Automattic-owned blogging site and social platform Tumblr has financially backed Tapestry, the newly launched app designed to organize feeds from across the open web, including RSS, Mastodon, Bluesky, and others.
Launched as a Kickstarter project in January 2024, Tapestry went on to raise over $177,000 via crowdfunding for its app, which opened up to the public earlier this month with its App Store debut.
On Tuesday, the company behind the app shared that Tumblr had also backed its project with a grant. Those funds will be used to build a native macOS version of its app. (In the meantime, the app’s iPad version can run on Macs.)
Tumblr’s interest in this space follows its 2019 acquisition by WordPress.com parent Automattic, which is moving Tumblr’s back end to WordPress to streamline operations. As a result of this move, Tumblr will get plugged into the fediverse, the open social web powered by ActivityPub, the protocol that powers Mastodon, Threads, Pixelfed, and many other apps.
Designed by The Iconfactory, best known for its work on Twitterific, one of the original third-party Twitter apps, Tapestry allows users to organize a variety of sources — like blog posts, news articles, and social media updates — into feeds of their own creation.
The app supports sources like RSS (news feeds), YouTube, podcasts, Bluesky, Mastodon, Reddit, Tumblr, Micro.blog, GO Comics, and others.
The broader idea behind Tapestry is to give users more control over how they receive news and information.
With the rise of the open social web in particular, people can now better control their online experience. Instead of being beholden to a tech giant’s algorithms, users on apps like Bluesky are building their own feeds, subscribing to specialized feeds built by others, and configuring their own moderation services.
Thanks to Tumblr’s backing, which we understand was in the six-figure range, Iconfactory says it also introduced a sponsorship program in Tapestry, which allows advertisers to market their products and services to the app’s user base. Instead of using traditional internet ads to support the app, the sponsorship feature is built with small, independent creators in mind, Iconfactory notes.
“Our hope is that the community around Tapestry will want to know about exciting indie apps, blogs that are fueled by enthusiasm, and podcasts or YouTube channels that inform and entertain,” an Iconfactory blog post explains.
Tapestry is one of a handful of apps that’s now attempting to offer that same level of customization by building an aggregator focused on the wider web that’s built on open protocols, instead of just a single social network, like Bluesky.
Others competing in this space include Surf, Feeeed, and Reeder.
Tumblr and the team at Iconfactory were asked for comment on the financial grant. Tumblr confirmed the grant came from it directly, not from parent company Automattic, and was made to help support the open social web.
Updated with more information on the grant after publication.
