When the Open Social Web Hybridizes: Raccoon for Friendica is a new app… Mastodon. And it even has a little Lemmy in it! That’s why the Free Software + Fediverse duo is such a valuable resource.

@fediverse

Raccoon 1.0 was finally released for Android in recent days, a rather innovative client originally created for #Friendica, but which has now become one of the most innovative apps for the user experience on #Mastodon. The app is available for Android (already on the Play Store and Izzidroid, and will soon be available on F-Droid), but a #Debian package has also been released. An iOS version remains to be seen for its success.

The app introduces some very important innovations to the federated app landscape.

1. Navigate the Fediverse from an app, even without creating an account

Raccoon is the only app that lets you browse the Fediverse even without an account. When you install it, you can select any Friendica or Mastodon instance and “leverage” its local public and federated timelines. This way, users can explore multiple instances before choosing which one to open an account on. Of course, even after adding an account (the app manages multiple accounts), you can browse the timelines of servers other than the one you signed up to.

2. “Browse through” messages: “swipe” navigation

Unlike all other social apps (both those for the Fediverse and those for commercial social networks), #RaccoonForFriendica lets you open a post in your timeline and continue browsing through previous and next posts by simply swiping left and right.
This is a truly interesting ergonomic innovation.

3. Finally a formatting bar in social apps

Since the app was created for Friendica, it features a built-in formatting toolbar reminiscent of Lemmy clients (in fact, the developer @janTeko first experimented with app development with a Lemmy app). The formatting toolbar can also be used for Mastodon instances running the Glitch-soc fork, such as infosec.exchange, tech.lgbt, and my poliversity.it instance, which was the one the developer experimented with.

In addition to being more immediate, writing formatted posts is also made easier by a “preview” function that helps avoid errors in Markdown or BBCode coding.

4. Finally, Mastodon users will be able to enjoy Fediverse groups too.

As you may know, Mastodon doesn’t support the display of group posts. Even if you select a group, you’ll still see a single timeline where top posts alternate with replies. Searching for a thread on Mastodon is therefore very complicated, but the #Raccoon developer has found a way to enable “topic” viewing across all accounts that are “activitypub groups,” be they #Lemmy, #NodeBB, Piefed, Mbin, Peertube, Wordpress, Mobilizon, Flipboard, etc.
This idea also came about thanks to the fact that the developer had previously tried his hand at developing an app for Lemmy and was able to experiment with the formatting bars and display of Lemmy “communities,” which are nothing other than “#activitypub groups.”

5. Other interesting features

Among other features, you can

6. What’s still missing?

The app features all the features found in most other Mastodon apps, except one: the correct handling of Mastodon posts that quote other posts. These are still displayed in a fairly primitive way. The developer is trying to decide whether to adapt to Mastodon specifications or reinterpret the feature in a more personalized way.
It must be said that, unfortunately, the implementation of quoted messages (already present in Friendica for ages) was implemented by Mastodon very late, only in recent months, and in a very “personal” way that many other software developers did not appreciate.

7. Raccoon is an app that will benefit users who already use Mastodon but also those who have never “tried” the Fediverse

This app has been under development for almost two years, and the beta version is just over a year old. However, version 1.0 has resolved all previously encountered issues.
Based on user feedback, the developer will evaluate whether to create an iOS version and even a Windows version.
Anyone who wishes to allow reporting of application errors can enable anonymous crash reports.

8. Links and Resources

This is the developer’s profile:
https://androiddev.social/users/janTeko

This is the app repository: https://github.com/LiveFastEatTrashRaccoon/RaccoonForFriendica/

This is the Play Store link:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.livefast.eattrash.raccoonforfriendica

This is the link on IzzyDroid (the app will be released on F-Droid soon, but is currently under review):
https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/index/apk/com.livefast.eattrash.raccoonforfriendica

Here is the developer’s blog:
https://livefasteattrashraccoon.github.io/blog/

Finally, from here you can download the .apk or .deb package without using the online stores. line:
https://github.com/LiveFastEatTrashRaccoon/RaccoonForFriendica/releases/latest/

One last recommendation

The public’s response will be important to enable the further development of this app.
If you want to test it on Mastodon, I recommend using instances running the glitch-soc fork. Among these, I’d recommend the infosec.exchange instance, which is well managed by @jerry. And of course, but only if you communicate in Italian or Esperanto, I’d be happy to host you on my poliversity.it instance.
Regarding Friendica, I recommend two instances: friendica.world, managed by @ruud and featuring a rather lively timeline, and, of course, social.trom.tf, excellently managed by @tio.
If you communicate in Italian, I’d be happy to host you on my poliverso.org instance.

