Holos Social: Self-hosted Fediverse client
Holos Social is a self-hosted Fediverse client designed for Mastodon, Bluesky, and AT Protocol servers. It offers granular content filtering, multiple "Home" feeds for different contexts, and full control over data and connections. The app is available as a free download on the AltStore.
Background
- **Alt Store** is an alternative app marketplace for iOS devices, created in Europe in response to the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA), which forces Apple to allow third-party app stores.
- **Holos Social** is a third-party client for accessing the **Fediverse** (also known as the "fediverse"), a decentralized network of social platforms like Mastodon, Pixelfed, and PeerTube that can all communicate with one another via the ActivityPub protocol.
- "Self-hosted" means users can run their own instance of the app's backend on their own server, giving them control over their data rather than relying on a centralized service.
- The **fediverse** matters because it is the leading alternative to corporate-controlled social networks like X/Twitter and Meta's Threads, though it has historically lacked polished mobile apps — Holos aims to fill that gap on iOS through Alt Store's sideloading channel.