A federated short-video platform, still in beta: vertical clips, follows and comments, as an open alternative to TikTok.
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About Loops
Loops is an open-source platform for short vertical videos that you open in the browser, with nothing to download on a computer. The current release is 1.0.0-beta.14, so the project is still in beta: features are being added and some things will change. Loops is built to federate with the rest of the fediverse, the same network Mastodon, Pixelfed and PeerTube belong to, and to offer the swipe-through clip format that TikTok made popular without one company owning it.
Where to start
The Open button leads to the official site, joinloops.org. Unlike Mastodon or Lemmy, Loops has no public directory of servers yet, so the official site is the starting point: it explains the project and links to the servers you can use. As with every fediverse service, an account is created on one server; it is not an account for all servers, and other fediverse services need their own sign-up, even if they can follow you.
What you can do
- watch a feed of short vertical clips;
- follow creators, like and comment;
- upload your own clips from the browser;
- be followed from other fediverse platforms, where federation is enabled.
Instead of TikTok
TikTok, TikTok Lite and TikTok on the web are run by one company that decides the rules, owns the data and tunes the feed for watch time. Loops follows the fediverse model: servers are run by independent admins with their own rules, the code is public, and there are no ads built into the software. The trade-off is scale — Loops is young, so there are far fewer creators and clips, and the discovery feed is simpler. Anyone expecting the same endless variety will notice the difference; people who mainly want to post clips for friends or a community will notice it less.
Licence and source code
Loops is free software under the GNU AGPLv3 licence. The server code is on GitHub in the loops-server repository, so anyone can check it or run a server. Watching and posting are free.
Requirements and safety
A current browser on a desktop or phone is all you need. Because this is beta software, keep copies of your own videos elsewhere and read the server rules and privacy policy before you upload; your clips and account data are stored on that server.
Related fediverse projects
PeerTube also hosts video in the fediverse, but it is built around channels and longer videos rather than a swipe feed. Pixelfed covers photos. Accounts on these services are separate, but thanks to federation a follow from one to another is often possible.
Pros and cons
- Pro: familiar short-video format with no single owner.
- Pro: open source and part of the fediverse.
- Con: beta software, features still changing.
- Con: no server directory yet and a small audience.