AltStore PAL, a substitute application marketplace for iOS, made feasible by recent mandates in regions such as the EU and Japan, is now merging with the open social web. The enterprise on Wednesday revealed its endorsement for the fediverse, the distributed social network that operates via ActivityPub, which forms the basis for applications like Mastodon, Flipboard, PeerTube, Threads, and others.
Commonly referred to as the “fediverse,” participants on this open social network access autonomous servers that function together, or “federate,” thereby enabling individuals to communicate, observe, and respond to messages with those on disparate social platforms.
With AltStore PAL’s establishment of its proprietary Mastodon server, it is emerging as the initial interconnected application hub.
The firm aims to utilize its server to provide app creators a channel to convey their applications’ announcements, revisions, and notifications. Since these messages are federated, users throughout the distributed social network — including Mastodon, Instagram’s Threads, and even Bluesky — can view, favor, and engage with them, provided that Bluesky users have linked their profiles to render them available to those in the fediverse.
“So, what this implies is that, should you possess a Mastodon account or a Threads account, you could subscribe to these profiles. You would track the origin from our Mastodon server, and subsequently, your feed would display when an app update became available,” AltStore PAL co-founder Riley Testut informed TechCrunch last fall, at a time when the company was hinting at its intentions and revealing its $6 million Series A funding.
Engagements with these messages will also be displayed within the AltStore PAL app itself, as individuals can log in using their Mastodon or Bluesky accounts to express approval for the applications, their updates, and the news alerts inside the application hub.
Upon release, a select number of applications are already involved, including Loops, a federated short-form video app; PeerTube, a federated app akin to YouTube; and iPhanpy, a Mastodon client developed by independent creator Matt Fantinel.
Some more prominent applications are intending to debut on this interconnected marketplace subsequently, once modifications to Apple’s commission structure are concluded in the E.U. This is because, due to possible accountability concerns over payments, these apps are awaiting Apple to substitute its Core Technology Fee with its Core Technology Commission, a choice taken after receiving resistance from oversight bodies regarding its earlier overhaul of its commission system.
To reach the AltStore PAL’s Mastodon server, users can navigate to fosstodon.org/@altstore. Concurrently, individuals can also uncover applications and origins on the AltStore PAL’s discovery section at explore.alt.store. In conjunction with this enhancement, the AltStore PAL app has been refreshed with an iOS 26 Liquid Glass design and icon.
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