You have been using mastodon.social for a while and now want full control over your data, moderation policies, and server rules. Moving to a self-hosted Mastodon instance lets you own your domain, set your own content policies, and avoid the limitations of a shared public server. This guide explains the complete migration process from mastodon.social … Read more
You moved your Mastodon account to a new instance and expected all your followers to transfer automatically. Instead, many of them disappeared from your new account list. This happens because follower migration depends on the old instance sending a handshake request to each follower’s server. If that server has defederated from your old instance, the … Read more
Moving your Mastodon account to a new instance requires more than just creating a new profile. Without proper setup, your followers cannot automatically transfer, and your old posts become disconnected from your new identity. Mastodon provides an account alias feature that links your old account to your new one so followers and profile metadata can … Read more
When you migrate your Mastodon account from one instance to another, the new instance must verify your old account through Webfinger. This verification step confirms you control the old account before followers are transferred. Without successful verification, the migration process fails, leaving your followers stranded on the old instance. This article explains why Webfinger verification … Read more
After migrating your Mastodon account to a new instance, you might discover that the new server does not meet your expectations. The old account gets disabled during migration, and the process cannot be reversed through the user interface. This article explains the limitations of Mastodon account migration and the practical steps to regain access to … Read more
You have a Mastodon account on one instance and want to move to a new instance while keeping your custom domain handle. Mastodon supports account migration, but using a custom domain handle adds extra DNS and configuration steps. This article explains how to set up a custom domain handle on your new Mastodon instance and … Read more
You want to move your Mastodon account to a different instance but keep your old posts and follower list intact. Mastodon provides a built-in migration feature that transfers followers automatically, but it does not move your existing toots to the new server. This article explains how to set up a redirect from your old profile … Read more
When you move your Mastodon account from one instance to another, the platform is supposed to send notification emails to your followers on your old instance. Many users report that these migration notification emails never arrive. The root cause is often a misconfiguration in the old instance’s email delivery system or a missing verification step … Read more
After moving your Mastodon account to a new instance, your follower list may not transfer cleanly. Some followers might fail to reconnect, others may appear as duplicates, and a few accounts might be dormant or inactive. This article explains how to check which followers successfully migrated, how to identify accounts that need a manual follow … Read more
When a Mastodon instance shuts down unexpectedly, users lose access to their account, followers, and data. The standard migration process requires both the old and new instances to be online to transfer followers through the ActivityPub handshake. If the old instance goes offline before you complete the migration, your followers cannot be automatically moved. This … Read more