[Updated] Hive Social trends as Twitter alternative: Users report app crashing & other issues; Android app or Web version awaited

New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

Original story (published on November 21, 2022) follows:

Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter has been tumultuous, to say the least. He started his quest to acquire the widely popular social media platform this January, the same month he began buying Twitter shares.

However, after buying the platform, things seem to have spiraled out of control as there has been mass layoffs, Twitter Blue subscription and the new whole Twitter 2.0 chaos.

For some, Twitter has been a mess lately and that’s why others have been searching for potential alternatives. And it looks like after Mastodon, the shift is now going towards Hive Social.

You must be wondering what Hive Social is. Well, it is a new social media platform that is similar to Instagram in some respects but comes with a chronological feed.

Some of the features include profile music, profile banners, image/GIF/text posts, and much more.

Currently, Hive Social is trending on Twitter where users are migrating to the platform and are impressed with the first looks of it (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8).

Getting used to the Hive Social app is reminding me what it was like when I first started using social media. I’m just clicking around hoping I’m doing it right
Source

Some feel that it’s just Twitter but without the influence of Elon Musk (1,2,3,4).

It’s a new app trying to be twitter but without Elon lol. It’s cute so far. The Hive
Source

Gen-Z doesn’t want to be monitored and manipulated by algorithms that seem to be getting more and more aggressive day by day. So, they regularly look for platforms that are more natural.

However, there are some concerns regarding Hive Social that are being reported and readers should know before trying their hands on the platform.

The recently launched Hive Social Android app is currently experiencing severe crashing issues. This makes it impossible for users to set usernames, add profile pictures and use the platform in general (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9).

The app often crashes with varied usage patterns. Some report that it crashes when uploading their avatar, while others experience when scrolling through posts.

Earlier, some assumed that Hive Social is crashing because their servers are unable to cope with the influx in traffic.

But the prevalence of this issue for the past 4 to 5 days suggests there could be something wrong with the Android app.

I’m assuming everybody saying positive things about Hive Social has an iPhone, because I’m trying it on my Android phone and the damn thing keeps crashing! Thought it was just when I was trying to set up my profile, since it let me post, but nope!
Source

First impressions are good. Some big things from Android is some jittering on scroll, the app freezing then crashing when refreshing the feed, and dark mode seems to reset when closing the app. Keen to see how it grows from here!
Source

Other users are reporting that they can’t use their existing images from their phone’s gallery to set as avatars or banners (1,2,3,4,5).

@TheHIVE_Social hi i just made an account and i can’t seem to use existing images on my phone to set as my avatar or banner. is hive for android having issues?
Source

The Android app is currently in beta which explains why not everyone can access it. But so far, some of those who can aren’t quite impressed with the app (1,2,3,4,5).

Hive Social users are demanding a web or desktop version (1,2,3,4,5) of the platform to match the competition.

Hive Social tweeted today that the platform will soon be receiving several improvements that will enhance user experience:

Fortunately, we have come across potential workarounds for the issue where some Hive Social users are unable to upload photos from the gallery.

The first one involves granting permission for the app to access your photos and videos:

1. Uninstall the app, and reinstall it but DON’T sign-in
2. Go to setting on your phone
3. Apps and then Hive Social
4. grant permission for ‘photos and videos’
5. Now open the app and sign-in
Source

Another one involves the following:

We’ll keep tabs on the issue and update this article as and when we come across anything noteworthy.

12:10 pm (IST): Hive support is now actively responding to user complaints regarding ongoing bugs and has also announced some new features that are coming soon to the platform.

Bug fixes:

1. They have confirmed that a fix is coming soon for making Gallery load easier.

2. Also, an issue where NSFW posts retain the NSFW status on reposts is being patched.

3. The team is working to resolve issues with hashtags.

4. For those unable to sign into the app or enter password while logging in, Hive support says you can try logging in using Google or Apple accounts as email verification quota is currently limited. However, they are working to increase it.

New features:

1. Hive support has confirmed that they will soon be adding multiple accounts feature to the platform.

2. Also, a web version of Hive will be launched soon.

05:57 pm (IST): It seems that Elon Musk is unbothered by a handful of people switching to other platforms and it is quite apparent by his response to one of the users’ tweets.

