Instagram-Killer Pixelfed Decentralized App Gets a Mobile App

In a turn of events that could give the meta a headache, the decentralized alternative to Instagram is growing by leaps and bounds. pixelvid It is a free and open source image-sharing website that was originally created in 2018, and has been largely accessible over the past several years via The web or through third-party applications. But this week, Pixelfed Announce The launch of its mobile apps for iOS and Android, signaling a major expansion for a site that already has around 330,000 users and a growing support base.

Pixelfed has sought to portray itself as everything Instagram is not. Unlike Meta, Pixelfed is ad-free and provides users with access to content Charter Their “fundamental rights” to “participate in online spaces that respect their privacy, dignity and well-being” are respected. Charter promises limited but consensual data collection, transparent algorithms, and a surveillance-free experience with no web tracking. “Pixelfed is a lot of things, but the one thing it is not is an opportunity for VC or others to ruin the atmosphere. I have declined VC funding and will not insert any advertising in any way into the project,” said Pixelfed creator, Daniel Supernault, Recently written On Mastodon. “Pixelfed is for people, period.”

This respect for user autonomy may be the reason behind the app’s growing popularity. In fact, Pixelfed’s growth has exploded over the past week, as the platform announced an influx of users that occasionally tested the small team’s existing resources. “We’re seeing unprecedented levels of traffic to Pixelfed.social, and we’re working to maintain service and provide additional resources!” Mastodon’s website page Sunday wrote.

You can understand how this might make Meta a little more anxious. Earlier this week, suspicions were raised when 404 media I mentioned that The tech giant was caught censoring and deleting links to Pixelfed on its own sites. Meta used a violation of its spam policy as justification. When reached for comment by Engadget, however, Claimed dead That deleting the Pixelfed links was a “mistake” and that they would be reinstated later.

Gizmodo has reached out to Meta for comment.

The social media industry is in a state of flux like never before, and the competition between major platforms and low-tech alternatives has reached new heights. While Mastodon and other Fediverse sites have It’s been around for yearsElon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter has pushed such alternative sites into the mainstream. Now, as users search for X alternatives on sites like Bluesky and Hive, it stands to reason that web users might also be interested in looking for an alternative to Meta’s offerings. With TikTok threatening to disappear forever, web users are flocking to another Chinese app, rednotealthough it may be wiser to move to loops instead, Another Fediverse alternative Launched by Supernault last year.