Hi Mlem Community,
It’s been a bit quiet here recently, so I just wanted to let you all know what we’ve been up to in the last couple weeks.
Development Progress
The current development cycle has been very backend-focused, so there hasn’t been much shiny new stuff to push to the TestFlight. We’ve instead been developing stable long-term solutions to thorny problems that we didn’t have time to address while we were racing towards core features. There should be a TestFlight coming out soon-ish with some major backend rework that will make the app more stable and robust.
Donations
We are extremely excited to announce that you can now donate to the project!
Where do I donate?
What will the money be used for?
100% of the money that you donate goes directly towards the project. It will be used to cover operating expenses (e.g., Xcode cloud server time), dev tools, and new features like push notifications that cost some money to operate.
Our donations are run through Open Collective, which means that all of our income and expenses are fully transparent so you can donate with confidence.
What do I get for donating?
The eternal gratitude of the development team, a bright future for Mlem, and some cool updates down the line. Due to App Store restrictions, we cannot currently offer perks as a reward for donation; see below for more details.
Can I donate in-app?
Not yet. In-app purchases must go through the App Store, which requires a whole bunch of additional setup that we are currently still working on. The App Store also prohibits us from selling “content or functionality” through any market but the App Store (App Store review guidelines §3.1.1), which is why we can’t offer tangible rewards right now.
Will functionality ever be paywalled?
Absolutely not, and nor will we ever run ads. Ads and paywalled functionality violate the fundamental philosophy of the Fediverse: social media created by and for the community, free of corporate influence, supported by nothing more than the community’s desire for the platform. When we do get our in-app purchases up and running, we will never restrict the functionality of the app; every feature will be available to every user. Rewards will be in the form of digital bling (e.g., a custom flair visible to all Mlem users), wholly cosmetic perks (e.g., special icons or color themes), or bragging rights (e.g., a shoutout on our info page).
If you have any questions, drop them below and we’ll do our very best to answer them.
Cheers,
