For those who have questions about #Holos.

For those who have questions about #Holos. I've seen a lot written recently, and since the project is young, it's normal that things stay ambiguous or get misunderstood. This is a thread, with one post per remark most often read, and a direct answer.

#HolosSocial #Fediverse #ActivityPub

"The account is unreachable when the phone is offline."

Reception works. Profile is cached on the relay. Incoming activities go into a queue and are delivered when the phone reconnects. The relay pushes notifications to the phone via UnifiedPush or Expo, even when the app is killed. Recent posts are cached on the relay for offline visibility to other servers. Replying still requires the phone to be online.

"The relay controls your identity."

Private keys stay on the device. With a custom domain pointing to the relay via CNAME, switching relays is done by repointing the CNAME, no ActivityPub Move needed. Without a custom domain, changing relays uses a standard Move, like anywhere else on the Fediverse.

"A phone can't be a server."

Your phone can be a server. It runs a complete ActivityPub server: HTTP Signatures, WebFinger, inbox, outbox, NodeInfo 2.1. The relay handles what a phone can't: stable URL, transport. A Bloom filter built on device filters the shared inbox to followings, local, and followed tags. Private keys and identity stay on the device. The relay never holds them.

"Holos doesn't really implement ActivityPub."

S2S is implemented. HTTP Signatures, WebFinger, inbox/outbox, Accept, Reject, Move, Flag, NodeInfo 2.1. The publicly reachable inbox lives on the relay because that's where the stable URL is. Signing and identity come from the device. Tested with Mastodon, Pleroma, Misskey, Pixelfed, GoToSocial.

@apps I've been busy a couple days, but on Thursday I'm free - I take some time to test VoiceOver on holos better than I did before

@apps
What happens if the phone is lost (stolen, destroyed etc)? Is there a way to backup, transfer to a new server etc? What about the keys present on the device?

@stargazer
You can set a passphrase and an encrypted blob is stored on the relay (zero-knowledge, the relay cannot read it). It contains the keypair, followers, following, and posts as persistent deltas. On reinstall or on a new device, the same passphrase restores everything. Classic backups also exist: https://holos.social/faq#q14