As many of you know, the third party iPhone/iPad app Metatext is no longer being maintained as the lead developer had health issues. However, there is now a community-maintained version of the app called Feditext. You can follow the latest news about it at:
Feditext beta users: we're aware of the performance regression under the release version of iOS 17 and are tracking it in https://github.com/feditext/feditext/issues/253. we don't know the cause yet. if you're a heavy Fedi user and don't have a pressing need for iOS 17 features, it might be a good idea to stay on iOS 16 for a few more days.
short version: we have a small set of bugs to fix and chores to do before an App Store release, and quote post UI will come after that, in version 1.8.
Feditext beta testers: today's build 77 contains internal changes to the HTTP client and the API clients built on it, and shouldn't have any user-visible effects. there are no other changes, because the purpose of this release is to test those changes before building further on them. please let us know on the bug tracker if you see any new kinds of HTTP error.
update: build 77 has problems loading old home timeline posts. please stay on 76 for now; see downthread for how to revert to it.
for those familiar with Apple development: we've rewritten the clients to use Swift concurrency (aka async/await) instead of Combine, which is more readable and easier to reason about. this is the first step in replacing Combine in as many places as it makes sense, which we'll weave in with other work as we go.
prospective testers: we're working through a two-week message backlog, and will be sending invites out today.
we know it's been a bit since the last update. thanks for your patience.
#Ivory is still my favorite and go-to #Mastodon client, though I have several others on my phone I use for different reasons. (As Scott pointed out, Ivory does require a paid sub)
#Feditext is awesome, but is in TestFlight beta rn
#Mammoth: Is a great looking, free app with some cool features like "Smart Lists”. Some mild bugginess here and there though
#IceCubes is awesome and open source but struggles with some timeline mgmt stuff
The Feditext iOS client for Mastodon, GotoSocial, Firefish, etc. now has its own account on fedi.software! Please follow us here for official Feditext updates and announcements.
Feditext beta users, today's TestFlight build 69 includes various fixes and workarounds for Firefish and Hajkey.
we will be working with server devs to get some of those fixed on the server side (for Hajkey's case, in Iceshrimp), so that future clients won't have to special-case anything.
known not to work in this release:
Hajkey's suggested accounts to follow: displays an error message
intermittent foreign key constraint error when browsing Firefish or Hajkey timelines: you don't need to report this one, we're already investigating
Firefish users: there's a known issue (#10543) with unimplemented MFM rendering which prevents links, hashtags, some mentions, and any rich text formatting from being displayed correctly.
this affects all Mastodon API clients, not just Feditext. you don't need to report this one to either us or Firefish.
Sharkey users: Sharkey didn't exist when we went into winter vacation hiatus, so we haven't tested Feditext against it yet, and it may not enable Firefish-specific features. please check the bug tracker for Sharkey bugs, and file new ones if you don't see a bug matching behavior you're seeing.
Feditext beta users: today's build 75 includes the first of several performance fixes resulting from our perf investigation. there's a lot still to do; we'll be alternating perf fixes and bug fixes for the next few beta builds, so non-perf problems don't sit for too long.
we've had a few questions about an Android version lately. for the record: there will never be an Android version.
Feditext is Apple tech from the ground up (Swift, SwiftUI, UIKit, and other iOS platform APIs) so porting it would be more work than writing a new client from scratch, and we'll leave Android to the Android professionals.
Feditext beta users: today's version 1.7.2 build 106 fixes a regression with trailing hashtag de-emphasis introduced in the previous build. trailing hashtags should be smaller and dimmer again (if you have that feature on).
if you are not using Siren, this will not affect you; however, we recommend switching to Siren as the HTML parser in app preferences instead of WebKit, as it's much faster, especially on iOS 17. Siren will completely replace WebKit soon.
Feditext beta users: today's 1.7.2 build 89 fixes a bug inherited from Metatext that would rapidly repeat searches when the end of search results was reached, usually resulting in the client being rate-limited by the instance within seconds.
I need #Fedihelp please.
I’m using #Feditext to browse Mastodon and I have a locked account so people must send a request to follow me.
I get a notification when someone has requested, but I can’t seem to find how to accept or deny access.
Is this a bug or am I just missing something?
Anyone have an invite to beta test #FediText? I’m still using Metatext (which I love) but which isn’t being updated anymore. Would love to try out the new iOS app if anyone can assist. #beta
Feditext beta users: today's version 1.7.2 build 97 includes experimental support for Pixelfed instances, and is recommended for anyone with a Pixelfed account.
some bugs are expected. there's one currently known: deleting a status will succeed but result in an error, so deleting and redrafting is not currently possible. please file any other issues on our GitHub issue tracker.
Vyr has been busy with other tasks for the past few weeks, but is returning to Fedi stuff, including Feditext.
Feditext is currently stalled on App Store submission by admin issues on Apple's end, so she'll be working on fixes for minor bugs while we wait for them to sort that out.
Feditext beta users: GotoSocial announced their first 0.15 prerelease today, which includes filter support contributed by our very own Vyr.
Feditext version 1.7.2 build 101 improves filter UI by hiding the "Drop instead of hide" filter option when using a GtS instance, where it is not yet supported and won't work.
if you aren't using a GtS instance, you don't need to upgrade Feditext today.
Feditext beta users: today's version 1.7.2 build 109 fixes a navigation regression https://github.com/feditext/feditext/issues/405 as well as an App Store issue that was preventing us from submitting new builds, even to TestFlight. it also contains some minor prep for the App Store release.