:skull360: We've upgraded our Mastodon server to v4.8.0-alpha.3+mementomods-2026-09-15. That is 98 new commits from upstream since our 6.9.2026 build. Mastodon 4.7.2 is a security release and it is folded into this build. 🔒 Security - HEIF and AVIF image decoding has been turned off. These are the formats iPhones use for photos. Mastodon calls this a temporary measure, so it will likely come back once the underlying issue is resolved upstream. No advisory has been published for it yet. What this means in practice: if you upload a photo straight from an iPhone as HEIC, or an AVIF image, it will now fail instead of being converted. Most phone apps and browsers already hand over JPEG, so many of you will never notice. If an image upload does fail, save or export it as JPEG or PNG and it will go through. Images already uploaded here are unaffected, they were converted at upload time and are stored as JPEG. 🔧 Fixes & improvements - Replies appear in the right order again (https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/40481). - You get the confirmation prompt again when you navigate away with an unsent post (https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/40478). - Oversized images are caught before the upload starts instead of failing at the end of it (https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/30475). - Submitting the same post twice no longer produces a 500 error (https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/40439). - The picture in picture video player no longer slides underneath the side panel (https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/40484). - Importing a JSON file that is not a custom filter export now gives a proper error instead of a 500 (https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/40449). - Privacy policy links in subscription emails point to the right place (https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/40486). - Email footer spacing around our custom footer text is fixed (https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/40440). - Counts in the interface are pluralised properly in more places (https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/40464). - The standalone Pinned Posts page and its keyboard shortcut have been removed upstream (https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/40494). Pinned posts still show on profiles exactly as before, only the separate page is gone. 🛡️ Moderation - Canonical email blocks no longer interfere with freezing or approving accounts (https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/40463). - The admin account page now shows whether an account is blocked from trends and follow recommendations (https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/40398). - Deleting notification requests in bulk now cleans up the notifications along with them (https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/40393). 🚀 Under the hood - The 5.0 redesign took 37 of the 98 commits: the new navigation in the advanced multi-column layout, link cards, quotes, hashtags, the translation button, the post actions menu, and menus shown as sheets on mobile. All of it stays behind a flag, so nothing changes for you yet. - Deleting an account now also deletes any annual reports generated for it (https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/40394). - Reattaching an account with the command line tools clears the pending deletion timestamp (https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/40430). 📦 Dependency updates - Routine bumps and translation updates. 🏠 Changes specific to our server - Signing up through an app now requires an invite. The sign up form on the website is behind Turnstile, but the API path that mobile apps use was not, and a wave of bots had been coming through it for days, filling our moderation queue with fake applications. Requiring an invite closes that path. The normal sign up form on the website is untouched and works exactly as before, so if you are pointing someone here, send them to the website. - Our periodic search index rebuild had been failing with an error since the 6.9.2026 build and now runs again. Live search was never affected by this, only the scheduled full rebuild. Source code: https://github.com/mementomori-social/mastodon As always, if you notice anything unusual or buggy, please reach out to me or any of the admins. Enjoy your time here, and feel free to message me with any questions or thoughts. :bunhdheart: If anything feels off, please let us know! #MementoMoriSocial #Mastodon #MastoAdmin