Mastodon vs Hereabout App

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.

HEREABOUT is a location-verified map for sharing and discovery. Drop a pin and add photos, voice, or video. Go live from your location. Explore GPS-verified posts from locals, travelers, and creators right where things happened. EVENTS • Create or join ongoing and upcoming events on the map. • Organizer tools: full moderation of posts, attendees, and event rules. • Event chat for real-time coordination. • Directions to the event location. • Attendees can join an event and go live to share their own perspectives; these streams are saved to the event for future replay. • Share the event to invite others and grow attendance. • All live streams are saved for replay on the map and in their events. LAYERS - Thematic Layers: food, street art, hikes, history, nightlife, and more. - Regional Layers: set a geographic boundary such as a neighborhood, park, city, or region. Only posts created inside the boundary are eligible. A post from Paris cannot be pinned inside an NYC Layer. - Anyone with an account can create Layers, set rules, moderate submissions, and invite co-moderators. WHY PEOPLE TRUST HEREABOUT - GPS verification ties posts to real places and reduces noise. - Regional boundaries enforce in-area posting automatically. - Clear controls: choose visibility (public, followers, or private). Edit or remove your posts at any time. - Safety tools: report content or block accounts. - Privacy: we do not sell your personal data. See the in-app Privacy Policy for details. WHAT YOU CAN DO - Drop a post: pin your spot and add a photo, voice note, or video to leave useful breadcrumbs. - Go live: stream moments as they happen at a specific place on the map. - Discover nearby: browse authentic tips from people who were on the ground. - Build Layers: curate collections around themes, neighborhoods, routes, or events. - Follow places and people: keep up with trusted locals and creators, save spots, and plan visits. GOOD FOR - Building communities around shared interests and real places. - Hosting meetups, pop-ups, walks, cleanups, rides, and festivals with live perspectives and chat. - Creating regional hubs with clear boundaries and community moderation. - Finding coffee, trailheads, street food, photo spots, and pop-ups quickly. - Mapping events as they happen, with live streams at the exact location and replay after. - Capturing memories where they occurred with photos, voice, video, or live. - Turning local knowledge into shared, living guides people can trust. GETTING STARTED 1. Open the map and enable location. 2. Explore nearby posts and Layers. 3. Create a Layer and set your rules. 4. Invite co-moderators, approve posts, and grow your community. OUR MISSION Hereabout unites communities through the power of place and story. By bridging the digital and the physical, we help people share what they find, connect with others, and leave a meaningful mark. OUR APPROACH HEREABOUT is built by a small, independent team. We design for people on the ground, not a conglomerate’s ad stack. You control your posts and who sees them, and you can edit or remove them at any time. Anyone with an account can create a Layer, set rules, moderate submissions, and invite co-moderators. Communities become stewards of their places and themes.