When the Open Social Web Hybridizes: Raccoon for Friendica is a new app… Mastodon. And it even has a little Lemmy in it! That’s why the Free Software + Fediverse duo is such a valuable resource.

@fediverse

Raccoon 1.0 was finally released for Android in recent days, a rather innovative client originally created for #Friendica, but which has now become one of the most innovative apps for the user experience on #Mastodon. The app is available for Android (already on the Play Store and Izzidroid, and will soon be available on F-Droid), but a #Debian package has also been released. An iOS version remains to be seen for its success.

The app introduces some very important innovations to the federated app landscape.

1. Navigate the Fediverse from an app, even without creating an account

Raccoon is the only app that lets you browse the Fediverse even without an account. When you install it, you can select any Friendica or Mastodon instance and “leverage” its local public and federated timelines. This way, users can explore multiple instances before choosing which one to open an account on. Of course, even after adding an account (the app manages multiple accounts), you can browse the timelines of servers other than the one you signed up to.

2. “Browse through” messages: “swipe” navigation

Unlike all other social apps (both those for the Fediverse and those for commercial social networks), #RaccoonForFriendica lets you open a post in your timeline and continue browsing through previous and next posts by simply swiping left and right.
This is a truly interesting ergonomic innovation.

3. Finally a formatting bar in social apps

Since the app was created for Friendica, it features a built-in formatting toolbar reminiscent of Lemmy clients (in fact, the developer @janTeko first experimented with app development with a Lemmy app). The formatting toolbar can also be used for Mastodon instances running the Glitch-soc fork, such as infosec.exchange, tech.lgbt, and my poliversity.it instance, which was the one the developer experimented with.

In addition to being more immediate, writing formatted posts is also made easier by a “preview” function that helps avoid errors in Markdown or BBCode coding.

4. Finally, Mastodon users will be able to enjoy Fediverse groups too.

As you may know, Mastodon doesn’t support the display of group posts. Even if you select a group, you’ll still see a single timeline where top posts alternate with replies. Searching for a thread on Mastodon is therefore very complicated, but the #Raccoon developer has found a way to enable “topic” viewing across all accounts that are “activitypub groups,” be they #Lemmy, #NodeBB, Piefed, Mbin, Peertube, Wordpress, Mobilizon, Flipboard, etc.
This idea also came about thanks to the fact that the developer had previously tried his hand at developing an app for Lemmy and was able to experiment with the formatting bars and display of Lemmy “communities,” which are nothing other than “#activitypub groups.”

5. Other interesting features

Among other features, you can

6. What’s still missing?

The app features all the features found in most other Mastodon apps, except one: the correct handling of Mastodon posts that quote other posts. These are still displayed in a fairly primitive way. The developer is trying to decide whether to adapt to Mastodon specifications or reinterpret the feature in a more personalized way.
It must be said that, unfortunately, the implementation of quoted messages (already present in Friendica for ages) was implemented by Mastodon very late, only in recent months, and in a very “personal” way that many other software developers did not appreciate.

7. Raccoon is an app that will benefit users who already use Mastodon but also those who have never “tried” the Fediverse

This app has been under development for almost two years, and the beta version is just over a year old. However, version 1.0 has resolved all previously encountered issues.
Based on user feedback, the developer will evaluate whether to create an iOS version and even a Windows version.
Anyone who wishes to allow reporting of application errors can enable anonymous crash reports.

8. Links and Resources

This is the developer’s profile:
https://androiddev.social/users/janTeko

This is the app repository: https://github.com/LiveFastEatTrashRaccoon/RaccoonForFriendica/

This is the Play Store link:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.livefast.eattrash.raccoonforfriendica

This is the link on IzzyDroid (the app will be released on F-Droid soon, but is currently under review):
https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/index/apk/com.livefast.eattrash.raccoonforfriendica

Here is the developer’s blog:
https://livefasteattrashraccoon.github.io/blog/

Finally, from here you can download the .apk or .deb package without using the online stores. line:
https://github.com/LiveFastEatTrashRaccoon/RaccoonForFriendica/releases/latest/

One last recommendation

The public’s response will be important to enable the further development of this app.
If you want to test it on Mastodon, I recommend using instances running the glitch-soc fork. Among these, I’d recommend the infosec.exchange instance, which is well managed by @jerry. And of course, but only if you communicate in Italian or Esperanto, I’d be happy to host you on my poliversity.it instance.
Regarding Friendica, I recommend two instances: friendica.world, managed by @ruud and featuring a rather lively timeline, and, of course, social.trom.tf, excellently managed by @tio.
If you communicate in Italian, I’d be happy to host you on my poliverso.org instance.

Greetings to all and let me know if you need further information, if you have tried the app and how you found it.
Francesco
You can also interact with me through the Mastodon account @informapirata and the Friendica account @notizie

  • givesomefucksEnglish
    12·
    8 hours ago

    Well…

    The fact that so many zombie account are suddenly all active and super supportive of this ai slop?

    Like, this is some of the worst astroturfing Ive ever seen.

    • Phantaloons@piefed.zipEnglish
      11·
      3 hours ago

      If the code is Ai slop, we might could, I dunno… have some proof? Maybe? It just might help your argument avoid another goal-post move.

      • givesomefucksEnglish
        1·
        3 hours ago

        have some proof?

        OP saying it?

        the development wasn’t done with vibe coding, but was done over the course of almost two years, integrating observations and addressing issues.

        But if everyone stopped to investigate every piece of slop thrown in front of them, all they’d do all day is that.

        It just might help your argument avoid another goal-post move.

        This isn’t an argument, if you think goalposts are moving it means you still don’t understand any of it.

        But most importantly, I don’t really give a fuck if people end up understanding. Go for it bro, slop em up, get those steaks super sloppy and slick your hair back reaaaaaal nice.

        • Phantaloons@piefed.zipEnglish
          1·
          31 minutes ago

          I think you’re extrapolating statements as admissions for the sake of your own benefit.

          The OP being slop doesn’t mean the original dev’s code is.

          the development wasn’t done with vibe coding, but was done over the course of almost two years, integrating observations and addressing issues.

          …isn’t an admission of vibecoding

          So, let’s back up.

          https://github.com/LiveFastEatTrashRaccoon/RaccoonForLemmy

          There’s the source, so you don’t even have to go looking yourself, not that you were.