Damus, a so-called “Twitter killer” constructed on a decentralized community has been authorised on the Apple App Retailer.
The Damus group confirmed the approval to its 11,500 Twitter followers on Jan. 31, following what it claims was at the very least three rejections from the Massive Tech participant.
Shortly after, Twitter co-founder and Nostr contributor Jack Dorsey shared the information together with his 6.5 million followers, with the entrepreneur labeling it as a “milestone” second for open supply protocols:
a milestone for open protocols…#nostr is now formally on the Apple App Retailer with @damusapp:https://t.co/GQmvPE5nfX
— jack (@jack) January 31, 2023
The app dubs itself the “social community you management” and is a messaging service constructed on Nostr — a decentralized community enabling encrypted, end-to-end non-public messaging, amongst different issues.
It plans to change into a social media platform with uncensored content material. It additionally has built-in funds by way of the Bitcoin (BTC) layer-2 Lightning community in accordance to a Jan. 27 publish from Protos.
No servers run the community. As an alternative, Nostr makes use of decentralized relays to distribute messages.
Nostr builders are additionally targeted on utilizing Bitcoin and the Lightning Community to stop Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) spam assaults on the Damus app.
There have been 44 totally different software program builders who’ve contributed to the code for the Damus internet app, in accordance to the group’s GitHub web page.
Neat option to fetch bitcoin addresses: #nostr encrypted dms. pic.twitter.com/lMlnIhf3fg
— William Casarin ⚡️ (@jb55) January 29, 2023
Getting Damus on the Apple App Retailer didn’t come with out points although.
The Damus Twitter web page posted that it had failed in at the very least three makes an attempt earlier than lastly being authorised:
We replied once more clarifying the place and the way all these options are applied. That is all we will do presently….
— Damus⚡️ (@damusapp) January 31, 2023
Certainly one of Nostr’s core builders, William Casarin additionally shared some frustration on his private Twitter account, stating that it could be a “disgrace” if Apple customers couldn’t use Nostr natively.
Associated: An inside take a look at the ethical and technical issues of crypto social media
Whereas the precise partnership between Dorsey and Nostr isn’t identified, the billionaire entrepreneur despatched over 14 BTC — value about $250,000 on the time — in mid-December to assist the Nostr developer group.
Whereas the information appeared to have elevated consciousness of the applying amongst the Bitcoin group, different high-profile figures have examined out the Damus app too.
Amongst these embody Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, former U.S. Nationwide Safety Company (NSA) contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden and pro-crypto U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis.
One of many cool issues about Nostr (“Notes and different stuff transmitted by relays”, a brand new decentralized protocol that replaces issues like Twitter and Instagram)—past censorship resistance—is that you just aren’t restricted to 280 characters.
Discover me there. pic.twitter.com/B7JUHeeSdP
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) January 23, 2023
On the time of writing, the Damus internet app has run into issues. A warning message on the positioning homepage reads:
“Damus Internet is down as a result of there’s somebody attempting to take advantage of browser loopholes to steal non-public keys. I’d not suggest utilizing an internet shopper presently. Damus iOS just isn’t affected.”
