some thoughts on atproto as a post-app paradigm

some thoughts on atproto as a post-app paradigm

once permissioned data lands, what's the first app you're building on atproto?

weirdly ATProto also bridges mobile OS wars so well you wanna make the next Instagram in Swift on iOS and have it be insanely beautifully built by iOS experts à la Flighty? Ok, do it. Since the data is owned by the user, Android devs can build an incredible Android experience off the same data.

I saw requests for a new way to find atproto alternatives, so I made alternativeproto.net - an atproto spin on AlternativeTo. It itself is on atproto, so you can log in and make submissions, votes, and reviews that are stored on your PDS. Give it a try and go easy, it's my first public atproto app.

An underappreciated #atproto feature is that whenever apps want to update your data: 1. they ask your PDS for permission, 2. your PDS asks you, 3. you can say no, + 4. your PDS enforces your wishes As of today, the @tranquil.farm PDS UX lets you give "partial no" answers to question 3. Bravo!

also, I kinda feel like calling the things that consume atproto data "apps" does a disservice to understanding what they are / how they work / what their potential is. But that is a partially-formed hot take I can't fully defend yet.

ATProto is a post-app protocol trapped in a world of apps. I can feel it all around the edges of the network.

@dholms.at motivated me to make a follow up post on Stratos, @transrights.northsky.social approach to permission data on ATproto! This one is a bit of a brief technical overview and as a nice bonus, I've made the code base public.

difficult to imagine atproto apps building to significant revenue in a world where you can just clone any given app in an afternoon & still access the backing data

difficult to imagine atproto apps building to significant revenue in a world where you can just clone any given app in an afternoon & still access the backing data