{"id":107752,"date":"2023-01-12T09:57:12","date_gmt":"2023-01-12T17:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/?p=107752"},"modified":"2025-12-12T12:53:43","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T20:53:43","slug":"how-to-download-and-back-up-your-mastodon-account","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/how-to-download-and-back-up-your-mastodon-account\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Download and Back Up Your Mastodon Account"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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Mastodon<\/a>: Have you heard of it? As a social media platform, it\u2019s unique in that it\u2019s free, open-source, and crowdfunded. It doesn\u2019t have ads, and it\u2019s not owned by a corporation. When you set up an account on Mastodon, you select a server<\/a> (called an \u201cinstance\u201d) where your account lives. All of that can sound confusing to your average computer user, though it also makes it a favorite amongst the more tech-savvy users in the world.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The truth of Mastodon\u2019s distributed servers is that it doesn\u2019t really matter which server you choose to set up on. Since each server talks to every other server (just like email), you\u2019ll be able to use the social network just like you would Twitter or any other microblogging platform. You can publish text posts (adorably called \u201ctoots\u201d) and attach media such as pictures, audio, video, or polls. Mastodon lets you follow friends and discover new ones, and also uses hashtags to find communities or topics you may be interested in.<\/p>\r\n

Also just any other social media site, you’ll want to back up all your posts. That’s what we’re going to talk about today.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n

How Mastodon Works: The Nuts and Bolts<\/h2>\r\n\r\n

There are some people who want to host their own Mastodon server<\/a> (if that’s you, it means that other accounts would be hosted on your server, and you\u2019d be responsible for setting standards to moderate content). In that case, you may want to back up your Mastodon server<\/a> data to Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage<\/a>\u2014or even use our always-hot storage to actively run your server<\/a> like this Mastodon user who kept running out of storage and used Backblaze for a cost-effective storage solution<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Stay tuned: We\u2019re planning on writing about this in the future.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

But, if you\u2019re just using your account like you would on any other social media platform\u2014that is, you\u2019re posting, finding friends, sharing cute pictures of dogs, etc.\u2014you\u2019ll want to make sure that your posts and memories are protected. There\u2019s the normal run of data loss dangers: natural disasters, computer crashes, and so on. But also, since anyone can bring up their own Mastodon server, they can just as easily take them down. In that case, having a backup means that you can easily move your account to another server on the Mastodon platform without losing your toots.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Let\u2019s talk about the best way to keep your data backed up with Backblaze Computer Backup<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Download Your Mastodon Data<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Like most services that prioritize open sourcing, Mastodon has a fantastic documentation center<\/a>. If you ever have questions, start there first (that’s what we did). To get started with your Mastodon back up, you\u2019ll want to download your account information. After you log into your account, navigate to Settings > Export<\/strong>. The screen should look like this:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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As you can see, there are lots of lists you can download straight from this screen. These include your block lists and mute lists\u2014an excellent feature which means you can maintain your privacy settings if you need to move your account, or open a new account on a different server.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

To get your toots as well as any uploaded media, like photos or videos, you simply click the button to request your archive. You can request this archive once every seven days.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Once you have that file, you can either upload a copy of it to Backblaze B2<\/a> (which is free for your first 10GB of storage), or, Backblaze Personal Backup<\/a> (we’ve got a free trial there too, of course). Backblaze Personal Backup is super easy\u2014just save that file natively on your computer so that it\u2019s included in your always-running backup service.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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While You’re At It…<\/h4>\r\n

We\u2019ve gathered a handful of guides to help you protect your content across many different platforms. We\u2019re working on developing this list\u2014please comment below if you\u2019d like to see another platform covered.<\/p>\r\n