As a software developer myself, I can really appreciate the fine details that the indie developer of Mona has put into their app. It has a very thoughtful design and is extremely customizable. This is the new version with new features, refinements, and a subscription option so you can support the developer for their ongoing hard work! Some misers reject software subscriptions, but it’s the best relationship for indie software because it ensures that the developer will be incentivized to continue adding features and supporting software you depend on.

I saw the buzz around this new app and I figured I would try it out to see what improvements it offers over the previous versions. The first thing I noticed is that even with this latest update, many of the icons from the last version are missing. I feel like the developer must think that nobody uses these ( "Has lots of icons? Check!" ). But imagine if you were used to using one icon and now that no longer exists and you lose time trying to find it. It's these types of design considerations that are myriad in this app: the complicated UI views on the Mac are extremely confusing: the sidebar turns into a horizontal bar when you "divide the window". What ever happened to just "colunms". Depending on your view, you get random and unpredictable menubar preferences. Then the pricing is a mess. Is it subscription or is it a one time purchase? How do I know if I have Mona Pro Ultra? What happened to Mona 6? What is Mona Classic? I think this app may be for folks who are enormously invested in a single product and who have time to learn all of the idiosyncrasies of a strongly opinionated app. I am definitely thankful that I was able to try this app before purchasing, because I just don't have the time to be able to unravel this.

This app is easily the most customizable Mastodon app available, with the most features added, compared to a number of other popular Mastodon apps. This seems to continue on through the iOS 26 liquid glass features, although I am sad that the red and dark red icons are no longer there. I guess purple is OK, but I really like the red theme better. Five stars.

It has mostly the same bugs and lack of features as Mona 6. (E.g. the number indicating replies to a post and the actual replies displayed is wildly off. I see 9, but only eight replies show up. Or I see 5, while only 4 show up. Toot! displays everything, and is still a one-time purchase that was just updated and refreshed).But it now is a rental service, or costs an additional ten or twenty dollars depending on how duped the customer was previously. So what’s the benefit of this for the customer compared to the old version? Is this just a “new revenue generation” play? Seems like it.