Open source alternatives to Instagram, TikTok, and WhatsApp raise funds on Kickstarter | TechCrunch
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The developer behind Pixelfed, Loops, and Sup, open source alternatives to Instagram, TikTok, and WhatsApp, respectively, is now raising funds on Kickstarter to fuel the apps’ further development.
The trio is part of the growing open social web, also known as the fediverse, powered by the same ActivityPub protocol used by X alternative Mastodon. The latter saw increased signups and use after the company formerly known as Twitter sold to Elon Musk in October 2022 and during the X exodus that followed the U.S. presidential election.
In the months and years following that sale, open source and decentralized apps like Mastodon and Bluesky (which uses the newer AT Protocol), have continued to grow their user bases, as people sought alternatives to centralized social media apps controlled by billionaires like Musk and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg.
Edit: Link to the kickstarter
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If all my friends, family, and coworkers could get off WhatsApp, I would be so happy.
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I'm trying to convince mine to get on Signal
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RCS could be also an option. Now mostly backed by google but it can be unplugged whenever we want
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Never heard of Sup for some reason, gotta check it out.
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Btw, you can also donate on Patreon, OpenCollective, and Liberapay.
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Okay so
BlueSky = Twitter
Loops = TikTok
PixelFed = Instagram
Sup = What's App
Lemmy = Reddit -
I’m guessing using Kickstarter has the benefit of adding hype as a new thing. I’ve always been curious about Open Collective and Liberapay. Have you tried it? Was it a smooth process?
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BlueSkyMastodon = Twitter
Loops = TikTok
PixelFed = Instagram
Sup = What's App
Lemmy = Reddit -
Sup hasn't been released yet, so that's probably why you haven't heard of it. Dan says beta testing launches early 2025.
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What can replace Facebook?
And how can anyone convince all their friends, family, and random people the follow, to jump platform?
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WhatsApp? Just use signal already!
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I'm really excited for it. I might actually be able to get my family off Whatsapp because of fuckerberg, but I can't get them to move twice. I'm debating pushing signal now, or waiting it out for sup
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Signal? Just use matrix already!
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I'm not going to use a proprietary protocol to chat through Google's (Jibe) servers running proprietary software. Even if the messages are e2ee, Google can still collect metadata. Google never provides anything for free and collection of data is kinda their thing.
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Is it really just one guy writing three different platforms?
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afaik not really, only cell phone companies can apply to join the rcs federation and all of them just outsourced it to google and apple so it under control of just 2 companies.
so no, rcs is not an open standard.
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Not on FDroid. Not open source
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Friendica
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But it is open source. And there's a fork of Signal available on F-Droid called Molly.
