Nostr notes by Nostr Reviews

Thank you SO MUCH @nprofile…dswr for the zap! Every sat helps ...

2025-05-11T17:43:40Z

In reply to nevent1q…q7vg
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Thank you SO MUCH Five (nprofile…dswr) for the zap! Every sat helps me continue creating content for Nostriches!

Good steps in the right direction with the latest update! Looking ...

2025-05-05T23:53:58Z

Good steps in the right direction with the latest update!

Looking forward to seeing more in the future!

quoting
nevent1q…f5p7
Check out this meticulous review of Primal for Android. It identified multiple areas where improvement is needed; we’ll get back to work! 🫡
nevent1q…vdf2
naddr1qq…fp6c

I had never heard of dribbble before, but after a brief look at ...

2025-03-24T23:32:36Z

In reply to nevent1q…77ul
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I had never heard of dribbble before, but after a brief look at it, it reminds me of pinterest, but specifically for designers. Most posts seem to be images or short videos, would that be a fair assessment?

We have kind 20 for images, and kinds 21 and 22 for videos, but the trick would be to have only design related images and videos show up in the client. You don't want ALL kind 20 notes to show up, I assume. Just the ones related to design.

A separate kind for this use-case could work, or a tag that the client automatically adds to the event, so it will pull in only notes that share that tag. However, then the notes would show up in other kind 20 clients, like Olas. Not sure if that is expected/desired for what you are wanting to build.

Nostr event nevent1qqs2444esqfrw2rx00alqyz88g0g84w0h4skhjgk8gt7zmnaeq0tphszyqwpn6c6n4jmvr65y73slcly4k3z9mft2xky6u3rmg2npd8z97ctcf9r6sc

2025-03-24T23:14:53Z

In reply to nevent1q…8xve
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https://nreads.vercel.app/article/naddr1qvzqqqr4gupzq8qeavdf6edkpa2z0gc0u0j2mg3za544rtzdwg3a59fskn3zlv9uqq9rjd34vcck2cfkvf3s2p9ezr

A couple expected rendering items are missing. It doesn't ...

2025-03-24T23:12:32Z

In reply to nevent1q…77ul
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A couple expected rendering items are missing. It doesn't render things like `nostr:npub1...` as the user's chosen handle, and doesn't render an embedded preview of a note for `nostr:nevent1...` Nostr links. Should at minimum load a NIP-89 suggested client for viewing the note.

NWC makes that possible, for sure! It's just not required. If ...

2025-03-24T21:27:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…h4gd
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NWC makes that possible, for sure! It's just not required. If it's not available to you, it's because the wallet provider left it out of their NWC implementation, either by mistake or intentionally.

That's not the reason they implemented NWC. They mainly did ...

2025-03-24T21:19:03Z

In reply to nevent1q…xa0q
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That's not the reason they implemented NWC. They mainly did it so you could zap from their web app using the wallet you set up in their mobile app, and secondarily so you can zap from your Primal wallet when using other Nostr apps. They did not implement it so you could use your Primal wallet with another wallet app.

You would need to talk their devs into changing the way they have ...

2025-03-24T21:09:49Z

In reply to nevent1q…46a2
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You would need to talk their devs into changing the way they have NWC set up, so that it will respond with the correct data when requested. They may not be willing to do so, since they probably want you to use Primal for accessing your wallet.

I can see what is happening here... Primal is passing the budget ...

2025-03-24T21:06:41Z

In reply to nevent1q…nmv5
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I can see what is happening here... Primal is passing the budget amount as the "balance" and is not respecting transaction requests at all.

Still haven't played around with it, because it doesn't ...

2025-03-24T21:02:42Z

In reply to nevent1q…gzze
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Still haven't played around with it, because it doesn't support Amber login on Android.

Don't remember BitMessage, but Nostr DMs need some ...

2025-03-24T20:56:32Z

In reply to nevent1q…s84x
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Don't remember BitMessage, but Nostr DMs need some improvement, even if they are better. Many clients haven't even added NIP-17 support yet, and are still only using the deprecated NIP-04...

