Mastodon

Arrivals Board connects to any Mastodon-compatible instance to display posts from your home timeline on the board. New posts appear in near real time, so your board stays up to date as your timeline moves.

Mastodon source on the board

Setup

Add Mastodon sheet

  1. Open Settings and tap Sources > Mastodon.
  2. Toggle Enable on.
  3. Enter your Instance URL (e.g., mastodon.social or hachyderm.io).
  4. Tap Sign In. A browser window opens to your instance's authorization page.
  5. Authorize Arrivals. You will be redirected back to the app.
  6. Posts from your home timeline begin appearing on the board.
  1. Open Settings and navigate to Sources > Mastodon.
  2. Toggle Enable on.
  3. Enter your Instance URL using the on-screen keyboard.
  4. Select Sign In. A QR code appears on screen.
  5. Scan the QR code with your iPhone or iPad to open the authorization page in a browser.
  6. Authorize Arrivals in the browser. The Apple TV detects the authorization automatically.
  7. Posts from your home timeline begin appearing on the board.

Configuration reference

Option Default Description
Instance URL --- The hostname of your Mastodon-compatible instance
Show Replies On Include reply posts in your timeline
Show Boosts On Include boosted (reblogged) posts
Only From This Account Off When enabled, only displays posts you authored, filtering out the rest of the home timeline
Initial Messages 5 Number of recent posts to load on first connect (1--50)
Sender Name Format Display Name Choose between Display Name (e.g., "Mark Boszko") or Username (e.g., "@swizzlevixen@social.lol")
Link Handler Browser Which app opens when you tap links, profiles, and hashtags. Options: Browser, Ice Cubes, Ivory, Mona
Show Image Descriptions On Display alt text for attached images
Describe Links On Replace raw URLs with page title descriptions

Features

Custom emoji

Mastodon instances support custom emoji (e.g., :blobcat:). Arrivals displays these inline on the board where the character set supports it. In classic character mode, custom emoji names are shown as text.

On iPad, tapping a link, profile, or hashtag opens it in your chosen app. The Link Handler setting lets you pick which Mastodon client handles these taps:

Handler Behavior
Browser Opens in your default browser (or via Universal Links)
Ice Cubes Opens in Ice Cubes by Thomas Ricouard
Ivory Opens in Ivory by Tapbots
Mona Opens in Mona by Junyu Kuang

Fediverse compatibility

Arrivals works with any server that supports the Mastodon app interface, including Pleroma, Akkoma, GoToSocial, Hometown, and others. Setup is identical --- just enter your instance URL and sign in.

Troubleshooting