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Trying Mastodon? Use Ivory on Your iPhone!
While things have arguably settled, there’s still some turmoil in the world of social media. Facebook has fallen out of favor, TikTok is surrounded by…
While things have arguably settled, there’s still some turmoil in the world of social media. Facebook has fallen out of favor, TikTok is surrounded by legal battles, and Twitter — er, X — has a controversial figurehead running ship. Many users have abandoned Twitter, moving to the likes of Bluesky or Mastodon. Ivory is a fantastic app for accessing the latter.
Ivory was created by Tapbots, who famously had one of the best Twitter clients before Musk abruptly pulled the plug on them. They’ve since turned their effort toward crafting Ivory into the best possible Mastodon client. It feels very familiar to anyone who’s used Tapbot’s previous apps.
It presents your timeline in a straightforward manner, not dissimilar from other social media apps. Circular profile pics align along the left with text and images to the right. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but the interactions all feel super snappy and comfortable.
The bottom has a customizable toolbar where you can put the items you prefer, such as search, notifications, your profile, mentions, or activity. Speaking of the activity page, this is always one of my favorites. It’s full of statistics on your profile, from your posts to followers to mentions. I’m a sucker for detailed statistics! Mastodon of course limits what Ivory can show, but it’s still interesting to dive into.
There are plenty of native iOS features here to love. It supports system-wide dark mode so as your phone changes, Ivory will too. You can also choose your preferred app icon. There are several to choose from and more are continuously being added. If you choose a link, you can choose whether you want to keep it in Ivory or if you want to jump to your browser of choice.
The biggest pill to swallow with Ivory is that it is subscription-based. I hate the mounting monthly subscriptions I’m incurring and I’d much rather pay a larger lump sum for an app that I love. That said, Tapbots works hard to justify that monthly fee with plenty of new features and support across multiple platforms. You can subscribe on iOS and get access on iPad and Mac too. All your changes and preferences automatically sync.
Tapbots is a small shop. Run by only a trio of devs who do all the work themselves with multiple popular apps such as Pastebot and Calcbot. Tweetbot — RIP — was also on their plate. Ivory is a very capable Mastodon client that makes social media feel much more enjoyable. Mastodon’s own interface is “meh” at best. If it wasn’t for Ivory, I can truly say I wouldn’t use Mastodon at all. If you can stomach the monthly or annual subscription, give Ivory a try.
But enough about other people's apps.
