Alternatives to Ice Cubes
An open-source Mastodon client for iPhone, iPad and Mac, written in SwiftUI. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
Ice Cubes
An open-source Mastodon client for iPhone, iPad and Mac, written in SwiftUI.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as Ice Cubes.
Ivory
A Mastodon client for iPhone, iPad and Mac from the makers of Tweetbot.
Ivory is a Mastodon client for iPhone, iPad and Mac from the Tweetbot makers with timeline sync, but it is paid after the trial and closed source.
Feditext
A free, open source iOS client for Mastodon and Mastodon-compatible fediverse servers.
Feditext is a free open-source iOS client that works with many Mastodon-compatible servers such as GotoSocial and Akkoma, but has no Mac version listed.
Elk
A lightweight open-source web client for Mastodon that runs in the browser.
Elk is an open-source Mastodon web client that runs in any modern browser, replacing Ice Cubes' native Apple apps with a cross-platform web interface.
Phanpy
A minimalistic, opinionated web client for reading and posting on Mastodon from a browser.
Phanpy is a minimal, opinionated Mastodon web client that runs in any browser, but it is not open source.
tooot
An open-source Mastodon client for iOS and Android, started with a focus on the Chinese community.
tooot is an open-source Mastodon client for iOS and Android built with Chinese-speaking users in mind, but without a Mac app.
Raccoon for Friendica
An open source Kotlin Multiplatform client for Friendica and Mastodon accounts.
Raccoon for Friendica supports Friendica and Mastodon accounts on Android and iOS from shared Kotlin Multiplatform code, run by a single developer account.
Whalebird
A single-column desktop client for Mastodon, Pleroma, Friendica and other fediverse accounts.
Whalebird is an open-source desktop client for macOS, Windows and Linux covering several fediverse platforms, but it has no iPhone version.
Tuba
A GTK desktop client for browsing and posting on Mastodon and the wider fediverse.
Tuba is a GPL-3.0 GTK client for Windows, Linux and Android, with scheduled posts, polls and admin tools, leaving Apple platforms behind.
Also worth comparing
These listings name Ice Cubes as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
Tokodon
KDE's client for Mastodon and other fediverse servers, for Linux and Windows.
Ice Cubes is a native SwiftUI Mastodon client for Mac, iPhone and iPad, so it suits Apple users rather than Linux or Windows desktops.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
Mastodon
Federated microblogging server with no algorithmic feed.
Openvibe
A mobile app that combines Mastodon, Bluesky, Threads and Nostr timelines into one feed.
Tapestry
An iOS app that merges RSS feeds, social media, podcasts and YouTube into one chronological timeline.
glitch-soc
A friendly fork of the Mastodon server software that adds experimental features on top of upstream.
Pleroma
Lightweight fediverse server that runs on very modest hardware.
GoToSocial
A lightweight self-hosted ActivityPub social network server written in Go.
