this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2025

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Open source alternatives to Instagram, TikTok, and WhatsApp raise funds on Kickstarter | TechCrunch (techcrunch.com)

submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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The developer behind Pixelfed, Loops, and Sup, open source alternatives to Instagram, TikTok, and WhatsApp, respectively, is now raising funds on Kickstarter to fuel the apps’ further development.

The trio is part of the growing open social web, also known as the fediverse, powered by the same ActivityPub protocol used by X alternative Mastodon. The latter saw increased signups and use after the company formerly known as Twitter sold to Elon Musk in October 2022 and during the X exodus that followed the U.S. presidential election.

In the months and years following that sale, open source and decentralized apps like Mastodon and Bluesky (which uses the newer AT Protocol), have continued to grow their user bases, as people sought alternatives to centralized social media apps controlled by billionaires like Musk and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg.

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Edit: Link to the kickstarter

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

What is Sup ?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Not too much. Sup with you?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

😂😂 Nice one Anyways, what is this "Sup" that people keep talking about ? Is it another federated platform ?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 hours ago

Thanks for being a good sport. In these trying times we have to cherish every genuine updog moment we find ourselves in.

It's federated encrypted messaging :)

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago

Let's hope this helps dansup get past the recent unpleasantness and he can delegate more. His output is amazing but burnout is a concern.

[–] [email protected] 43 points 1 day ago

Stuff like this is a major, major component of dealing with nazis.

And even after they're dealt with, it's a better way of doing things, anyway. If it's a company, you're not on their social media platform, as much as you can possibly manage.

Which is a lot.

[–] [email protected] 62 points 2 days ago (33 children)

WhatsApp? Just use signal already!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago (4 children)

It's not really a whatsapp alternative. More like a facebook messenger alternative. It replaces and encrypts dms from mastodon, pixelfed, lemmy, etc

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

Centralized. Not good. Conversations is on fdroid and is decentralized, federated, open source and uses a mature and battle tested protocol (XMPP). If I wanted something new, I would prefer Matrix over Signal.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Why are there so many downvotes? Dude said the truth. Signal, like whatsapp, is a single point of failure. It can be enshittified just like whatsapp.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago (3 children)

People act like we need an alternative to Whatsapp but XMPP/Jabber exists and is much older.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

what happened to pidgin

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Pidgin is a client, not a specific protocol.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I know, I just remember I used to use it with jabber xmpp but I think after everyone got gtalk and then everyone got cellphones everyone moved away from those types of clients

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)

What about Simplex over Matrix?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 14 hours ago

Simplex is more like Briar or Cwtch

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sure, it looks great. But it doesn't have the popularity of Matrix, which is already less popular than XMPP which has enjoyed decent adoption since it's inception.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

What are some good examples of apks to use in regards to this use-case?

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[–] [email protected] 84 points 2 days ago (1 children)

If all my friends, family, and coworkers could get off WhatsApp, I would be so happy.

[–] [email protected] 43 points 2 days ago (15 children)

I'm trying to convince mine to get on Signal

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago

I just did convince my family and all close friends to move to signal.

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I'm all for fediverse.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

It would help with a lot, yah

[–] [email protected] 30 points 2 days ago (6 children)

Btw, you can also donate on Patreon, OpenCollective, and Liberapay.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 days ago

which uses the newer AT Protocol

This "newer" seems to be doing a lot of work.

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