Gregory's Server
As far as I can tell, vast majority of new people sign up on the official app. That's why I am so concerned.
At least on feditips, most new people who talk to me are unaware there even are any other apps. Many aren't aware they can use website at all, they call Mastodon "the app" or "this app".
As far as I can tell, the membership flow is now this:
1. Hear about a social network
2. Look it up on their phone's app store
3. Install the official app
4. Sign up via the official app
People have been trained by years on Twitter, Facebook, Insta, Tiktok etc to think that the concepts of social network and apps and official apps are all one and the same thing.
This is why I think commercial platforms started to shut down or severely restrict APIs for third parties, to encourage this official app flow.