Openvibe combines Mastodon, Bluesky and Nostr into one social app

Mastodon, Bluesky, Nostr, Threads: Since Elon Musk acquisition in 2022 of X, the app formerly known as Twitter, the use of X alternatives continued to grow as people embraced decentralized social networks. Unfortunately, keeping up with all the new networks has not been easy, as they currently rely on different protocols that do not interoperate. That’s a problem that a new app called Openvibe intends to address. From a single interface, Openvibe lets you stay connected with friends and followers on Mastodon, Nostr, Bluesky and soon Threads, on a combined timeline. It also offers the ability to cross-post across multiple networks at the same time.

The company’s mission is to offer a user-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 started 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 early users made the switch. change. Previous efforts involved work on a Nostr-developed app called Plebstr, which has now been incorporated into Openvibe.

However, the company’s users complained about the many open social protocols to choose from and how they were unable to communicate with each other across networks.

“We also face this problem and Openvibe is an answer to it,” says Svancer. “While there are some bridges, they require additional servers, mirror accounts, membership, etc. We don’t think this is the ideal path. With Openvibe there is none of that – and you can connect your already existing accounts. Openvibe’s goal is to decrease barrier for new users coming into this space. I believe open social space can challenge legacy social media, but only if it is united.

The product meets a growing need among users for tools that help them keep up with the increasingly fragmented social network, where countless startups and projects are taking on technology giants. In addition to the open source project Mastodon, an open decentralized 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 the co-founder from Twitter, Jack Dorsey.

Smaller startups have also tried to take on Twitter/X, including Spoutible and Spill, although some earlier efforts such as Publish It is T2/Peixo have already failed. Still, space continues to heat up, most recently with the launch of a mashup of Twitter and MySpace known as noplaceaimed at Generation Z.

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Meanwhile, seeing the direction the social web was heading, Meta adopted ActivityPub for its newest Threads social network.

The overabundance of options, however, has also led to the emergence of new aggregation tools that combine social feeds with news sources such as RSS feeds. Former developer of Twitter Twitterific client The Iconfactory is now working in an app called Tapestry to help people keep track the fightwhile Reeder news reader app developer Silvio Rizzi is working on something like a Reeder substitute which will include social sources.

Ahead of these potential competitors comes Openvibea simple aggregator for the open social web.

For use the app, you will log in to your existing accounts on supported networks. After that, you will instantly follow all your friends in a combined timeline. The app also features a combined trending section and cross-posting support.

You can follow federated Thread profiles through the Mastodon app 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.

Although a version of Openvibe was already in development, the latest version added support for Bluesky, which is why Svancer waited until now to promote the release.

The four-person team includes Svancer, two developers, and a designer. The pre-seed stage startup is backed by angel investors and New York accelerator Wolfthat Openvibe participated in last year.

Openvibe is available as a free app at iOS It is Android, but plans to try a desktop version. Later, the app will introduce a subscription plan to generate revenue.