Holos Social

#Holos 1.0.0-rc-5 has been published!

A top banner notifies you of new messages to avoid jumps after the sync. You can now archive/delete your thread conversations. The automatic hiding when scrolling can be disabled and you can display media without cropping.

Full release notes: https://codeberg.org/tom79/Holos-App/releases/tag/1.0.0-rc-5

#HolosSocial

We will submit Holos to Google Play after F-Droid. We have little hope it will be accepted due to the built-in ActivityPub server inside the app. But for full transparency, you will always be kept informed about submissions and results.

Just to be clear, our goal is not to publish releases on Framadrive forever, though it helps a lot. We have submitted our app on #FDroid and you can follow the process here:
https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata/-/merge_requests/33268

Currently, it's not on our end.

Here is the new feature that allows you to save your #ActivityPub media in your own cloud, giving you more sovereignty over your data. Your media stays available even when your device is offline.

#HolosSocial

#Holos 1.0.0-rc-4 published!

Sync is now much faster thanks to Bloom filters. You can set a TTL on posts when composing or configure a default in settings.

If you have a WebDAV/S3 server, the app can upload media there and use public URLs in ActivityPub.

Videos can be compressed before upload. An experimental vertical video feed is available.

A new Discovery timeline lets you explore posts by tags and language.

More: https://codeberg.org/tom79/Holos-App/releases/tag/1.0.0-rc-4

DL: https://holos.social/signup

#HolosSocial

What if every phone could contribute to the #Fediverse, not just consume it?

Short-form video means heavy server-side transcoding for every clip. But your phone can handle it. Re-encode, resize, thumbnails, all done locally. Then push to your own #S3 or #Nextcloud.

No transcoding server. Just simple storage.

We can decentralize the compute, not just the network.

We're working on it

#HolosSocial

In the next release of #Holos, Bloom filters will be enabled by default (can be disabled). This allows the relay to deliver only activities that matter to you, without ever knowing who you follow. In practice, this reduces data transfer around 97%, since only about 3% of activities are typically relevant during a sync.
The public timeline is replaced by a discover timeline tailored to your interests.

#HolosSocial

In the next #Holos release: post expiration. When composing, you can set a lifetime for your post, from 1 hour to 90 days.
The post will be deleted at minimum after the chosen time, since the app needs to be open and connected to send the Delete activity to other instances.
Still a handy tool if you don't want your posts to last forever.

#HolosSocial

We've optimized data loading so #Holos feels fast and seamless despite running its own server.

What's next:
- Interaction controls (#GoToSocial approach) to manage who can reply/boost/like your posts
- Keywords filtering on the public timeline to reduce noise and show what matters to you
- Community domain blocklist subscriptions with auto-sync

#HolosSocial

RE: @dansup@mastodon.social

Totally agree! This is exactly what #GoToSocial's interaction policies already handle with Accept/Reject for replies. The missing piece is retroactive rejection. When a reply was auto-accepted by the policy and you later block the author, the server should send a Reject on the original Create activity to unlink it. Extending their framework would be the cleanest path.

We have really improved the sync process when starting the app. Home messages and notifications are now displayed quickly. Before the next RC release, we have to deal with a major issue: the auto-cleanup process isn't working properly, which is why databases keep growing. On the bright side, they are more robust and should not get corrupted. We should be able to publish the release this week.

#HolosSocial

We agree that the public timeline takes a lot of storage for very little value. Since Holos gives you your own server on your device, we could introduce a feature where you define keywords matching your interests. Incoming public messages that don't match would simply be rejected and not stored.

If you have no connectivity, yes #Holos will work. If you do actions like boost, like, or even write a message, the app will automatically queue them and process your actions when the connection is back. That's how we will handle the automatic deletion of your messages once they reach the TTL you set. You can always manage this in your settings.

#HolosSocial

Currently, the #Holos relay has different TTLs depending on activity type. For instance, follow requests stay longer (365 days) while public messages remain for 7 days. Each admin can change these values and they are displayed on the about page. At the app level, you can adjust this value between zero and the max set by the relay. We will also make the relay a little smarter to automatically reduce these values when accounts become inactive, as these are a lot of wasted resources.

#HolosSocial

#HolosSocial joined the (long) wishlist of #YunoHost https://apps.yunohost.org/wishlist
This would really help to have many decentralized relays. Currently, our server is in Europe, which might create some discomfort for some users.

#Holos rc-2 is ready to be published on #FDroid. It should now be available within days. We will continue to provide our package through our custom F-Droid repo and our direct download link.

#HolosSocial

The new architecture coming in the next release of #Holos allows you to get important messages like Home and Notifications much faster. Even after days offline, the full download enables fast filtering to fill important timelines immediately. This needed some adjustments to the current architecture, but we're very close to publishing rc-3.

#HolosSocial

In #ActivityPub, once a post is federated, you lose control over how remote instances handle interactions on it. Some servers like #GoToSocial are working on interaction controls, but non-compatible instances simply ignore your rules.
With #HolosSocial, we're considering a "safe mode" available at publishing time. Your post would only be delivered to followers on instances that respect interaction controls. Not enabled by default, but there for those who need it.

Currently in #Holos, your followers/following lists are stored only on your device. The relay queues all incoming activities without filtering, so your app must download everything first.
A read-only replica on the relay would allow pre-filtering, for example skipping public posts from accounts you don't follow. Your device keeps full ownership, the relay only holds a copy.
What's your take?

#HolosSocial

The next release of #Holos will allow you to delete your account directly from the app. That's also the best way to do it, as only your server knows your followers list to send the Delete activity to them. Of course, once done, the relay deletes everything from your account.

#HolosSocial

The relay now automatically generates SSL certificates for custom domains verified via CNAME and enabled. A job runs every 5 minutes to issue new certificates and renew expiring ones. More: https://holos.social/custom-domains

Some of you noticed that @HolosDiscover is following you. It's a Fediverse search engine we built to solve a problem: when you start your own server with #Holos, your index is empty. #HolosDiscover provides a ready-to-use content catalog for everyone.
Only public posts from consenting users are indexed. Deletions and edits are reflected in real-time through ActivityPub activities.

How it works: https://discover.holos.social/how-it-works

Open-source (AGPL-3.0): https://codeberg.org/tom79/Holos-Discover

#Holos 1.0.0-rc-2 has been published. In this version, you can connect your domain to create your unique account identity. The first time, it will send a Move activity so you don't lose your followers/following. Then you will have an identity that no longer depends on the relays, and you'll be free to move between relays whenever you want.

More about custom domains: https://holos.social/custom-domains

Download: https://holos.social/signup

Release notes: https://codeberg.org/tom79/Holos-App/releases/tag/1.0.0-rc-2

#HolosSocial