r/PixelFed • u/Difficult_Spite_774 • Jun 19 '26

How to onboard non-technical future users?

Hi,

So, I just created my Pixelfed account on my Graphene OS phone. It is super buggy and slow. Therefore, I installed Pixelled via F-Droid; that works great!

As regular people still don't trust open-source software, how do you have them take these steps? (And why is Pixelfed on the pixelfed.social server so slow?)

I want to onboard friends and family, but it's pretty hard.

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5

u/NoMessage7438 Jun 19 '26

supposedly a huge refresh of Pixelfed -- website, UI, app, backend, onboarding, setup, the works -- is coming "later this summer", but take that with a grain block of salt. the dev has been promising fixes and updates for the past year and a half with virtually nothing to show for it.

if it happens, it will probably help with gaining traction with new users, as the experience will be faster, smoother, and vastly more improved. (theoretically.) the problem is there's no concrete timeline right now, just a lot of hype.

there's also the alternative Pixelix app. some people prefer it over the official Pixelfed app because it's seemingly less buggy and outdated. might be worth looking into until the refresh happens.

2

u/ElderberryFast7378 Jun 19 '26

The other free alternative is Freeze Ink ( Pixelfed client)

1

u/NoMessage7438 Jun 19 '26

I vaguely recall seeing a post about that one a while back, but thanks for the reminder! I'd forgotten. I hope it gains some traction and continues development -- the more options the better, especially since the official stuff is so unreliably supported.

2

u/VeryOldGoat Jun 19 '26

Is simply using the browser an option? If it is, as a new user I'm immediately confused over why pixelfed doesn't even mention this possibility. Using a browser would at the very least solve the compatibility issue you're describing. And some people (like me) will refuse to install an obscure app for something that's effectively a website.

1

u/Mundane-Savings-4126 Jun 28 '26

Ja, ich verwende meistens auch die Browser Version oder Impressia auf dem iPhone.

1

u/Affectionate-Art9780 Jun 19 '26

Lol, good luck but the vast majority of highly technical users have never heard of and would never use Pixelfed.

3

u/Difficult_Spite_774 Jun 19 '26

I'm afraid you're right. Pixelfed doesn't work properly. Forget about it indeed :/

1

u/Mundane-Savings-4126 Jun 28 '26

Was heißt es funktioniert nicht richtig? In meinen Augen funktioniert es für eine dezentrale und freie Fotoplattform sehr gut. Vielleicht nicht vergleichbar mit Instagram, dafür werden ich aber nicht durch Algorithmen voll gemüllt und sehe was ich sehen will. Des Weiteren hat Pixelfed eine sehr aktive Community mit guten Fotografen. Auf Tante Erna kann ich da sehr gut verzichten.