Greetings to all and let me know if you need further information, if you have tried the app and how you found it.
Francesco
You can also interact with me through the Mastodon account @informapirata and the Friendica account @notizie

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
      52·
      2 days ago

      My favorite part of AI hallucinations is “finally” being halfway thru their arbitrary numbered list…

      • null@piefed.nullspace.lolEnglish
        71·
        2 days ago

        It wasn’t “finally” as in “this is the last item in the list” it was “finally” as in “mastodon users can finally do this”

    • ggtdbz@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      41·
      2 days ago

      Have you seen the new show? It’s on Tubu. It’s literally on Heebee. It’s on Poodee with ads. It’s literally on Dippy. You can probably find it on Weeno. Dude it’s on Gumpy. It’s a Pheebo original. It’s on Poob. You can watch it on Poob. You can go to Poob and watch it. Log onto Poob right now. Go to Poob. Dive into Poob. You can Poob it. It’s on Poob. Poob has it for you. Poob has it for you.

      Posts about Fediverse interoperability are always a mess of different flavors of internet nerds who post in radically different formats clashing. It’s a glorious mess.

      Personally I think micro blogging is an atrocious anti-discourse format but I also think anyone who writes the word “discourse” is automatically not worth listening to. So what do I know.

      Insert 23 redundant hashtags about open source software here and tag eight accounts run by three people across six instances

      (Mastodon friends I appreciate you but your posts are painful to look at through the Lemmy interface good god)

      • OpenStars@piefed.socialEnglish
        3·
        2 days ago

        it’s the giant text isn’t it?!?!? Or repeating it both in the title and then still yet over again, once more?!?!

        Well I still think it’s interesting content, after that.

        • macfranc@poliversity.itOP
          2·
          1 day ago

          @OpenStars I’m both disappointed and amused by this inconvenience.

          Unfortunate, because my intention was to highlight the app’s qualities, not to annoy as many readers as possible.

          But I’m also amused, because unfortunately, many Lemmy apps format titles poorly, transforming #/h1 tags into something like “format a gigantic title that takes up one screen for each syllable.” 🤦‍♂️🤣

          @ggtdbz

          • OpenStars@piefed.socialEnglish
            1·
            1 day ago

            I am not sure that you would get this unless I add your user tag @macfranc@poliversity.it ?

            It is not your fault. The entire Fediverse is still being built, and it only gets better over time.:-) The fact that Lemmy + PieFed + mBin + nodeBB can intercommunicate at all is fantastic, even though yes there are some kinks remaining to be worked out:-).

            My intention was to make light of the reasoning behind criticism of your post, while pointing out to Threadiverse users that once you get past that, the actual content is quite solid. So less “wall of text” than merely “odd-looking introduction”. It’s a good post!

            And yeah the giant text looks weird, haha! 😂 Especially since at first it is a repeat of the title, but then goes into new territory after that. I do not know if there is anything that can be done about it though, except further code development on the side of all the myriad varieties of recipients of the message.

            • macfranc@poliversity.itOP
              0·
              1 day ago

              @OpenStars

              I am not sure that you would get this unless I add your user tag @macfranc ?

              Yes, I’d still get it, even if you didn’t mention me. The problem arises when you reply to someone who replied to me: in that case, I might not receive the notification. Unfortunately (as often happens), the fault lies with Mastodon, not Lemmy/Piefed.

              It is not your fault. The entire Fediverse is still being built, and it only gets better over time.:-) The fact that Lemmy + PieFed + mBin + nodeBB can intercommunicate at all is fantastic, even though yes there are some kinks remaining to be worked out:-).

              I also believe this statement. Since I’ve been an instance administrator (Friendica, Lemmy, NodeBB, and Mastodon Glitch-soc), I’ve always been concerned with how the Fediverse software integrates with each other and with spreading knowledge of the various platforms

              My intention was to make light of the reasoning behind criticism of your post, while pointing out to Threadiverse users that once you get past that, the actual content is quite solid. So less “wall of text” than merely “odd-looking introduction”. It’s a good post!

