Pixelfed is an Instagram alternative that feels like a return to the glory days of photo sharing
Are you one of many? are rethinking their relationship with Meta’s Instagram? If you’re looking for another way to share your photos, Pixelfed, an open source photo sharing alternative without ads or tracking, officially offers mobile apps for Android And iPhone.
These apps, which allow you to upload photos and videos directly from your phone, are available just a few days later Meta has blocked users from sharing links to the service (which requires a few days unprecedented traffic volume in the game).
Pixelfed is like Mastodon Part of the Fediversewhich means people on Mastodon can follow accounts on Pixelfed and vice versa. This also means that signing up can be a bit confusing for Fediverse newbies: setup requires you to choose a server to share photos and follow other users. The largest server, pixelfed.socialis currently behind schedule due to the large influx of new users, so it’s worth checking out the other options in the app itself (or Search this directory).
Remember when Instagram was fun?
While decentralization is interesting and commendable, what I like most about Pixelfed is that it feels like a return to the glory days of Instagram. As you may remember, Instagram used to be a photo-sharing service. Yes, technically it is still possible to share photos on Instagram, but it has been a long time since this was the main focus of the application. Your timeline, once filled with photos of people you follow, is now dominated by ads and “recommended” videos from celebrities and strangers.
Despite some Recent changes to give you a little more control backInsta is also subject to the algorithm, which means that if you post a photo, your friends are less likely to actually see it. Because of this, the people you care about are likely to post fewer photos than they used to, which in turn frees up the algorithm to add more random videos to your timeline. It’s enough to make you wonder why anyone is still using the service – certainly not for the reasons they signed up for it.
The Pixelfed mobile app is simple, unlike the current version of Instagram. You can scroll through photos posted by people you want to follow. You can see the most popular photos on your server or the entire Fediverse. Or you can upload photos. These new applications aren’t technically the first Pixelfed apps – there were numerous third-party applications that could access them, and they still exist. But now there’s an official app, and it works pretty well.
Photo credit: Justin Pot
Another thing Pixelfed is missing: advertising and any kind of tracking. The development team promises that these “features” will never be available. In a Mastodon post, developer Daniel Supernault said: “Pixelfed is many things, but one thing it is not: it is an opportunity for VC or others to ruin the mood.” He added that he has and plans to turn down VC funding , never add advertising. “Pixelfed is for the people, period.”
I’m not the type of tech journalist who likes to make predictions about which applications will “win.” However, I have to say that the internet would be a better place if this mentality were more widespread.
