Comparison

MicroSphere for Micro.blog vs MastoDino

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

Head to head
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.

About

MastoDino

Experience the open, decentralized social web with a premium, ad-free interface. Enjoy a personalized feed, a dedicated news tab, and on-device translation, all while prioritizing your privacy and a clutter-free reading experience.

Highlights
  • Personalized "For You" feed
  • Dedicated News tab
  • On-device translation
  • Focused conversation threads
  • Clean link previews
  • iOS-native gestures and haptics
Features
Read full description

The billion-dollar social apps got one thing right: the interface. Fast, fluid and nice to use. MastoDino brings that same feel to the open, decentralized social web, with no ads, no tracking and no algorithm working against you. The polish of Big Tech. The freedom of the fediverse. A "FOR YOU" THAT WORKS FOR YOU A ranked feed inspired by modern social apps, except the ranking runs on your iPhone. Swipe Like or Show less and it learns locally. Prefer it plain? Following shows only the people you follow, in order. THE FEDIVERSE'S NEWSROOM A News tab with the links people on your server are sharing right now, ranked by freshness and your interests. Articles open in Safari's built-in viewer, in Reader mode when the site supports it. CONVERSATIONS THAT STAY CONVERSATIONS Open any post into a focused thread with the full conversation and an inline reply field. In the feed, replies group under their parent with a thread line, so discussions read top to bottom. EVERY LANGUAGE, QUIETLY TRANSLATED Posts in other languages are translated on-device with Apple's Translation, even ahead of time as you scroll. Tap Translate, or turn on Auto-translate. Nothing is sent to the cloud. THE OPEN WEB, WITHOUT THE MESS Long links become clean preview cards. Hashtags at the end of a post are hidden for a calmer feed, while tags inside a sentence always stay. Want them all back? Turn on Show trailing hashtags under Settings, Content & media. BUILT FOR iPhone Liquid Glass on the navigation layer, fluid transitions, realtime updates with a "new posts" pill, five themes with matching app icons, and a Manual refresh only option if you want the feed to stay put. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Ranking, translation and reading preferences are computed and stored on your device. MastoDino has no server of its own and no accounts with us. Your posts, likes and follows are handled by your own Mastodon server, like with any client. Works with your existing Mastodon or fediverse account. Free, no in-app purchases. Questions or feedback: contact@bluedino.se

Screenshots

MicroSphere for Micro.blog4 screens
MastoDino4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: MastoDino at none against MicroSphere for Micro.blog's 4. MastoDino also leads on update cadence (every 2 days vs weekly). MicroSphere for Micro.blog's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). 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. MastoDino asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

MicroSphere for Micro.blog ships an update weekly, MastoDino every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
MicroSphere for Micro.blog versus MastoDino: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMicroSphere for Micro.blogMastoDino
PriceFreeFree
Rating—4.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyWeeklyEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size16 MB42 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperMarco JanssenMattias Lind

Customer experience

MicroSphere for Micro.blog

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

MastoDino

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

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
None

MastoDino

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is MicroSphere for Micro.blog free?
MicroSphere for Micro.blog is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is MastoDino free?
MastoDino is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do MicroSphere for Micro.blog or MastoDino have ads?
Neither MicroSphere for Micro.blog nor MastoDino shows ads.
Which is updated more often, MicroSphere for Micro.blog or MastoDino?
MicroSphere for Micro.blog ships an update weekly, and MastoDino every 2 days. Most recently, MicroSphere for Micro.blog was updated on October 25, 2026 and MastoDino on October 24, 2026.

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