It appears that everyone seems to have forgotten the Mastodon platform for Hive which then prompted him to drop ‘lmao’.

11:23 am (IST): Responding to a user’s query, Hive support has confirmed that they will soon release stabilization update for the Android app.

Support also said that they’ll soon be adding an ability to control the home feed and fix the notification bug.

Furthermore, if you are unable to upload images because the Gallery won’t load, then here’s a workaround that might help you fix this problem.

PSA. If you’re joining Hive on Android and you can’t add images because your gallery won’t load – hold the app icon, click info, permissions, photos. You’ll find it set to allow: switch to deny, confirm, then switch back to allow, and confirm. That fixed it for me somehow. (Source)

11:56 am (IST): iOS users are also reporting that Hive Social app is crashing on their devices, so the issue doesn’t seem to be exclusive to Android.

Can you please look into the crashes on iPhone? I love using the app since I joined this week but it won’t let me 😔
Source

Hive looks promising but the iPhone app needs to stop crashing. Win this, please!
Source

The company also confirmed some fixes and new features that will arrive soon. First, profile verification will not be exclusive to big brands and public figures, since smaller brand accounts will be able to get it.

Devs are also working on improving the infrastructure of the platform in order to improve performance and fix the crashing issues.

They have also acknowledged an issue during registration where the system is not accepting any password even though it meets all the requirements. In the meantime, there is a workaround for this:

That’s what we’re currently working on along with some other things that will be out in our update soon!🐝🫶
Source

To top it off, the company also confirmed that profile verification will be free (unlike Twitter verification).

02:46 pm (IST): Hive Social recently announced that they are rolling out an update next week with the main motive of performance boost thus solving the lag issue and increased email verification quota.

Update is coming next week with performance enhancements and an increased email verification quota! 🐝
Source

The team also said that they are working on a feature that will help find Twitter friends and auto-add them on Hive. In fact, users will be able to enjoy all of this in a new desktop version soon.

Moreover, the developers are even working on the NSFW-related issue that seems to be affecting many (1,2,3,4).

We’re implementing a content moderation API that will automatically filter posts not properly tagged as NSFW. 🐝🫶
Source

04:15 pm (IST): Hive support has confirmed that they will roll out 2FA on the platform next week. Moreover, they’ve also clarified on some info they are asking users to provide.

We’ll add this to our privacy policy for transparency! Some things to note until then:

Gender – for analytics, let’s us see demographic of users

City/GPS Coordinates/state/country/IP- email verification from new locations

Phone model/name/OS version/OS build number – crashlytics (Source)

01:33 pm (IST): Hive Social support has announced that they’ll be rolling out a new update for both iOS and Android app this week with performance enhancements and Gallery permission fix.

We might be shadowbanned on here but at least we’re not being banned from the App Store. Update coming this week!
A *few* new things:
▪️Content moderation API
▪️Performance enhancements (faster loading, no crashes)
▪️Gallery permission fix for Androids (Source)

Also, they have confirmed that the accessibility feature and alt text are coming next week. Furthermore, Hive Social has updated their privacy policy.

01:43 pm (IST): Hive Social support has confirmed that the loading issue with the app will be fixed in the upcoming update.

05:33 pm (IST): Hive Social has been down (1,2,3,4,5) for a couple for days due to security issues that affects the stability of the platform.

Well, there is a piece of good news for everyone as Hive support has announced that they will be back this week.

Also, it seems that they have addressed the crashing issue as well:

Yes. Testing our current build and there’s been no crashes
Source

01:49 pm (IST): In a recent status update, Hive Social support has confirmed that they have tested a new beta update where security issues have been resolved.

However, there are still some front end bugs that needs to be fixed. And once those are resolved, Hive Social servers will remain up and they will release weekly updates.

Our new beta is OUT and tested! 🥳🙌 Security issues have been resolved and we have a few front end bugs left to work out, so we need just a few more days to make it perfect. 🐛 After this, our servers will remain up and we will roll out weekly updates!💛🐝 (Source)

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