Decentralized Twitter alternative goes live on Apple’s App Store
Damus, a so-called “Twitter killer” constructed on a decentralized community, has been authorized on the Apple App Retailer.
The Damus workforce confirmed the approval to its 11,500 Twitter followers on Jan. 31, following what it claims have been at the very least 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-source 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 personal 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 the Bitcoin (BTC) layer-2 Lightning Community, according 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 centered on utilizing Bitcoin and the Lightning Community to forestall distributed denial-of-service 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, according to the workforce’s GitHub web page.
Neat method 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 authorized:
We replied once more clarifying the place and the way all these options are applied. That is all we will do right now….
— Damus⚡️ (@damusapp) January 31, 2023
One among 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 sent over 14 BTC — value about $250,000 on the time — in mid-December to assist the Nostr developer workforce.
Whereas the information appeared to have elevated consciousness of the appliance amongst the Bitcoin group, 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 Net is down as a result of there’s somebody attempting to use browser loopholes to steal personal keys. I might not advocate utilizing an online consumer right now. Damus iOS just isn’t affected.”