It would not surprise me. The host wallet can restrict what types ...

2025-03-24T20:54:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…gjsj
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It would not surprise me. The host wallet can restrict what types of requests it supports from the connected app. The basic one that is almost always supported is a payment request. However, I could see NWC being used to create a "watch only" connection that is only allowed to request balance data, for instance.

Needs random torrential downpours forcing hobbled host to walk ...

2025-03-24T20:51:31Z

In reply to nevent1q…s300
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Needs random torrential downpours forcing hobbled host to walk somewhere for shelter.

No wind? Sounds boring.

2025-03-24T20:50:45Z

In reply to nevent1q…jpex
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No wind? Sounds boring.

Yeah, it's really slick, especially when paired with Algo ...

2025-03-24T20:45:01Z

In reply to nevent1q…a9gl
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Yeah, it's really slick, especially when paired with Algo Relay or a web-of-trust relay. Yet, you can still view your more traditional Follow feed, too.

Safer Global is a nice option to have, as well, and you can configure which relays are used for each of those feeds.

No need to. When connecting Primal Wallet to Alby Go, you still ...

2025-03-24T20:36:59Z

In reply to nevent1q…me64
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No need to. When connecting Primal Wallet to Alby Go, you still use your Primal lightning address. Alby Go is just an interface for the wallet.

Is the balance updating in Alby Go? Primal's wallet may not ...

2025-03-24T20:35:44Z

In reply to nevent1q…9a49
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Is the balance updating in Alby Go? Primal's wallet may not allow for fetching transaction history via NWC.

Jumble.social - A web client that puts relay-based feeds front ...

2025-03-24T20:25:37Z

In reply to nevent1q…vl0l
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Jumble.social - A web client that puts relay-based feeds front and center.

Not a full review of a #Nostr app, but an explanation of how ...

2025-03-22T19:51:55Z

Not a full review of a #Nostr app, but an explanation of how Nostr Wallet Connect works in plain language, and what it enables for Nostr and beyond.

quoting
naddr1qq…2r53

For our first edition of #Nostrversity, we'll be diving into Nostr Wallet Connect, or #NWC; a handy means of connecting a #Lightning wallet to your favorite #Nostr app that quickly became the standard and is now an essential part of onboarding to Nostr for any new user who wants to experience the magic of zaps. Yet NWC enables so much more than just one-tap-zapping, as we will see when we look a little closer at how it works under the hood.

Lightning History on Nostr

Back in the wild-west days of Nostr, before jb55 (npub1xts…kk5s) invented zaps, Bitcoin psychopaths were already sending sats to one another over Nostr. However, the way we had to do it back then was by going into our Lightning wallet, selecting "receive," inputting an amount we wanted, and copy/pasting an invoice from the wallet into our Nostr note, then hope someone was willing to pay it. And the payment side was just as cumbersome, requiring manually copying the invoice from your Nostr client, pasting it into a Lightning wallet so you could see how much the other user wanted, and then deciding if you were even willing to send it.

It didn't take long before Nostr clients, particularly on mobile, started rendering Lightning invoices in a convenient format that showed the invoice amount and a "Pay" button, that would prompt the user to open a Lightning wallet. This took out a decent amount of friction for the sender, but it was still just as big a hassle for the receiver.

Then zaps came along, and soon everyone had the ability to send sats to any other user when they found value in the content they posted. At least, any other user that added their Lightning address to their profile and whose Lightning wallet provider supported sending a "paid" receipt to a Nostr relay. Receiver friction had been virtually eliminated and the sats began to flow. Nostr also became the de facto directory for Bitcoiner payment addresses. If you heard LynAlden (npub1a2c…w83a) say something brilliant on a podcast, you could just look her up on any Nostr client with zaps and send some sats her way as a thank you.

