Comparison

Mastodon vs Motion

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

Head to head
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.

About

Motion

Connect directly with your favorite creators through private messages and exclusive content. Subscribe to join community group chats and enjoy ad-free, high-quality material.

Highlights
  • 1-to-1 Creator Conversations
  • Exclusive Subscriber Content
  • Community Group Chats
  • Ad-Free Content Experience
  • Virtual Coin Messaging
Features
Read full description

We provide a platform for you to connect personally with your favorite creators. 1-to-1 Conversations: Use our virtual coins to message your favorite creators. Tell them how much you love their content, or ask them the question that's been on your mind. Exclusive Content: Subscribe to your favorite creator for access to content unavailable elsewhere. Here, you don't have to worry about ads or clickbait, just good content. Join a Community: Every subscription automatically adds you to a group chat with other subscribers. Connect and share your common interests.

Screenshots

Mastodon4 screens
Motion2 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Motion at 100% against Mastodon's 48%. Motion also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.5) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 18.6). Mastodon's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 6) and ratings volume (13K vs 3). On price, ads, monetization model 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. Motion sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. Mastodon asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Motion holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Mastodon has 13K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 48% of Mastodon's written reviews are positive against 100% of Motion's.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Mastodon versus Motion: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMastodonMotion
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (13K ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews48.3% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings13K — better3
Update frequencyMonthly—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS18.613.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size110 MB23 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperMastodon GmbHPhi Vision, Inc.

Customer experience

Mastodon

All ratings13,482 ratings
Positive88.8%
Neutral5.9%
Negative5.3%
Written reviews889 reviews
Positive48.3%
Neutral18.8%
Negative33.0%

Motion

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and 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

Motion

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Mastodon

No in-app purchases

6 purchases

Motion

One-time6
  • 10 Coins$1.99
  • 50 Coins$9.99
  • 100 Coins$17.99
Show 3 more
  • 150 Coins$24.99
  • 500 Coins$74.99
  • 1000 Coins$149.99

Questions

Is Mastodon free?
Mastodon is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Motion free?
Motion is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Mastodon or Motion?
Motion is rated higher. Mastodon averages 4.5 out of 5 from 13K ratings, while Motion averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do Mastodon or Motion have ads?
Neither Mastodon nor Motion shows ads.

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