7.5.0 — Follow the Feed, Quote the Lead

[activitypub.blog@activitypub.blog]

We’re back with a fresh release, and this one makes following and sharing smoother than ever—plus gives you more control over how your posts can be quoted.

A New Way to Follow (For Now)

Starting today, users on WordPress.com sites and self-hosted sites connected through Jetpack can see the posts of accounts they follow directly in their WordPress.com Reader timeline. The Following UI has been around for a little while, yet hidden, and with this release it will be enabled by default for these sites.

When you follow an account, ActivityPub checks for a discoverable RSS feed. If one exists, it’s automatically added to your Reader timeline so new posts appear alongside everything else you already follow. Unfollowing works the same way—the feed disappears when you remove the account. And if you’d like to view the feed for an account you’ve followed, just hover over it in the list table and click View Feed.

Think of this as a bridge: a simple way to read the posts of accounts you follow today, while we continue building a full, first-class ActivityPub reading experience for tomorrow.

There are a couple of details to keep in mind. Removing a subscription directly in the Reader won’t update your site’s Following list, and interactions are limited to what RSS allows, which means sharing and reposting rather than the full range of ActivityPub features.

Running a self-hosted site without Jetpack? You can still enable the Following UI manually—it just won’t connect with the Reader.

Quote Post Controls

We’ve also added support for Mastodon’s quote post feature—and given you an easy way to control how others can quote your content.

When writing in the Block Editor, you’ll now see a sidebar setting that lets you decide whether everyone can quote your post, only your followers can, or if quoting is reserved for you alone. Once published, Mastodon and other compatible platforms will honor your choice automatically. No extra setup needed—just write, choose, and publish with confidence.

Full Changelog

Added

• Added a setting to control who can quote your posts.
• Added support for QuoteRequest activities (FEP-044f), enabling proper handling, validation, and policy-based acceptance or rejection of quote requests.
• Add upgrade routine to enable ActivityPub feeds in WordPress.com Reader
• Add Yoast SEO integration for author archives site health check.
• Improved interaction policies with clearer defaults and better Mastodon compatibility.
• New site health check warns if active Captcha plugins may block ActivityPub comments.
• Sync following meta to enable RSS feed subscriptions for ActivityPub actors in WordPress.com Reader
• You can now follow people and see their updates right in the WordPress.com Reader when using Jetpack or WordPress.com.

Changed

• Added support for fetching actors by account identifiers and improved reliability of actor retrieval.
• Clarify error messages in account modal to specify full profile URL format.
• Improved checks to better identify public Activities.
• Improved compatibility by making the ‘implements’ field always use multiple entries.
• Improved recipient handling for clarity and improved visibility handling of activities.
• Remote reply blocks now sync account info across all blocks on the same page
• Standardized notification handling with new hooks for better extensibility and consistency.
• Updated sync allowlist to add support for Jetpack notifications of likes and reposts.

Fixed

• Fixed an issue where post metadata in the block editor was missing or failed to update.
• Fix Flag activity object list processing to preserve URL arrays
• Fix PHP warning in bulk edit scenario when post_author is missing from $_REQUEST
• Posts now only fall back to the blog user when blog mode is enabled and no valid author exists, ensuring content negotiation only runs if an Actor is available.

Downloads

• WordPress.org: activitypub.7.5.0.zip
• GitHub: tag/7.5.0

Thank you!

Thanks to everyone who contributed code, tested, offered feedback, or lent support along the way. Update to 7.5.0 today and follow, share, and quote to your heart’s content!

[aslakr@mastodon.social]

@activitypub.blog It's a pity this post can't (yet) by quoted.

[pfefferle@mastodon.social]

@aslakr @activitypub.blog I am about to install the new version on the blog. give me a sec 😉

[pfefferle@mastodon.social]

@aslakr @activitypub.blog it should be possible now!

(there was a little mastodon bug that came in the way: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/36318)

[aslakr@mastodon.social]

@pfefferle Yes, I have seen the same bug. Changing from Article to Note and back doesn't work as expected