Openvibe – Open Social App 17+

This is such a great idea and execution of the idea. I’m worried about two things though. First I’m concerned, that while it’s currently free (its own concern), that this may eventually transform into an expensive subscription. My personal hope is for a one-time payment. My second concern is that this doesn’t appear to be a private project but one backed by sizable investors - which makes me concerned about eventual ads and the security of my data. Hoping the team behind this service is weighing their choices carefully.

Really great work so far so kudos to the devs!! But would love it even more if these features were implemented: (1) A way to view trending topics like in the Bluesky app (2) Able to add additional login accounts (only lets you add one per) (3) ability to see the detailed bio when you view the following list for others. In the bluesky app, you can click on the someone’s following list and the list will show the users name, handle and their bio. Makes it easier to find new profiles based on your interests (4) Search is a little clunky and not as detailed as if you use the respective native apps, for instance, there’s no Top, Latest, Feeds like in Bluesky search. (5) Also is more of a nitpick but when you try to click on a profile from the search results list, you have to specifically click on their name in the row. Clicking on the leading edge on the profile picture doesn’t navigate you to their profile.

This app does something that nobody else does (lets you use both Mastodon and Bluesky) but it’s just not ready yet. It has too many usability problems like not showing full landscape images or how many posts users have. It also has an odd design with that scrollable top bar, which deviates from the iOS design language and is very jarring. Worst of all, when I posted full size images to bluesky, the compression algorithm crunched them up and I had to delete. This is beta-level at best. But, I’m going to keep this installed for a few months in the hopes that it gets good enough to use as a daily driver. There is definitely a lot of work to do though. Three stars is charitable.