              Thank you for your feedback. It’s somewhere between a press release and an informational post about the Fediverse. I’m only surprised because, usually, the criticisms about length come from Mastodon users, not Lemmy users…

              And yeah the giant text looks weird, haha! 😂

              Usually, the problem is solved at the user interface level. BBCode and Markdown have a certain number of standard levels for titles, and it’s up to the final interpreter (the interface) to manage their display based on the tool (desktop browser, mobile browser, mobile app, etc.).

              Especially since at first it is a repeat of the title, but then goes into new territory after that. I do not know if there is anything that can be done about it though, except further code development on the side of all the myriad varieties of recipients of the message.

              Repeating the title, on the other hand, is the best possible solution for integrating threads opened in the forumverse by microblogging users: Lemmy takes the first 200 characters of the first paragraph and converts them into a title, disabling formatting, links, and mentions. That data, however, is re-proposed at the beginning of the post text.
              I understand there are some issues, but I don’t see any better solution than this.

              I should add that, unfortunately, Mastodon’s recent implementation of quoted posts has made it difficult for Lemmy to manage opening posts, because Mastodon formats posts that quote another post as:

              Re: fedilinkhttpsPost text

              And therefore, the title of a Lemmy thread would become
              "Re: fedilinkhttps" 🤬

              • OpenStars@piefed.socialEnglish
                1·
                1 day ago

                There are so many fascinating differences in how your comment reply here shows vs. not.

                Like on all of https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/70448923 and https://lemmy.world/post/48069327 and even https://piefed.zip/comment/5630582 your most recent comments here do not show up at all, despite it having been sent 2 hours ago. Though somehow your earlier comments are visible, but not your latest ones?

                And yet I see them on my instance. I am not sure why, or if your tagging my username specifically helped cause that to happen for this instance but somehow no other instances.

                The formatting if I ask to “view markdown source” is messed up - everything is on a single line, and some formatting indicators are missing - but the traditional, regular display mode of the message is perfect.

                Interrelation between the different platforms still needs improvements, but it is encouraging to see it get better over time.:-)

                • Poliverso@feddit.itEnglish
                  3·
                  1 day ago

                  I’m still @macfranc@poliversity.it

                  If I remember correctly, there was a problem in Lemmy that should be fixed with the upcoming 1.0 release and has already been fixed with the latest Piefed releases. This meant that third-level comments that didn’t originate from Lemmy or Piefed weren’t processed correctly by the platform.

                  They’re out now, but I should compare them with the replies appended to the original post. https://poliversity.it/@macfranc/116736605177662762

      • macfranc@poliverso.org
        31·
        1 day ago

        @ggtdbz There’s something I don’t understand: from the desktop and smartphone web interface (see image), it appears the display isn’t that abnormal. Do you see it differently?

        I also don’t understand the reference to Mastodon: most Mastodon users write in plain text, while only users of certain forks can use formatted text. What’s the problem that bothers you reading Mastodon users’ comments?

        @FrederikNJS

        PS: I wrote from my Friendica account because the images sent by Mastodon are not always readable on Lemmy

    • macfranc@poliversity.itOP
      51·
      2 days ago

      @tio Your instance is one of those shortlisted by Raccoon both because it’s very well moderated and because it has a local timeline accessible even without logging in.
      I’m glad you’ll recommend this app to your contacts. In that regard, although none of us are in love with Google (🤬), we must admit that the presence of the 1.0 release on the Play Store is essential to overcome the psychological barrier of all those users who do not want to go to alternative stores or download the .apk package.

      @pfefferle @jerry @informapirata @notizie @alex @fediverse @janTeko @ruud

    • macfranc@poliversity.itOP
      0·
      1 day ago

      @Phantaloons The idea would be very interesting. Could you explain it better? In fact, at first glance, it would seem simpler to run Orbot directly before launching the application.
      Perhaps rather than adding Orbot to the application, it would be better to create a RaccoOnion fork 😅

      • Phantaloons@piefed.zipEnglish
        1·
        1 day ago

        Any app can be aimed at by Orbot, but if orbot goes down or loses connection, the app doesn’t discriminate.

        XMPP apps adopt this from Conversations, there’s a setting to only listen to the proxy/orbot only.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
    34·
    2 days ago

    Why are people upvoting this?

    If OP used AI to “make” this post, obviously the app is gonna be slop too

    • macfranc@poliversity.itOP
      93·
      2 days ago

      @givesomefucks I’m sorry, but you’re making serious and false claims that do not honor either your reputation or your ability to recognize the synthetic origin of a text or code.

      I wrote the post in Italian and first translated it into English (a language I don’t know) using a machine translation system. I then did a back translation to make sure everything was at least comprehensible.

