Mastodon, Bluesky, Nostr, Threads: Since Elon Musk’s 2022 acquisition of X, the app formerly known as Twitter, usage of X alternatives has continued to grow as people embrace decentralized social networking. Unfortunately, keeping up with all the new networks has not been easy, as they currently rely on different protocols that don’t interoperate. That’s a problem a new app called Openvibe aims to address. From a single interface, Openvibe allows you to stay connected with friends and followers across Mastodon, Nostr, Bluesky and soon Threads, in a combined timeline. It also offers the ability to cross-post to multiple networks at once.
The company’s mission is to offer a friendly, “easy-to-use gateway” to the open social web for new users, according to CEO Matej Svancer.
The Czech Republic-based team had originally begun work on a Twitter client called Tweetoshi in 2022, but after Elon Musk bought Twitter, they shifted their focus to the open social web, as many of the app’s earlier adopters had made the switch. Earlier efforts involved work on a Nostr-powered app called Plebstr, which has now merged into Openvibe.
However, the company’s users complained about the multiple open social protocols to choose from and how they could not communicate with one another across networks.
“We also experienced this problem ourselves, and Openvibe is an answer to that,” Svancer says. “Although there are some existing bridges, they require additional servers, mirror accounts, opt-in, etc. We don’t think this is the ideal way forward. With Openvibe there is none of that — and you can connect your already existing accounts. Openvibe’s goal is to lower the barrier for new users coming to this space. I believe the open social space can challenge legacy social media, but only if it’s united.”
The product addresses a growing need among users for tools that will help them keep up with the increasingly fractured social web, where numerous startups and projects are taking on the tech giants. In addition to the open source project Mastodon, a decentralized open social network powered by the ActivityPub protocol, there are also startups like Bluesky, now with 6 million users and built on the modern AT Protocol, as well as the decentralized social protocol Nostr, currently favored by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.
Smaller startups have also tried to take on Twitter/X, including Spoutible and Spill, though some earlier efforts like Post and T2/Pebble have already failed. Still, the space continues to heat up, most recently with the launch of a Twitter and MySpace mashup known as noplace, aimed at Gen Z.
Meanwhile, seeing the direction the social web was heading, Meta embraced ActivityPub for its newest social network Threads.
The overabundance of choice, however, has also led to the emergence of new aggregation tools that combine social feeds with news sources, like RSS feeds. The former developer of Twitter client Twitterrific, the Iconfactory, is now working on an app called Tapestry to help people keep up with the fray, while newsreader app Reeder’s developer, Silvio Rizzi, is working on something of a Reeder replacement that will include social sources.
Ahead of these potential competitors comes Openvibe, a simple aggregator for the open social web.
To use the app, you’ll log in to your existing accounts on the supported networks. Afterward, you’ll instantly be following all your friends in a combined timeline. The app also features a combined trending section and cross-posting support.
You can follow federated Threads profiles through the app’s Mastodon integration, but now that the Threads API has been made available, Svancer plans to add broader support for Threads in the future, starting with cross-posting.
While a version of Openvibe had been in development before now, the latest release added Bluesky support, which is why Svancer waited until now to promote the launch.
The team of four includes Svancer, two developers and one designer. The pre-seed stage startup is backed by angel investors and NYC accelerator Wolf, which Openvibe attended last year.
Openvibe is available as a free app on iOS and Android, but plans to experiment with a desktop version. The app will later introduce a subscription plan to generate revenue.
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