Comparison

APPICS vs Mastodon

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

APPICS

This app rewards users for their time and contributions to social media through a decentralized system. Share photos and short videos, engage with content through upvotes and comments, and earn tokens that can be exchanged or staked. The more active you are, the greater your influence and rewards.

Highlights
  • Decentralized contribution-reward-system
  • Earn APX tokens for content and upvotes
  • Share photos and short videos
  • Upvote and comment on content
  • In-app wallet for token management
  • Stake tokens to increase voting power
Features
Read full description

Social media has never been more rewarding! We believe in our mission to return merits back to the user for the time they spend on social media. Based on a decentralized contribution-reward-system, the APPICS token (APX) is a reward-token that returns the value created via contribution back to the source, namely the creators and curators of the network. Rewards are attached to upvotes and by creating or recognizing the value of content, all participants get a fair share of the DAO reward-pool. APPICS aims at bringing a system to life where the power doesn’t just come from, but stays within the network. On APPICS users are able to share content in the form of photos and short videos which are divided in 20+ categories that provide structure and visibility for the user experience. Comments are also regarded as a form of content and users can upvote comments as well, incentivizing people to add positive, helpful or encouraging comments. But not every upvote is equal - a user can decide how much of their limited voting power they want to use for each upvote. When more upvotes are distributed, the voting power decreases. Rewards on content are automatically distributed to the user’s in-app wallet after 30 days. APX tokens can be obtained through content creation and participation in the reward-system, by voting on content within the app. APX tokens can be exchanged for Bitcoin, transferred to other users or staked in order to increase voting weight, which enables users to earn even more rewards. The more active you are, the higher your influence over the allocation of rewards! Join APPICS, share your passion, and discover a new way of social media!

About

Mastodon

Connect with others on a decentralized social network. Share posts, images, and videos in chronological order without algorithms or ads. Discover new content and participate in conversations across the fediverse.

Highlights
  • Chronological feed
  • No algorithms or ads
  • Discover new users and topics
  • Post with images, videos, and polls
  • Create custom lists
  • Filter content
  • Cross-platform communication
Features
Read full description

Mastodon is the best way to keep up with what’s happening. Follow anyone across the fediverse and see it all in chronological order. No algorithms, ads, or clickbait in sight. This is the official iOS app for Mastodon. In our app, you can: EXPLORE ■ Discover new writers, journalists, artists, photographers, scientists and more ■ See what’s happening in the world READ ■ Keep up with people you care about in a chronological feed with no interruptions ■ Follow hashtags to keep up with specific topics in real time CREATE ■ Post to your followers or the whole world, with polls, high quality images and videos ■ Participate in interesting conversations with other people CURATE ■ Create lists of people to never miss a post ■ Filter words or phrases to control what you do and don’t want to see AND MORE! ■ Login and switch between multiple accounts ■ No spoilers! You can put your posts behind content warnings A POWERFUL PUBLISHING PLATFORM You no longer have to try and appease an opaque algorithm that decides if your friends are going to see what you posted. If they follow you, they’ll see it. If you publish it to the open web, it’s accessible on the open web. You can safely share links to Mastodon in the knowledge that anyone will be able to read them without logging in. Between threads, polls, high quality images, videos, audio, and content warnings, Mastodon offers plenty of ways to express yourself in a way that suits you. A POWERFUL READING PLATFORM We don’t need to show you ads, so we don’t need to keep you in our app. Mastodon has the richest selection of 3rd party apps and integrations so you can choose the experience that fits you best. Thanks to the chronological home feed, it’s easy to tell when you’ve caught up on all updates and can move on to something else. No need to worry that a misclick will ruin your recommendations forever. We don’t guess what you want to see, we let you control it. PROTOCOLS, NOT PLATFORMS Mastodon is not like a traditional social media platform, but is built on a decentralized protocol. You can sign up on our official server, or choose a 3rd party to host your data and moderate your experience. Thanks to the common protocol, no matter what you choose, you can communicate seamlessly with people on other Mastodon servers. But there’s more: With just one account, you can communicate with people from other fediverse platforms. Not happy with your choice? You can always switch to a different Mastodon server while taking your followers with you. For advanced users, you can even host your data on your own infrastructure, since Mastodon is open-source. NON-PROFIT IN NATURE Mastodon is a registered non-profit in the US and Germany. We are not motivated by extracting monetary value from the platform, but by what’s best for the platform. AS FEATURED IN: TIME, Forbes, Wired, The Guardian, CNN, The Verge, TechCrunch, Financial Times, Gizmodo, PCMAG.com, and more.

Screenshots

APPICS4 screens
Mastodon4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: APPICS at 90% against Mastodon's 48%. APPICS also leads on iOS requirement (14.0 vs 18.6). Mastodon's advantage is rating (4.5 vs 4.0) and in-app purchases (none vs 10). On price, update cadence and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. APPICS sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Mastodon asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Mastodon holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mastodon has 13K ratings behind it against 14, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 90% of APPICS's written reviews are positive against 48% of Mastodon's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

APPICS ships an update every 3 weeks, Mastodon monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
APPICS versus Mastodon: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAPPICSMastodon
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (14 ratings)4.5 (13K ratings) — better
Positive reviews89.7% of reviews — better48.3% of reviews
Number of ratings1413K — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS14.0 — better18.6
Further details — not scored
Size207 MB110 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperAPPICS AGMastodon GmbH

Customer experience

APPICS

All ratings14 ratings
Positive71.4%
Neutral7.1%
Negative21.4%
Written reviews29 reviews
Positive89.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative10.3%

Mastodon

All ratings13,481 ratings
Positive88.8%
Neutral5.9%
Negative5.3%
Written reviews889 reviews
Positive48.3%
Neutral18.8%
Negative33.0%

Bugs and requests

APPICS

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Mastodon

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Can't log in or create account
  • Keyboard freezes during editing
  • Inconsistent behavior when switching accounts
  • Notifications not working as expected

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add local and federated timelines
  • Improve search and discovery features
  • Implement edit and delete post functionality
  • Add support for animated GIFs
  • Provide better accessibility options

In-app purchases

10 purchases

APPICS

One-time10
  • variable_229_99$229.99
  • variable_239_99$239.99
  • variable_249_99$249.99
Show 7 more
  • variable_399_99$399.99
  • variable_499_99$499.99
  • variable_599_99$599.99
  • variable_699_99$699.99
  • variable_799_99$799.99
  • variable_899_99$899.99
  • variable_999_99$999.99
None

Mastodon

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is APPICS free?
APPICS is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Mastodon free?
Mastodon is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, APPICS or Mastodon?
Mastodon is rated higher. APPICS averages 4.0 out of 5 from 14 ratings, while Mastodon averages 4.5 from 13K ratings.
Do APPICS or Mastodon have ads?
APPICS shows ads; Mastodon does not.
Which is updated more often, APPICS or Mastodon?
APPICS ships an update every 3 weeks, and Mastodon monthly. Most recently, APPICS was updated on September 29, 2026 and Mastodon on October 19, 2026.

Other comparisons