Tusky
by Team Tusky · GPL-3.0-only · open source
A lightweight app for Mastodon and compatible fediverse servers: follow your timelines, post and save drafts, switch between accounts, and get notifications without Google’s push service.
Needs:No root · a Mastodon-compatible account · Android 7.0+
2113 Apps is independent, not affiliated with or endorsed by Team Tusky. Official sources: tusky.app · source code on Codeberg.
- Version
- 33.1
- Size
- 22.5 MB
- Requires
- Android 7.0+
- Updated
- 2026-10-12
Screenshots
Introduction
Tusky is a client for the fediverse, the network of independent social media servers that Mastodon is part of. Its README: “Tusky is a beautiful Android client for Mastodon. Mastodon is an ActivityPub federated social network.” It is made by Team Tusky, moved its code from GitHub to Codeberg in 2025, and is actively developed; version 33.1 came out in October 2026. It isn’t made by Mastodon gGmbH, which publishes its own official app.
What it does
- Most of Mastodon’s features: in the README’s words, “Most Mastodon APIs implemented”.
- Several accounts, on the same server or different ones, with quick switching.
- Drafts, to “compose posts and save them for later”.
- Themes: dark, light and black, switching by time of day if you like.
- Emoji styles: the system’s emoji by default, or Blobmoji, Twemoji, Fluent, OpenMoji or Noto, downloaded when you choose one.
- Translation of posts, done by your server when it offers it.
- Since 33.0, notifications for collections (Mastodon 4.6), Pleroma emoji reactions and better video caching.
What goes online
Tusky talks to your own server, and from the 33.1 code, to little else:
- Your server, for everything you read and post, and for logging in, which opens in a window inside the app (or your browser, from the menu).
- Notifications: a background check of each account roughly every 15 minutes, or a UnifiedPush distributor if you have one.
- GitHub, only if you pick a downloadable emoji style.
- An optional HTTP proxy, off by default.
There are no analytics, crash reports or update checks; its privacy policy says Tusky “does not collect any usage data or personal information”, and our scan found no trackers. One deliberate quirk: if you try to log in to gab.com, gab.ai, spinster.xyz or truthsocial.com, Tusky doesn’t contact the server but opens a well-known music video on YouTube instead. Its FAQ explains this is “because of their association with hate groups”.
The permissions it asks for
Ten: internet and network state, notifications and vibration, starting at boot and a wake lock, which Android’s background-job library adds for the notification checks, a foreground service while a post is being sent, storage on Android 9 and older, and one that AndroidX adds for internal use.
About this file
- This is F-Droid’s build of version 33.1, compiled from the source and signed with F-Droid’s key. The developers’ own APKs, on Codeberg and Google Play, use a different key with the same version code, so they can’t update this one. Nightly test builds use a separate package name.
- The 22.5 MB file runs on Android 7.0 and later, on ARM and x86, 32- and 64-bit.
- Tusky is licensed under the GPL-3.0. The screenshots come from its F-Droid listing and show the interface before the timeline was rebuilt in version 32.
What’s inside the APK
Trackers
No code matching the Exodus Privacy tracker signatures.
Native code
Runs on 64-bit and older 32-bit ARM phones.
Android versions
Built for Android 16 (target API 36).
Permissions
3 of them need your approval first.
CPU types in this build: arm64-v8a (64-bit ARM, almost every phone since 2017); armeabi-v7a (32-bit ARM, older and budget phones); x86 (32-bit Intel, emulators); x86_64 (64-bit Intel, emulators and Chromebooks).
Asks you first (3)
Android shows a prompt before the app can use these.
- Show notifications (Android 13+) · POST_NOTIFICATIONS
- Read shared storage (Android 12 and older) · READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE
- Write shared storage (Android 10 and older) · WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE
Granted at install (6)
Low-risk permissions Android grants automatically, plus any we have not classified.
- ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE
- FOREGROUND_SERVICE
- INTERNET
- RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED
- VIBRATE
- WAKE_LOCK
Defined by other apps (1)
Permissions that belong to another app or to this app itself.
- com.keylesspalace.tusky.DYNAMIC_RECEIVER_NOT_EXPORTED_PERMISSION
More Information
- Package name
- com.keylesspalace.tusky
- Version
- 33.1 (build 145)
- File size
- 22.5 MB (22,491,280 bytes)
- Requires
- Android 7.0 or later
- Category
- Productivity
- License
- GPL-3.0-only
- Developer
- Team Tusky
- Source code
- codeberg.org/tusky/Tusky
- Released
- Oct 12, 2026
- Signed by
- F-Droid, which built this APK from the published source code. Because the key is F-Droid’s, it won’t install over a copy from Google Play or GitHub (or the other way round) without uninstalling first.
- Signer SHA-256
- e946901f12bd49c64de702a532114e58c3ab2a6f18d1cd9b78632baad44454e3
- File SHA-256
- 8154cabe67374f2e1f477fc4de8a44bbefe3cafdfa1b05495a6a9f762c6efd7d
- Checked
- , against the F-Droid index · how we check · verify it yourself
Common questions
Is this APK the official Tusky release?
It is F-Droid’s build rather than the developer’s own: F-Droid compiled Tusky 33.1 from the published source code and signed it with its own key. Its SHA-256 matches F-Droid’s signed index. Because the key is F-Droid’s, it won’t install over a copy from Google Play or GitHub without uninstalling first.
What Android version does Tusky need?
Android 7.0 or later (API level 24). Version 33.1 is built for Android 16 (target API 36). Runs on 64-bit and older 32-bit ARM phones.
Can Tusky access the internet?
Yes. The APK requests Android’s internet permission. In total it declares 10 permissions, and 3 of them need your approval first.
Does Tusky contain trackers?
No known trackers: our scan of version 33.1 found no code matching the Exodus Privacy tracker signatures. The scan covers known tracker libraries; it doesn’t show what data the app itself sends.
Is Tusky open source?
Yes. Tusky is released under the GPL-3.0-only licence, and its source code is published at https://codeberg.org/tusky/Tusky.
Can I sign up for Mastodon in the app?
Not with a form of Tusky’s own, but through your server. The login screen says that if you don’t have an account yet, “you can enter the name of the instance you’d like to join and create an account there”: Tusky then opens that server’s own sign-in page, inside the app by default, where you can register if the server accepts new users. Tusky’s FAQ still gives older advice to create the account first.
Why do notifications arrive late?
Without a push service, Tusky checks your accounts for new notifications about every 15 minutes, which is the shortest interval Android allows for background checks. If you install a UnifiedPush distributor app, such as ntfy or Sunup, notifications arrive straight away. Tusky doesn’t use Google’s push service at all.
Does it work with servers other than Mastodon?
Probably, though Tusky doesn’t promise it. Its README describes it as a client for Mastodon, but the code and changelog include fixes for Pleroma, GoToSocial, Friendica and Iceshrimp, which offer Mastodon’s API.
Can this file update the Google Play version?
No. This is F-Droid’s build, signed with F-Droid’s key; the APKs on Tusky’s Codeberg releases are signed with the developers’ own key, which by the project’s release notes is also the one on Google Play. Moving between them means uninstalling first.
Recent releases
| Version | Released | Size | Requires |
|---|---|---|---|
| v33.1 · this download | Oct 12, 2026 | 22.5 MB | Android 7.0+ |
| v33.0 | Oct 8, 2026 | 22.5 MB | Android 7.0+ |
| v33 beta 1 | Sep 29, 2026 | 22.5 MB | Android 7.0+ |
Versions currently kept in the F-Droid repository. We host and check only the newest one. Full changelog.