Apps & Consumer
AltStore PAL becomes first federated app marketplace
AltStore PAL has become the first federated app marketplace, allowing developers to share updates directly via the fediverse, though some larger apps plan to join later.
On Wednesday, alternative iOS app store AltStore PAL—which operates in markets like the EU and Japan—announced support for the fediverse, defined as the open social web running on ActivityPub. This integration makes AltStore PAL the first federated app marketplace. The setup allows developers to communicate app news, updates, and alerts directly to users via ActivityPub, the protocol underpinning the fediverse. By utilizing a federated model, the platform enables interoperability across independent servers. This means posts published by developers on the marketplace’s server can be seen, liked, and interacted with by users across various independent social platforms, including Mastodon, Threads, and Bluesky—provided Bluesky users have bridged their accounts to make them accessible to the fediverse.
To facilitate this, the company has launched its own Mastodon server. “So that means, like, if you have a Mastodon account or Threads account, you could follow these accounts. You could follow the source from our Mastodon server, and then, in your timeline, you would see when there was an app update,” AltStore PAL co-founder Riley Testut explained last fall, when the company teased its plans and announced its $6 million Series A funding. Users can also sign in to the marketplace using their Mastodon or Bluesky accounts to like apps, updates, and news alerts directly within the app. At launch, participating apps include Loops, a federated short-form video app; PeerTube, a federated video app; and iPhanpy, a Mastodon client built by indie developer Matt Fantinel.
While the platform is live, some larger apps are only planning to launch on this federated marketplace at a later time. These developers are currently waiting for Apple to replace its Core Technology Fee with its Core Technology Commission, a decision Apple made after getting pushback from regulators over its prior revamp of its commission system. Due to potential liability issues over payments, these larger apps are delaying their launches until the commission structure changes are finalized in markets like the EU and Japan. Alongside this integration, the AltStore PAL app has been updated with an iOS 26 design.
Why it matters
This move shifts app distribution from a closed, platform-controlled model to an open, interoperable one. By leveraging the ActivityPub protocol, developers can bypass traditional notification silos to reach users directly across the open social web.