How to schedule Mastodon posts, on whichever server you are

Connect your account by typing your server's name, write the post within your server's character limit, add up to four images or one video with a description for each, choose who can see it and whether it needs a content warning, and schedule it or add it to a queue. SPREVA reads your server's own limits and checks the post against them before it goes.

Type the server your account lives on in Your Mastodon server, such as mastodon.social, or paste your full address (@you@mastodon.social) and SPREVA reads the server from it. You sign in on your own server and allow SPREVA to read your account and to post; SPREVA never sees your password.

You can connect several accounts, on the same server or on different ones, and choose which of them each post goes to.

1. 1

   Press New in the sidebar, choose Post, then Text Post, Image Post or Video Post, and pick your Mastodon account.

2. 2

   Write the post. The counter follows your server's limit, not a fixed 500.

3. 3

   Add up to four images or one video, each with its alt text, which SPREVA sends as the description Mastodon shows.

4. 4

   In the Mastodon settings, choose Who can see this: Everyone, Unlisted or Followers only.

5. 5

   If the post needs one, write a Content warning, and turn on Hide the media until it is tapped for images that should not show at once.

6. 6

   Schedule it, or Add to queue.

SPREVA reads your server's settings when you connect and again every few hours, and counts the post the way Mastodon does:

• Characters: your server's own limit, 500 on many servers and more on others.
• Links count as 23 characters, however long they are.
• A mention of someone on another server counts only the @name, not the server after it.
• The content warning counts toward the limit, as part of the post.

A post takes up to four images or one video, never both. And if your server is slow to answer, SPREVA sends the post again with the same key, so the server recognises it and a retry does not post it twice.

Mastodon has its own habits, and scheduled posts that follow them are better received:

• Describe every image. Many people on Mastodon read with a screen reader, and many skip posts without descriptions. SPREVA warns you when an image has none.
• Use content warnings for spoilers and for subjects people may want to choose to open. Readers see the warning first and open the post when they want.
• Write hashtags in CamelCase, like #SmallBusiness: search finds them either way, and screen readers read the words.
• Use Unlisted for frequent posts. Anyone can still read them and your followers see them, but they stay off the public timelines.

The same post can go to Mastodon, Bluesky, Threads and X at once, each with its own text under Per account: the full version for Mastodon, a shorter one where the limit is 300 or 280. How to schedule Bluesky posts, and send the same one to Threads and X.

Each post's favourites, replies and boosts come back into SPREVA, with your followers, an hour after it goes out and then over the following month. Mastodon does not count views, so there is no reach to show.

Connect your account, describe the images you will post this week and add the posts to a queue. Every plan starts with a 7-day trial.