Stomp, a fully functional Mastodon app for Apple Watch, is making its debut in the wake of Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover, which led to the discontinuation of third-party clients. Developed by Will Bishop, the mastermind behind the Twitter app Chirp, Stomp brings the complete Mastodon experience to the small screen of your Apple Watch, offering features like timeline viewing, trend checking, list access, search, messaging, and more.
Bishop has been passionate about creating apps for Apple Watch for years and previously launched Nano, a micro version of Reddit. In 2018, he introduced the Twitter app Chirp for Apple Watch. However, due to API changes under Musk’s ownership, Chirp had to shut down, leading Bishop to shift his focus to building an app for Mastodon instead.
Unlike other third-party Mastodon clients that emerged after Twitter’s policy changes, Stomp stands out as it operates on the Apple Watch, providing users with a Chirp-like experience for Mastodon.
Stomp offers a comprehensive Mastodon experience on the Apple Watch, allowing users to scroll through their Mastodon timeline endlessly, like and boost posts, view images and videos, and reply to posts right from the watch’s small screen. You can also interact with links, mentions, and hashtags, just like on an iPhone app, and check what’s trending.
When you click on links in Stomp, you’ll be asked to sign in as a workaround to view webpages on the Apple Watch. This extra step is necessary because third-party apps aren’t permitted to open links or display web pages. Stomp cleverly leverages the third-party sign-in support on Apple Watch to allow viewing the webpage within the app after signing in.
While Stomp is available as a free download on the App Store, some features are accessible through an in-app purchase for “Stomp Pro.” With this upgrade, users can create and reply to posts, use direct messages, and access search and lists, enhancing their Mastodon experience on the Apple Watch.