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LiveFastEatTrashRaccoon/RaccoonForFriendica

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RaccoonForFriendica

This is a client for the Friendica federated social platform powered by Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP) and Compose Multiplatform (CMP). The app is also compatible with Mastodon and Mastodon-like backends.

The project is heavily inspired by the RaccoonForLemmy app for Lemmy, which demonstrated something like this can be achieved with this tech stack. This is why it retains its name, making clear that the two projects are related and share a lot of common heritage and are maintained by the same people with the same spirit.

Want to try it out?

Here are some options to install the application on your device:

Get it on Obtainium banner   Get it on IzzyOnDroid banner   Get it on F-Droid

If you use IzzyOnDroid as a source in your FDroid app, you can easily install the app, please refer to the link in the badge above to see the app details.

On the other hand, if you want to be able to test each pre-release build as soon as it is published here on GitHub, apart from downloading the APKs from the Releases page, you can also use Obtainium and add a new app by inserting https://github.com/LiveFastEatTrashRaccoon/RaccoonForFriendica as a source.

Tip

On Obtainium, please make sure to check the "Include pre-releases" option: by doing so you will be able to receive all alpha and beta builds automatically.

Want to leave your feedback or report a bug?

badge for website badge for user manual Matrix logo Friendica logo

Reach out to the community on Friendica, Matrix or file a report in the issue tracker here on GitHub.

Alternatively, you can use the "Report an issue" in-app form you can find in the "App information" dialog (it only works if you have enabled crash reporting). If none of the above methods fits your needs you can always write an email.

Please remember: every contribution is welcome and everyone's opinion matters here. This is a community project, open source, ad-free and free of charge, and it belongs to us all so don't be afraid to get involved.

And don't forget every 🦝's motto: #livefasteattrash.

Would you like to improve the existing translation?

Translators and localizators, your work is of paramount importance to make sure user experience is of high quality on the app! If you want to help with the localization, please have a look at the project on Weblate and submit your changes.

Screenshots

timeline screen with subscriptions user detail screen
post detail screen list of posts containing a followed hashtag
post editor settings screen
explore screen on hashtags tab notifications screen
group opened in forum mode thread screen within a group with replies

Why was the project started and why is it called like that?

Because raccoons are so adorable, aren't they? 🦝🦝🦝

Joking apart, one of the main goals was to experiment with Kotlin multiplatform (KMP) and Compose Multiplatform (CMP). This project has a fair degree of complexity and allows to put under stress the existing solutions and evaluate what they behave like with common tasks (image loading, HTML rendering, file system and gallery access, networking, local database management, shared preferences, navigation, access to resources like fonts/drawables/localization, etc.).

Secondly, the Android ecosystem for Friendica was a little lacking, especially with few native apps (except Dica, whereas Friendiqa is a very cute example of Qt on Android, although not a traditional mobile app at all). I ❤️ Kotlin, I ❤️ Free and Open Source Software and I ❤️ native app development, so there was a niche that could be filled.

In the third place, we were wondering whether the adoption of a platform like Friendica could be improved with a user-friendly and easy to use mobile app that abstracts away some of the complications of the current web UI. This is why this app looks a lot like a plain Mastodon client (and technically speaking it is a Mastodon client) – adding on top of it some Friendica specific features such as media gallery, circle management, direct messages and support for ActivityPub groups.

With this respect, it takes a different approach compared to other existing solutions like the feature-complete Relatica app, in trying to look familiar to users with a UI they are already accustomed to, adding a thin layer on top of it to support the additional features.

This project is all about experimenting and learning, so please be patient if you find some bugs or missing features.

Development roadmap

The app is under ongoing development, here is a list of the features that are being implemented:

  • timeline view (Public/Local/Subscriptions) with ability to switch feed type
  • post detail, i.e. opening a conversation or reply in its context
  • user detail with ability to see posts/post and replies/pinned/media posts
  • login/logout to one's own instance
  • view notifications and check for unread items
  • view one's own profile
  • see trending posts/hashtags/news
  • see following recommendations
  • view all the posts containing a given hashtag
  • view followers and following of a given user
  • follow/unfollow other users
  • post actions (re-share, favorite, bookmark)
  • follow/unfollow hashtags
  • view list of one's own favorites
  • view list of one's own bookmarks
  • view list of one's own followed hashtags
  • view people who added as favorite/re-shared a given post
  • enable/disable notifications for other users
  • create a post/reply with image attachments and alt text
  • global search
  • open groups in "forum mode" (Friendica-specific)
  • delete one's own posts
  • edit one's own posts
  • mute/unmute user and see list of muted users
  • block/unblock user and see list of blocked users
  • OAuth and HTTP Basic authentication modes
  • pin/unpin status to profile
  • manage one's own circles/following lists
  • polls (read-only, voting is not supported yet by the back-end)
  • manage follow requests
  • support for post addons (spoilers and titles)
  • multi-account
  • edit one's own profile (custom fields and images not supported yet by the back-end)
  • direct messages (Friendica-specific)
  • photo gallery (Friendica-specific)
  • advanced media visualization (videos, GIFs, multiple images)
  • scheduled posts and local drafts
  • create reports for posts and users
  • custom emojis
  • event calendar (Friendica-specific, creating events is not supported yet by the back-end)
  • pull notifications with background checks
  • (experimental) push notifications using UnifiedPush

Technologies used

For the main app:

For QA:

  • Kover to calculate test coverage;
  • Mokkery to generate mocks which can be used in the commonTest;
  • Robolectric to run Compose tests quickly (even in the CI);
  • Turbine to test Flow (from kotlinx.coroutines);

Disclaimer

Warning

This is an experimental project and some technologies it is build upon are still in pre-production stage, moreover this is a side-project developed by volunteers in their spare time, so use at your own risk.

You shouldn't expect a full-fledged and fully functional app; you should be prepared to occasional failures, yet-to-implement features and areas where (a lot of) polish is needed.

Contributions are welcome and new feature requests will be evaluated depending on the available time.