Damus, a so-called “Twitter killer” constructed on a decentralized community has been permitted on the Apple App Retailer.
The Damus crew confirmed the approval to its 11,500 Twitter followers on Jan. 31, following what it claims was not less than three rejections from the Large Tech participant.
Shortly after, Twitter co-founder and Nostr contributor Jack Dorsey shared the information along 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 grow to be 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 with a Jan. 27 submit from Protos.
No servers run the community. As an alternative, Nostr makes use of decentralized relays to distribute messages.
Nostr builders are additionally centered on utilizing Bitcoin and the Lightning Community to forestall Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) spam assaults on the Damus app.
There have been 44 completely different software program builders who’ve contributed to the code for the Damus net app, in accordance with the crew’s GitHub web page.
Neat approach 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 not less than three makes an attempt earlier than lastly being permitted:
We replied once more clarifying the place and the way all these options are carried out. That is all we will do right now….
— Damus⚡️ (@damusapp) January 31, 2023
One in all 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 have 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 sent over 14 BTC — price about $250,000 on the time — in mid-December to assist the Nostr developer crew.
Whereas the information appeared to have elevated consciousness of the applying amongst the Bitcoin neighborhood, different high-profile figures have examined out the Damus app too.
Amongst these embrace 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 net 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 use browser loopholes to steal non-public keys. I’d not suggest utilizing an online consumer right now. Damus iOS will not be affected.”
