Two weeks ago, we shared insights from Mastodon’s first Discovery Week and how it’s informing our roadmap. Today, we’re offering a deeper dive on what’s in store for Mastodon 5.0 – not an exhaustive list of changes, but a glimpse into major decisions and the thoughts behind them.

Here is a quick sneak peak of the article :

Composing posts in 5.0

• The composer breaks free.
• The visibility selector is a dropdown again.
• ‘Quiet public’ leaves the chat.
• Quote settings also have a new look.
• The visibility selector label also adapts to context.

Messaging in 5.0

• Private mentions are now ‘messages’.
• DMs are distinguished from posts in the composer.
• DMs are also removed from confusing places in the UI.

Changes to navigation in 5.0

• Navigation is now single-column.
• We’re de-emphasising the Mastodon logo, and letting the fediverse take the spotlight.
• Custom feeds now have greater prominence.
• Followed hashtags have less prominence (for people not already using them).
• Page headings are updated for clarity and consistency.