Comparison

Tusker vs Pipilo

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

Head to head
About

Tusker

This app offers a flexible and customizable client for the Mastodon social network and compatible services. It provides advanced features like notification grouping, timeline syncing across devices, and extensive personalization options for a tailored social media experience.

Highlights
  • Notification grouping
  • Timeline sync with iCloud
  • Customizable timelines with filters
  • Extensive user preferences
  • Digital wellness options
  • Multiple account support
  • Modern Mastodon features
Features
Read full description

Tusker is a free and flexible client for the Mastodon social network and other compatible services. Features: • Notification grouping: Combine favorite, boost, and follow notifications into a single row to get a more glance-able view of your notifications. • Timeline sync: Keep your timeline position across all your devices using iCloud. • Customize timelines: Pick which timelines (including lists, hashtags, and public instance timelines) are pinned to your home tab, and apply filters to hide posts you're not interested in. • Tweak your experience: Tusker has a wide variety of preferences to allow you to customize how you use the app. From changing the appearance and interactions, to configuring how content warnings work, Tusker supports it all. • Digital wellness options: Tusker has a variety of preferences to help you manage how you use social media, including by turning infinite scrolling off or showing all images in grayscale. • Accessibility: VoiceOver, Voice Control, Dynamic Type, and more are all fully supported. • Multiple accounts: Sign in to multiple accounts and quickly switch between them. • Modern Mastodon features: Edit posts, view quotes, view trending posts/hashtags/links, translate posts, and more. • Broad software compatibility: Tusker also has builtin support for the Glitch and Hometown variants of Mastodon; as well as Pleroma/Akkoma, a Mastodon alternative; and PixelFed, a photo-sharing social network. Mastodon is part of the fediverse, a free, open source, and decentralized social network. From your home server, communicate and interact with people on any other server using the ActivityPub protocol. Learn more at joinmastodon.org. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Pipilo

This app offers a unique social media experience by displaying posts in a horizontally scrolling timeline, showing conversations and replies from followed users. It provides a clean interface for following threads and supports various Fediverse platforms.

Highlights
  • Horizontally scrolling conversational timeline
  • Collapsible threads from followed users
  • Notifications grouped by day
  • Rich link and video previews
  • Home, local, and federated timelines
  • Keyword filters for content moderation
  • Advanced media and video player
Features
Read full description

Pipilo is a unique Fediverse app that lets you browse posts on a horizontally scrolling timeline. Each post is displayed within the context of its conversation with replies from people you follow. This results in an elegant, distraction-free interface, making it easy to follow various conversation threads. Pipilo works with Mastodon, Pixelfed, Pleroma, Akkoma, Friendica, Firefish, Catodon, Iceshrimp, and GoToSocial. Features: - Horizontally scrolling timeline with each post appearing in the context of its conversation - Clean, collapsible threads showing only posts from people you follow, with an option to view replies from everyone - Notifications grouped by day - Quote posts - Rich previews for mentioned links and videos - Home, local, and federated timelines - Followed hashtags and custom lists - Quick search of posts, hashtags, and users - Full iPad support, with multiple windows allowing you to display different timelines side by side - Smooth media viewer with intuitive gestures, alt-text descriptions, share functionality, live text selection, and subject lifting - Advanced video player with native system interface for play/pause, time scrubbing, volume control, and full-screen or PIP mode viewing - Keyword filters to hide posts behind a warning or remove them from your timelines completely Premium Features: - Submit posts with images, videos, media descriptions, and content warnings - Sync reading position across multiple devices - Follow new hashtags and users - Create and edit custom lists - Add multiple accounts from all supported servers - Enable push notifications - Create and edit filters - Bookmark posts - Pin timelines - Create hashtag groups and follow remote instances Unlock all premium features with: - One-time purchase - Monthly subscription - Yearly subscription Privacy Policy: https://pipilo.thanel.me/privacy/ Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Tusker4 screens
Pipilo4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Pipilo at every 3 weeks against Tusker's every 3 months. Tusker's advantage is review sentiment (91% vs 75%) and ratings volume (31 vs 5). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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. Tusker sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Pipilo sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Tusker against 4.6 for Pipilo. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Tusker has 31 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 91% of Tusker's written reviews are positive against 75% of Pipilo's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Tusker ships an update every 3 months, Pipilo every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on July 6, 2026 and August 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Tusker versus Pipilo: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTuskerPipilo
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (31 ratings) — better4.6 (5 ratings)
Positive reviews90.9% of reviews — better75.0% of reviews
Number of ratings31 — better5
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.0 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size18 MB75 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperVaccor, LLCLukasz Rutkowski

Customer experience

Tusker

All ratings32 ratings
Positive96.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative3.1%
Written reviews22 reviews
Positive90.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative9.1%

Pipilo

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative25.0%

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Tusker

Subscriptions1
  • Tusker Supporter$1.991 Month
One-time3
  • Nice Tip$1.99
  • Awesome Tip$6.99
  • Incredible Tip$14.99
3 purchases

Pipilo

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly Pipilo Premium7 Days trial$0.991 Month
  • Yearly Pipilo Premium7 Days trial$9.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime Pipilo Premium$29.99

Questions

Is Tusker free?
Tusker is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Pipilo free?
Pipilo is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Tusker or Pipilo?
Tusker is rated higher. Tusker averages 4.7 out of 5 from 31 ratings, while Pipilo averages 4.6 from 5 ratings.
Do Tusker or Pipilo have ads?
Neither Tusker nor Pipilo shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Tusker or Pipilo?
Tusker ships an update every 3 months, and Pipilo every 3 weeks. Most recently, Tusker was updated on July 6, 2026 and Pipilo on August 23, 2026.

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