Mastodon users can now share their profile via QR code on Android

Decentralized social network Mastodon has updated its official app for Android to let users easily share their profiles with QR Codes. This could be useful in loud places like event and hotel lobbies to exchange profiles, the company said in a blog post.

To share the QR code, users can go to their profile tab and tap the QR icon next to their name to get a code related to the profile others can scan.

The organization is also trying to make the Fediverse simple to understand for users. To that end, it has now added explainers about domain names in Mastodon handles. When you tap on a handle, the app shows you the dialog explaining why username and server names are different. The app also highlights the username or the server name in the handle when you tap on the explanations.

Mastodon has also updated prompts for blocking and muting to explain the effects of taking those actions on a profile.

The new Android also has a few smaller updates such as a new link card preview displaying a post’s author and date; and easy-to-understand drop-down menus on profiles.

Mastodon is now facing stiff competition in the decentralized social network space as Bluesky opened up to the public earlier this month and has also started working on federation. Users trying out Mastodon have complained about the complicated nature of having different servers on the ActivityPub network. The company will have to work on making it easier for users to understand and navigate the decentralized social world.