      Regarding the app, if you had the necessary knowledge, you could take a look at the code to understand that the development wasn’t done with vibe coding, but was done over the course of almost two years, integrating observations and addressing issues.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
        14·
        2 days ago

        using a machine translation system.

        So…

        AI “wrote” this post, like I said…

        the development wasn’t done with vibe coding, but was done over the course of almost two years, integrating observations and addressing issues.

        And AI coded it to?

        You’re just saying you put more effort in instead of just vibes?

        Even your comment sounds like AI, it disagrees but then immediately acknowledged everything I said was correct.

        Even your fucking chat or knows I’m right, you just told it to say I’m wrong.

        Why would anyone download this fucking slop?

        • fizzle@quokk.auEnglish
          81·
          2 days ago

          I share your concerns about AI slop but you’re being a bit of a jerk.

          Not everyone speaks English.

          • macfranc@poliversity.itOP
            3·
            2 days ago

            @fizzle Given that machine translation systems have nothing to do with LLMs, I see you understand perfectly well that it’s perfectly fine not to know English, just as it’s perfectly fine to use machine translation systems.

            However, I can’t be concerned about those who manage to turn what should be a legitimate and justified concern about the proliferation of AI-generated texts into a complete obsession.

            @givesomefucks

        • lokalhorst@feddit.orgEnglish
          21·
          1 day ago

          There are many cases where AI is harmful, translation from Italian to English is not one of them.

          • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
            12·
            1 day ago

            …

            So you think OP honestly typed it themselves and just used standard AI formatting?

            Bro…

            AI may have wrote it first in Italian and then translated. But even if OP won’t admit it, a human didn’t write the post in any language.

            They’re just lying because they can’t image it’s obvious to some people

        • enzoesco@poliverso.org
          11·
          2 days ago

          @givesomefucks wrote

          Even your comment sounds like AI, it disagrees but then immediately acknowledged everything I said was correct.

          Even your fucking chat or knows I’m right, you just told it to say I’m wrong.

          Why would anyone download this fucking slop?

          AHAHAH! You’re a freak of nature! You’re a curious mythological character, half paranoid obsessive, half troll. 🤣

          But maybe you’re just a jealous little person… In that case, you’re just salty because you’ve probably never even been able to program a washing machine.

          @macfranc

          • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
            11·
            1 day ago

            Chatbot accounts always crash out after running out of tokens…

            Always turns into jr high insults after 2-3 replies in a row.

    • dieguitux8623@poliverso.org
      51·
      2 days ago

      @givesomefucks The post was not even published by the developer of the app (me btw), how can you assume the way its code was written by just reading an article by someone else? If you want to help with development you’re welcome! @macfranc

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
        12·
        2 days ago

        Well…

        The fact that so many zombie account are suddenly all active and super supportive of this ai slop?

        Like, this is some of the worst astroturfing Ive ever seen.

        • Phantaloons@piefed.zipEnglish
          11·
          1 day ago

          If the code is Ai slop, we might could, I dunno… have some proof? Maybe? It just might help your argument avoid another goal-post move.

          • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
            11·
            1 day ago

            have some proof?

            OP saying it?

            the development wasn’t done with vibe coding, but was done over the course of almost two years, integrating observations and addressing issues.

            But if everyone stopped to investigate every piece of slop thrown in front of them, all they’d do all day is that.

            It just might help your argument avoid another goal-post move.

            This isn’t an argument, if you think goalposts are moving it means you still don’t understand any of it.

            But most importantly, I don’t really give a fuck if people end up understanding. Go for it bro, slop em up, get those steaks super sloppy and slick your hair back reaaaaaal nice.

            • Phantaloons@piefed.zipEnglish
              1·
              1 day ago

              I think you’re extrapolating statements as admissions for the sake of your own benefit.

              The OP being slop doesn’t mean the original dev’s code is.

              the development wasn’t done with vibe coding, but was done over the course of almost two years, integrating observations and addressing issues.

              …isn’t an admission of vibecoding

              So, let’s back up.

              https://github.com/LiveFastEatTrashRaccoon/RaccoonForLemmy

              There’s the source, so you don’t even have to go looking yourself, not that you were.

    • cannedtuna@lemmy.worldEnglish
      41·
      1 day ago

      I mean, the 1h old account, who’s first comment was this post, chiming in about downloading the app wasn’t a giveaway?

      Nvm it’s weird fediverse shit