord clone would offer completely different data structures and functionality than Lemmy, so an app that magically just works with both isn't possible to make.

[–] 0xbeef@feddit.de 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I wouldn’t say it’s not possible it’s just too hard for the reward. The app would not be user-friendly because of the very different kinds of services that exists. OP just imagine you had an one app that basically lets you access discord, twitter, instagram, Facebook, Reddit and others. It would be possible but it’s a lot of work for a really crappy app. That app would be messy and cluttered and not a good experience.

[–] amiuhle@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well, technically there are apps that let you access all those services. They're called browsers.

[–] dani@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

…and I find that Lemmy/kbin/Mastodon (and the rest?) work really well in a browser, obviating the need for dedicated apps. Dedicated apps are nice though.

[–] Chocrates@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Technically I think yes, you could pull all the data you are subscribed to from the instances. Getting the UI to be clean would be the major challenge imo.
I would like to see this though. Maybe I'll start a project I will abandon soon after 🤣

[–] ilovededyoupiggy@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 year ago

Maybe I'll start a project I will abandon soon after

This guy side-projects!

[–] nightscout@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

I would love this! At least for Mastodon and Lemmy, which I consider somewhat similar. I use Mona for Mastodon and would love have a separate tab within that app for accessing Lemmy. I just really like the design and feature set of the app and having it extended to Lemmy would be so nice.

[–] mykl@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yes. It’s called a “web browser”.

Seriously though, “fediverse” just means internet plus shared hosting of content. Why would you want a single app to amalgate photos and chat and videos and weather and restaurant reviews and auctions and whatever else people choose to federate?

[–] iByteABit@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago

It's definitely possible, but it would be a swiss army knife of an app that's way too hard to make compared to how confusing and messy the end result would probably be

[–] mfz@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

As ActivityPub is just an underlying protocol, the question is similar to asking something like "Is it possible to make an Internet app for everything?".

There will be new ways to use the #fediverse in the future and new applications will be developed and adopted and it makes little sense in trying to provide every possible way to view the fediverse in an ever playing catch-up implementation of a view into it.

Try to look at it as the Internet itself.

It's an attempt at providing a finite and limited answer to an open ended question. Doesn't make a lot of sense.

[–] tenet@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

An internet app for everything is literally a fucking web browser.

Which is all most apps are.

There's nothing technically keeping a unified Fediverse app from happening outside of any account conflation limitations that exist. But even then it should be possible to handle multiple logins on the same app.

[–] Overzeetop@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

Exactly. There's no reason you couldn't create a mastodon/kbin/lemmy/+ app which lets you log in and switch personalities on the fly, either aggregating all feeds into one or showing you individual feeds (like the Gmail All Inboxes). You could even have custom aggregation, like having it show you all of the c/+m/ [!foo@*.ext] threads in one combined feed so that you can see everything related to foo in one place no matter what instance its hosted on.

All it takes is someone who wants to create it and the programming to make it and maintain it. Which is kind of like saying all I need is a desire to retire and five million dollars; no matter how unlikely to happen, it's still a true statement.

[–] InterSynth@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Closest thing I know is Fedilab, which works with Mastodon, Pleroma, Pixelfed and Friendica. While compatible with each other, each fediverse service uses different parts and features of ActivityPub (the protocol they all share). It's technically possible to build an app that does it all, but doesn't really sound sensible.

[–] jherazob@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Exactly what i was thinking: Possible? Yes, absolutely. A good idea? Probably not, it'd be a confusing mess of an app

[–] tenet@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why would that be the case? You're pretty much already in the middle of it. Look up top. Microblogs, threads, magazines. Throw on some hashtags and you've got yourself a stew going.

[–] Kichae@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

Let's differentiate between a Fediverse service, like kbin or Calckey, and something like Fedilab, which is a mobile app.

Fedilab supporting 8 different services is different from any one service being interoperable with 7 others. This is because the mobile apps aren't using ActivityPub to talk to the different servers, they're using each service's API. And they don't all have the same API, or support the same feature set.

Consider Lemmy and kbin. Lemmy doesn't have support for thr microblogging feed, so an app that supported both would either need special support for the microblog on kbin, or exclude it.

Then say they want to roll out Mastodon and Calckey support. Well, Mastodon is a relatively simple microblog in many respects, with posts, and lists, and favouritrs, but Calckey has a "Channels" feature, emoji reactions, instant messaging, "Antennae" saved searches, local-only posting, and advanced Markup features. Everything that makes Calckey different from Mastodon just gets hidden if special development isn't done to actually support Calckey features.

And then there's Pleroma and Akkoma, which have many similar features, but different implementations, and so on, and so forth.

[–] thann@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, it doesn't make much sense to make the app interoperable, when so much effort is spent to make the whole website interoperable, and that allows you to communicate with the rest of the fediverse anyway.

[–] callyral@readit.buzz 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

possibly, although it's probably just better to have separate apps for separate things

[–] Bird_On_Biff@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

Why? One app for all accounts across all instances would be cool

[–] supermurs@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I remember having an app like that on my old Nokia smart phone. The app supported Twitter, Foursquare, Facebook and some other social platform too. I can only imagine how difficult it was to maintain.

[–] Peruvian_Skies@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

I remember that app. It was probably just four separate backends with a common frontend.

[–] r00ty@kbin.nerfed.net 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If the various "redditish" projects could agree an shared framework providing access to all the features common across all implementations then sure, it'd be easy. But the thing is, that things are done just different enough that dedicated apps make sense to make use of any unique features.

Also, I've been using my phone's browser to post to kbin and I think it is fine.

[–] postmateDumbass@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

shared framework providing access to all the features common across all implementations

Thats what web browsers are supposed to do.

It is the exact role they serve.

The last 2 gemerations of 'the web' have added little new capability, instead inventing new expensive ways to do what was once free all while invading our privacy.

All an app does is add another layer for someone else's profit.

[–] PierreKanazawa@fedia.io 1 points 1 year ago

To get ui/ux suited for Mastodon, the app shouldn't use e. g. the same interface for Lemmy.

Then the situation is almost the same as using different apps.

[–] Emperor@feddit.uk 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In Mastodon you can follow people (and Lemmy communities) in other Fediverse implementations. It's not the full featured experience you get on them but you get a feed of the posts and can comment and like them, giving them a boost there.

It's early days and I'm still experimenting with it but it looks like I might be using Mastodon as my hub for the Fediverse.

[–] EnglishMobster@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

FWIW, Kbin integrates a lot more smoothly with Mastodon than Lemmy does. Lemmy does this weird thing with boosts, but Kbin looks like native posts.

[–] Kaldo@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

This is true but I am still very confused about various kbin submission types. I once created a microblog post and then when I later checked that community on its lemmy domain view, my "micropost" was a whole thread with the entire contents as both title and body in it, duplicated. Some kbin threads also show up on mastodon (articles IIRC) but others don't and there is no visual indication in the app which one it's going to be.

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