cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/25681950
TL;DR: Loops is doomed because Daniel Supernault doesn’t actually want to develop it or release the source code properly.
I’ll try to provide evidence where I can, but a lot of evidence was destroyed via bans from the Discord, so I can’t retrieve my messages, and All I have are files I saved on my hard drive and mastodon links. How I Got Involved
I got into Loops because of the TikTok ban scare and wanted to help develop a non-corporate fediverse alternative to TikTok and YouTube Shorts. I signed up, made two accounts (wasn’t sure why I couldn’t log in), and got approved after two days. Once I had an account, I downloaded the Android APK and joined the Discord. I introduced myself as someone who wanted to help and mentioned that I had tried (and failed) to make a Fediverse app before. I was interested in seeing where Loops would go. For about 12 days, I made videos for Loops, making sure there was consistent content so the platform didn’t go 10 minutes without something new. I also helped in Discord, answering questions about account activations and discussing how Loops could become a major part of the Fediverse (which, as of 2/16/2025, it still isn’t). I thought if Loops could launch before the next TikTok scare, it had a real shot. I Start Asking Questions After 12 days of making content and being active in Discord, I was getting bored. I wanted to figure out why there weren’t any real developments. I knew Daniel had promised on Discord that Loops would be open-source “by the weekend” (this was 12 days ago). To me, that meant publishing the source code. So, I made a video calling him out (archived here: dalek.zone/w/jUUYe11xDvjz15ZRAxQuy7) and posted it on Discord. A few minutes later, Daniel deleted the link and removed the video from Loops. His only response was, “Misinformation is not appreciated”—with no further context. To me, this reaction was suspicious. He didn’t explain why he hadn’t released the source code. He didn’t ignore it either, which I interpreted him as being guarded.
Getting Banned from the Discord After Daniel’s reaction, I started wondering if Loops was a waste of my time. Was anything actually happening? I tried decompiling the Android APK to see what was inside but couldn’t get it to recompile. I thought about forking the Loops GitHub with the decompiled source and posting it in GitHub as a fork—but I didn’t even need to. Instead, I asked why Loops wasn’t just a PeerTube instance, since PeerTube already worked on short formed video content with a tik Tok like interface. I even made another video about it: dalek.zone/w/fVW4GbW79bBpiyLrDGJBBa. The last thing that happened before my ban was me asking if anyone was actually doing work on Loops. Instead of answering, they flipped the question back on me. I replied, “Yes, I am decompiling the source code so we can do work.” after, Discord glitched, the Loops server disappeared, and I was locked out. My Loops account was also deleted. This made it clear: Daniel didn’t want me questioning loops or suggesting that PeerTube could do the job better.
Calling Him Out on Mastodon After my ban on discord, I did more research on Daniel and kept calling him out on Mastodon as a warning to others. Eventually, he did publish a “source code” for Loops. Just to spite him, I thanked Michael Downey (mastodon.social/@Cattail/113932221184535082) for pushing him to release it by asking him a question. But two hours later, I pointed out that the APK and the published source code didn’t match: (mastodon.social/@Cattail/113932308245134257).
Conclusion I’m glad I did what I did because it saved me from wasting more time on Loops. Instead, I built a bot that announces when Fediverse streamers go live on Mastodon, which actually helps the community. Daniel is asking for money that would be better spent on PeerTube development or maintaining existing Fediverse instances. Daniel is deceiving people, pretending Loops is making progress when it’s really just a rehash of Pixelfed. His Kickstarter has no deadline and only vague updates. If you still want to support him, that’s on you. I’ve seen enough.
Links & Receipts Official “source code”: github.com/joinloops/loops-app Loops development mention from 2020: mastodon.social/@pixelfed/104618452882003745?utm_source=perplexity Kickstarter: kickstarter.com/projects/pixelfed/pixelfed-foundation-2024-real-ethical-social-networks/comments
Links & Receipts Official “source code”: GitHub Loops development mention from 2020: Mastodon Kickstarter: Pixelfed Foundation 2024
All the fediverse app you mentionned are microblogging apps. Do you know any instagram like fedi app as an alternstive to pixelfed?
well sort of: Vernissage is working on their standalone server and app, but i think they are pretty early in development. Used to be a pixelfed app but dan wasn’t fixing stuff (i think? can’t remember the drama there) so they made their own thing
(in case lemmy hides titles: direct reply above, this is more of a “acktually” rant)
i’d claim that instagram is a microblogging platform: your “blog” is a photo instead of 300 chars of text. implementation-wise, an “instagram fedi clone” is just a mastodon instance with >1 pic limit (rather than text) and that only shows you posts with attachments
because of this i’m rather stingy at “instagram clones” or “tiktok clones”: they tend to be bait to grab users fast, and fail to deliver proper software. as OP notices, peertube is a perfect “tiktok clone” backend, the only thing it needs to be a “real” clone is an algorithm (good luck with that) and being able to scroll up/down videos in the frontend. there is zero benefit in reinventing the wheel from scratch with loops.video, as the focus ends up on “looking like tiktok” rather than “how do i serve super heavy content super fast to users without suffocating my infra”. also the whole “dansup is at best sketchy and at worst abusive with his contributors”.
so i’ll ask you back: what do you want from an “instagram-like fedi app”? should it just require you to add a picture while posting and only show you posts with images? should put the image above the text? these requirements are fully clientside and don’t require a separate server
i’m considering starting a kickstarter myself asking 1/10th of what dan is asking to make such an app, it’s literally all UI. it would be 100% a petty move but fedi really needs to stop throwing money at sketchy devs. silverpill from mitra saw zero donations while doing the whole FEP thing, but dansup says “fedi tiktok” and gets 50k…
A less buggy Pixelfed like app created by developers who really pay attention to user feedback. The platform should have a simple grid structure with no overlay text just the image. The default feed should be a chronological feed and lets users create collections of both their own and other people’s photos. Comments and likes appear on the side when you click on an image and no stupid very limited characters limit like all the twitter like apps. Finally, all of your photos should be easily transferred during the migration procedure to another server. Otherwise people will just pick the biggest instances.