Mastodon is making its decentralized social network easier to use with its latest revamp

Mastodon is making changes in hopes of making its social networking service more attractive and easier to use, especially for casual users looking for an alternative to X or Threads.

The decentralized social networking software maker said Thursday it is redesigning a key part of its platform by giving people’s user profiles a new look, which it hopes will appeal to organizations, as well as individuals.

Mastodon is built on the ActivityPub protocol, and became better known after Elon Musk acquired Twitter, now called X, prompting some to look for alternatives. The appeal of the platform lies in its decentralized nature, meaning that no single company controls the algorithm, and users can move their accounts if they don’t like how a particular server works or its community is managed.

However, this system is also more complicated compared to signing up for a traditional social network like X. In Mastodon, users have to choose a server to join and have different schedules (local and federated), which can be confusing for newcomers. Following others on the service can also be stressful.

This has left Mastodon struggling to attract more users, numbers that now hover around 800,000 monthly active, down from 1 million at the height of the Twitter drama.

In recent months, Mastodon has been working to address various pain points that might put off users. In February, it simplified the setup process and added other features users have come to expect, like quote posts or “starter packs” called “Groups.”

Now user profiles are handled. The revamped version makes several changes, many of which are visual in nature.

What changes?

Instead of offering two views of a person’s posts (“Posts” or “Posts & Replies”), similar to X, Profiles feature only one Activity tab with a drop-down menu. This allows users to configure other combinations of posts, by toggling replies and boosts on or off – the latter being Mastodon’s version of reposting.

Hashtags now also appear at the top of the Activity tab, allowing users to filter posts on that account by the tag they click on.

Mastodon also got rid of pinned carousel posts, which many users disliked. This feature aims to balance the needs of those who want to pin multiple posts, with the needs of those who visit the profile to quickly access the user’s recent posts. Mastodon users with multiple pinned posts will now get a highlighted one, while the rest can be revealed by clicking on the new “View All Pinned Posts” button.

Another change is designed to explain Mastodon handles to newcomers. Unlike The new informational pop-up makes that clear.

Users have more control over how their profile appears too, with options to hide the Media or Featured tabs, if they wish, or hide responses from the Media tab if they want to showcase their work.

Custom fields on the profile, where users add things like links, pronouns and other information, are displayed side by side, meaning there’s more vertical space available on the screen. These fields can now be edited on iOS and Android as well, not just on the web.

There are other design tweaks that make profiles look less cluttered – such as removing the “I follow you” badge, and moving the optional “Personal Note” that users add to their profiles to the full list.

Profile edits can now be made from one place in account settings, allowing users to manage tasks like featured hashtags (which Mastodon now helpfully suggests), links, and other profile information.

Link verification — Mastodon’s tool for proving someone’s credibility without becoming a central authority (or requiring payment, like in X) — is no longer buried in settings. Users can crop alt text and add it to their profile photos and cover photos.

The changes will initially be available to the Mastodon.social server and other servers that choose to run the nightly build. More servers will get the update when Mastodon 4.6 software update arrives in a few weeks.