Loops Beta 12 Is Here

Beta 12 is the biggest release we have shipped yet.

New discovery tools, real creator analytics, multi-account support, video embeds, and a long list of things people have been asking for. All of it built in the open, with no investors, no ads, and no shareholders to answer to.

Here is what is new.

Starter Kits now talk to Mastodon

Starter Kits fix the cold start problem. You sign up, you follow a curated kit, and your feed comes alive in seconds instead of you staring at an empty screen.

In Beta 12 they reach further. Starter Kits are now compatible with Mastodon, so a kit made on Loops shows up across the fediverse, and kits from other servers work right here on Loops. We also refetch remote kits once every 24 hours, so the accounts inside a kit stay current instead of going stale the day after they were published. Search an existing kit and it pulls the latest accounts automatically.

Consent first, like always. Every account in a kit chose to be there. We do not scrape, we do not auto add, and we do not build lists you never agreed to join. If you want to spin one up for your community, you can try it now.

Vet new members with Curated Onboarding

Open registration is a blunt tool. Curated Onboarding gives admins a real gate instead. New sign-ups go through manual review before they get in, so you decide who joins your instance rather than leaving it to chance.

Build your own application form with custom questions, mark each one optional or required, and ask whatever actually matters for your community. Once someone fills out the form and verifies their email, you get notified that an application is ready to review. Approve them and they get notified they are in.

It is moderation that happens at the door, not after the damage is done. Healthier communities start with who you let in.

Real numbers with Studio Analytics

Creators deserve to know how their work is doing without a dashboard engineered to make them anxious. Studio Analytics gives you clear, honest stats on your videos, on the web (and coming soon to our mobile app). No vanity metrics dressed up to keep you posting, no dark patterns. Just your data, so you can make your own calls.

One login for every account

Run more than one account? You can now switch between them without logging out and back in every time. Personal account, project account, community account, all a tap away. It is a small thing that makes a big difference if you wear more than one hat around here.

Video Embeds, and yes, you are looking at one

Video Embeds are opt in, and you can mass enable or disable them across all your public videos with a single tap. Drop a Loops video into a blog, a docs page, or anywhere that takes an embed. Here is one running live, right here in this post.

@dansup Wow!

That is the whole point of an open platform. Your videos are not trapped inside one app. They go where you go.

Also new in Beta 12

There is a lot more in this release:

• Push Notifications on iOS, so you do not miss what matters
• Sign in with Apple on iOS
• Content Settings to hide all AI or sensitive videos from your feeds
• Blocked Terms, a new admin filter for instance wide moderation
• Playlists on profiles
• gif and video replies in comments
• Opt in Atom feeds
• A Staff badge on admin profiles (web)
• New Account Details on profiles
• An admin tool to email users with reusable templates
• A dedicated DMCA page, with a new LOOPS_EMAILS_DMCA env var if you want a custom contact address

Under the hood

The stuff you may not see but definitely feel:

• The video player now handles Playlists
• The hashtag sync pipeline auto tags videos as AI or Ads when they carry the relevant hashtags
• Search now fetches remote videos
• The share modal uses ActivityIntents
• Remote videos now store or generate proper thumbnails
• Blocks got stronger. Content from blocked accounts is properly restricted, Block activities are sent and handled across federation, and the max block limit is now 500
• Several admin dashboard pages got cleaned up
• More federation improvements across the board

The usual reminder

Loops is community funded. No investors, no ads, no shareholders to answer to. Just people who think the fediverse deserves better short form video. If that is you, you can support development directly on Patreon. It keeps us independent and keeps these releases coming.

Update your server, try the new features, and let us know what you think!