Dot Social

AltStore co-founders Riley Testut and Shane Gill are the perfect example of necessity being the mother of invention. When Apple denied the launch of their retro video game app, Delta, in 2016, they realized that indie app developers needed another solution — one that could bring apps to communities without Apple dictating the rules and taking a cut. 

Founded in 2019, AltStore is that solution. The creators of the first decentralized app store share their journey, including what an open app store means for developers and how they’re investing in the fediverse.

The conversation includes:

1:11 Genesis of AltStore

3:00 Getting Delta in Apple’s App Store

5:34 The Fortnite factor

8:10 The value of an alternative app store

12:04 The difference between putting an app in AltStore v App Store 

14:41 Indie market for apps

18:03 Ecosystem safety

21:30 Is AI increasing the total number of apps out there?

22:45 Vibe coding and paths for app distribution

24:42 Fediverse and eureka moment

32:26 People-powered discovery — a broader movement 

34:29 Building communities around apps

36:44 Patreon integration, supporting developers directly 

38:38 Curating apps and source collections

40:07 Solutions for in-app payments

43:27 Pieces of the next generation ecosystem  

45:56 Decentralizing app innovation

46:32 Relationship with Apple now

51:23 What’s on the horizon for AltStore

54:21 How to experience AltStore

Referenced:

Explore AltStore: https://explore.alt.store/

Riley + Shane’s Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/cw/rileyshane

🔎 You can find Riley and Shane at https://altstore.io/. 

✚ Connect with host Mike McCue at @[email protected] and @mmccue.bsky.social.

🌊 Catch the wave! Surf the open social web and create your own custom feeds at surf.social, a new product from the people at Flipboard. https://about.surf.social/

Disclosure: Dot Social host Mike McCue serves on the board of AltStore.

Social networks were built on short posts designed for speed and scale. But what if the next era of the web was built for something deeper?
Two of the social web’s “longformers” are working on this. John O’Nolan, the founder and CEO of Ghost, and Matthias Pfefferle, the developer behind the ActivityPub plugin for WordPress, are at the forefront of integrating social features with blogs, newsletters, essays — anything that doesn’t fit in a box of 500 characters or less. 
In this episode of Dot Social, the trio talks about rediscovering the magic of the blogosphere; why formatting, identity, and interoperability are tricky problems to solve; and where writing belongs in the next chapter of the internet.
Highlights include:
Importance to writers and bloggers
Models for discovery 
Core principles around bringing long-form to the social web
Lessons from Web 2.0, email
Rough edges and need for collaboration
Mentioned or related to this episode:
Julian Lam of Node BB
“Digital Sovereignty Is the New Influencer Status, with Citation Needed's Molly White”
“Steps Forward in Long-form Text”
🔎 You can find John at  https://john.onolan.org/ and Matthias at https://pfefferle.dev/
✚ You can connect with Mike McCue at @mmccue.bsky.social.
🌊 Catch the wave! Surf the social web and create your own custom feeds at surf.social, a new beta from the people at Flipboard. https://about.surf.social/

Thanks to the rise of the open social web, it’s more viable than ever for creators to take back ownership and control of the distribution of their work, their connection to their audiences, and their livelihoods overall. Real alternatives to walled-garden platforms aren’t just theoretical ideas — they’re here, and getting stronger every day.
No one knows this better than Molly White, the researcher, writer and software engineer behind the Citation Needed newsletter and the project Web3 Is Going Just Great. Molly’s not only an outspoken advocate for an open, ethical web, she’s also cracked the code on being a successful, autonomous creator herself. During this conversation with Flipboard CEO Mike McCue, recorded live at SXSW 2025 on March 9, 2025, White explains her setup, philosophy, and learnings, and takes smart questions from the audience at the end.
Highlights include discussions of:
Importance of owning your online identity
Strategies for digital ownership
Moving content freely without platform constraints
Monetization and sustainable models
Video content, e-commerce, surveillance capitalism 
Mentioned in this episode:
Ghost
Cory Doctorow’s talk, “Tensions in Creative Labor & Generative AI”
🔎 You can find Molly at mollywhite.net.
✚ You can connect with Mike McCue at @[email protected] and @mmccue.bsky.social.
🌊 Catch the wave! Surf the social web and create your own custom feeds at surf.social, a new beta from the people at Flipboard: https://about.surf.social/

What if your social media experience weren’t controlled by an algorithm or a corporation, but by your community? That’s the idea behind Blacksky, a decentralized project built on the AT Protocol — the same infrastructure powering Bluesky. 
Though their names contain the same suffix, it’s important to know that Blacksky is not hitching its wagon to the Bluesky app, team or platform. The community, helmed by founder and CEO Rudy Fraser, is charting an independent and ideally replicable path, the kind that’s only possible in an open-source ecosystem.   
In this episode of Dot Social, Fraser takes host Mike McCue under the hood of Blacksky’s infrastructure, philosophy, and future plans. 
Highlights include discussions of:
Mutual aid and community building
The value of portable identity
Lessons from running Blacksky so far
Moderation, tools and business models
Building for longevity
Mentioned in this episode:
Rudy’s ATmosphere conference talk, “Beyond Horseless Carriages”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZN8y8kVFFI
Rudy’s blog post, “An internet of many autonomous communities”: https://blog.rudyfraser.com/an-internet-of-many-autonomous-communities/
Blacksky Labeler: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:d2mkddsbmnrgr3domzg5qexf
Cypher: https://github.com/blacksky-algorithms/rsky/tree/main/cypher
Rsky-Relay: https://github.com/blacksky-algorithms/rsky/pull/87
SAFEskies: https://github.com/blacksky-algorithms/SAFEskies
New Yorker article mentioning Rudy: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/04/14/blueskys-quest-to-build-nontoxic-social-media
🔎 You can find Rudy at @rudyfraser.com.
✚ You can connect with Mike McCue at @mmccue.bsky.social.
🌊 Catch the wave! Surf the social web and create your own custom feeds at surf.social, a new beta from the people at Flipboard. https://about.surf.social/

Blogger, journalist, author and activist Cory Doctorow can embark on a 10-minute monologue about what’s wrong with tech and still leave you hungering for more of his rapid-fire analysis and biting humor. It’s stunning to be presented with the big picture of the mess we’re in — and how to potentially get out of it.
In this episode of Dot Social, recorded live at the Fediverse House at SXSW 2025, Doctorow unpacks the concept of “enshittification.” It’s a term he coined to show how we got to this place where platforms prioritize business interests over user experience, leading to tragic declines in quality and trust. He talks about how to challenge platform monopolies and the importance of true federation.
Highlights include discussions of:
The internet’s evolution and its current state
The cycle of platform abuse
The role of competition and regulation
Benefits of RSS and the social web
Cory’s new book, “Picks and Shovels”
🔎 You can find Cory at @[email protected]
✚ You can connect with Mike McCue at @[email protected]
🌊 Catch the wave! Surf the social web and create your own custom feeds at surf.social, a new beta from the people at Flipboard. https://about.surf.social/