Comparison

Beluga Social vs MicroSphere for Micro.blog

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

Head to head
About

Beluga Social

Share your thoughts and updates with friends and followers through a "tweet-like" feed. It generates a mini-website for easy sharing, even with non-users, and supports RSS feed readers for broader reach. This decentralized app ensures you own your data.

Highlights
  • Tweet-like content publishing
  • Personalized mini-website generation
  • JSON Feed compatibility
  • Decentralized data ownership
  • RSS feed reader integration
  • Multiple S3-compatible storage support
Read full description

Publish your thoughts and keep your friends and followers informed of what you are up to. This app is ideal for publishing "tweet-like" content. All your posts are added to your Beluga feed, and a mini-website is generated and published so you can easily share with everyone, even people that don't use the app. You can think of Beluga as a feed reader/writer. All Beluga feeds are JSON Feed compatible, so your friends can follow you on many popular RSS feed reader apps like NetNewsWire and others available on iOS. Beluga is decentralized. We don't have any servers. So you are the owner of your data, and you can host it wherever you like. To publish your Beluga feed and mini-website, you must have an S3-compatible object storage provider account. We currently support Amazon Web Services S3, Wasabi, Digital Ocean Spaces, Linode Objects, Backblaze B2, and DreamHost, with more to come soon.

About

MicroSphere for Micro.blog

This app provides a native iOS experience for Micro.blog, allowing users to read timelines, engage in conversations, save bookmarks, and explore content. It supports multiple accounts, post creation with media attachments, and offers robust privacy features.

Highlights
  • Timeline and Mentions
  • Bookmarks with sync
  • Explore community and topics
  • Multiple account support
  • Post composition and editing
  • Photo and video attachments
  • Privacy controls and app lock
Features
Read full description

MicroSphere is a fast, native iOS app for Micro.blog — the calm home for short posts, blogs, notes, and conversations on the indie web. Read your timeline, reply in threads, save bookmarks, switch between accounts, and explore topics without ads or third-party tracking. BUILT FOR MICRO.BLOG • Timeline and Mentions with pull-to-refresh, unread dots, dividers, and conversation threads • Bookmarks with tags, highlights, and saved-state sync • Explore: community discover, topics, search, photos, reading, long-form posts, and bookshelves • Multiple Micro.blog accounts with fast switching from the active-account chip • Copy post text from the More menu; reply, quote, save, and share from every post WRITE & SHARE • Compose new posts, replies, quotes, and scheduled posts; edit your own hosted blog posts from the timeline • Choose the hosted blog, categories, and cross-posting options for a post or draft — choices are remembered per account • Attach photos or one video per post, reuse images from your Micro.blog media library, and preserve line breaks in blog posts • Titled posts, long-post summaries, topic emoji, @-mentions, collapsible compose toolbar, and optional Blog/Category/Cross-post picker controls • Share Extension — send text, links, photos, and videos from Safari, Photos, and other apps • Photo attachments with optional accessibility descriptions; on-device metadata cleanup and GPS warnings before posting • Local draft recovery: text, encrypted offline photo drafts, and note edits can stay on device until Micro.blog sync returns PEOPLE & SAFETY • Profiles for Micro.blog, ActivityPub (Mastodon), and Bluesky authors with Posts and Photos tabs • Tappable profile bios, follower/following lists, and People to Follow • Block, mute, keyword filters, Limit mentions, and reporting • Optional Face ID or passcode app lock and saved-token protection DESIGNED FOR iPHONE AND iPAD • Native SwiftUI on iOS 17 and later • iPad: sidebar navigation, split view, full-width account destinations, wide-column profiles and topics • Home Screen quick action to start a new post • System, Light, or Dark appearance • VoiceOver labels, Dynamic Type, Reduced Motion support, and accessible photo descriptions PRIVATE BY DESIGN • Official Micro.blog APIs only — no reverse engineering • Your token stays in the iOS Keychain on your device • No analytics SDKs and no data selling • Privacy & Accessibility overviews in Settings; Privacy Policy and Terms in Legal • Account-scoped feed cache, encrypted share imports, and encrypted offline draft photos stay on device until you sync or clear them • Link preview images are off by default; copied post links can auto-clear from the clipboard • Email Support opens a prefilled diagnostics mail without tokens or post content SIGN IN YOUR WAY • IndieAuth (recommended) • Email magic link • App tokens for development or power users • Optional push notifications OPTIONAL SUPPORT The Treats Jar lets you leave a voluntary tip to support development. Tips are gifts only — they do not unlock features or content. REQUIREMENTS A Micro.blog account is required. Micro.blog is a separate subscription service. MicroSphere is developed independently by Marco Janssen. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Micro.blog, LLC. Questions or feedback? Use Email Support in Settings or find @marc0janssen on Micro.blog.

Screenshots

Beluga Social4 screens
MicroSphere for Micro.blog4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Beluga Social at none against MicroSphere for Micro.blog's 4. Beluga Social also leads on iOS requirement (15.4 vs 17.0). MicroSphere for Micro.blog's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs monthly). 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. MicroSphere for Micro.blog sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Beluga Social asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Beluga Social ships an update monthly, MicroSphere for Micro.blog weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Beluga Social versus MicroSphere for Micro.blog: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBeluga SocialMicroSphere for Micro.blog
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyMonthlyWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.4 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size2 MB16 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBlimp, LLCMarco Janssen

Customer experience

Beluga Social

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

MicroSphere for Micro.blog

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Beluga Social

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

MicroSphere for Micro.blog

One-time4
  • Just a Smile$0.99
  • LolliPop$1.99
  • Bunch of Smiles$3.99
Show 1 more
  • Big Bag of Treats$8.99

Questions

Is Beluga Social free?
Beluga Social is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is MicroSphere for Micro.blog free?
MicroSphere for Micro.blog is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Beluga Social or MicroSphere for Micro.blog have ads?
Neither Beluga Social nor MicroSphere for Micro.blog shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Beluga Social or MicroSphere for Micro.blog?
Beluga Social ships an update monthly, and MicroSphere for Micro.blog weekly. Most recently, Beluga Social was updated on November 3, 2026 and MicroSphere for Micro.blog on October 31, 2026.

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