Sincerus vs Mastodon

Mastodon is a decentralized, open-source network of independent servers; Sincerus is one iPhone network where every post is typed and confirmed by a person. Both have a home feed in time order; Sincerus’ free tier shows clearly marked ads, which Premium removes.

Updated October 24, 2026

What is the difference between Sincerus and Mastodon?

Mastodon is made of thousands of independently run servers that talk to each other; each server sets its own rules, and bot accounts are allowed and marked as bots. Sincerus is one service with one set of rules, and every post is checked as it is published: typed by hand, confirmed with Face ID and signed by the iPhone.

How do Sincerus and Mastodon compare?

	Sincerus	Mastodon
Proves each post came from a person	Yes: typed, confirmed and signed on a real iPhone	No; link verification proves a website [1]
Automated (bot) accounts	Blocked: posting needs a real iPhone and its owner’s confirmation	Allowed, marked as bots
Ads in the feed	Free tier, marked; none with Premium	No platform ads
Home feed	Following, newest first	Following, newest first
End-to-end encrypted messages	Yes, one-to-one and groups	Not yet; planned [2]
Rules and moderation	One set of rules; people review reports within 24 hours	Set by each server
Open source, self-hostable	No	Yes [3]
Available on	iPhone	iOS, Android, web

Compared on October 23, 2026. Numbers in brackets point to the sources below.

Should I use Sincerus or Mastodon?

Use Mastodon if you want to choose or run your own server, follow people across the fediverse, or use Android and the web. Use Sincerus if you want one simple app where every post was typed by a person on their own iPhone, end-to-end encrypted chats, and one set of rules for everyone.

Sources (3)

Sincerus is a social network for iPhone where every post is typed by a person and confirmed with Face ID. No bots, no AI-written posts.

Coming soon to the App Store