Enter the zapathon, a community event with one purpose: break Wallet of Satoshi (npub1hcw…h9rq) by zapping each other so much it was effectively a DDOS attack. Sure, it was a stress test on other wallets too, but most users were on Wallet of Satoshi because it was the easiest way to get a Lightning address with a mobile wallet.

It was a ton of fun flinging sats around as fast as your fingers would let you! However, a new friction point was soon discovered from trying to zap so frequently. Every time you tapped the zap icon in your Nostr client, you had to wait for your wallet to open and present the invoice to approve payment, then switch back to your Nostr client to zap the next note. Not a big deal when you only send a zap occasionally, but when trying to zap every note in your feed, it adds a significant amount of time and extra clicks. In fact, this small amount of friction, whether you realize it or not, often acts as just enough of a barrier to zapping that you will choose not to zap a post you found some value in, just because of the extra 5 seconds it takes to load into your wallet app, approve the payment, and switch back to your Nostr client.

Wouldn't it be amazing if we could have one-tap-zaps?

I can't recall if there were any other methods by which this was achieved, but the method that caught on was developed and released into the wild by Alby (npub1get…0nfm), who called it Nostr Wallet Connect. At that time (March of 2023), Alby was a custodial Lightning wallet for your web browser, and while you could connect your own node to it using LNDHub, most people just stuck with their custodial option since it came with a Lightning address. Nostr Wallet Connect was, at that time, a way to connect your Alby wallet to a Nostr client.

I am not certain which client was the first to support NWC, but I know that #Amethyst was pretty early on, and it was an instant success. Users could get a "connection string" from Alby, paste it into Amethyst, and zap with a single tap of their finger. Just like zaps themselves had eliminated the friction for receiving payments via Lightning for anyone with a Lightning address, Nostr Wallet Connect had eliminated the friction for sending payments. No more wasted seconds switching back and forth between Nostr client and wallet app, just tap and zap sent, tap again and another zap gone.

Of course, this meant that it was all too easy to send way more sats out of your wallet than you intended. This was solved by the ability to set budgets, so your wallet would cut you off once you reached the max amount you had set for yourself.

Because Alby had made Nostr Wallet Connect open source and part of the Nostr protocol, it didn't take long before more and more clients started adding support for it. Users demanded it and wouldn't shut up about it until it was added. Other wallet providers also saw the value of including it. Now it is simply expected, and any wallet that doesn't include it won't attract Nostr users.

Notably, Wallet of Satoshi went from being the most popular wallet among Nostr users to being a rare and quaint throwback to a bygone era, because they never integrated NWC and they pulled away from serving anyone in the U.S. out of fear of regulation under the Biden administration.

So we arrive at the state of Lightning on Nostr today, with Lightning addresses in our profiles for receiving zaps, and Nostr Wallet Connect for sending, and hard pressed to find Nostr clients that don't support both.

So... How does it work?

All of that history is great, but you're here to learn how this technology works. What is happening behind the scenes when you tap that little ⚡️ icon and sats seem to magically leave your Lightning wallet and show up on your screen as a zap underneath the latest corndalorian (npub1lrn…qnw5) meme, without you having to fiddle around with any Lightning invoices at all?

It's really quite simple, in the end. Your wallet communicating with your Nostr client using a Nostr relay in the middle, the same way you communicate with other Nostr users by saving notes to a relay that they can retrieve them from.

First, your Nostr client has to know how to "tag" your wallet, and on which relay to send it notes. This is why you need to get a "connection string" from your wallet to paste into your Nostr client. This string has all the information that is needed for your Nostr client to know how to communicate with your wallet, and for your wallet to be sure that the payment requests are authorized by you.

Let's take a look at an example connection string:

nostr+walletconnect://b889ff5b1513b641e2a139f661a661364979c5beee91842f8f0ef42ab558e9d4?relay=wss%3A%2F%2Frelay.damus.io&secret=71a8c14c1407c113601079c4302dab36460f0ccd0ad506f1f2dc73b5100e4f3c

Looks like a bunch of gobbledygook, right? We'll break down each of its parts and see what it does.

nostr+walletconnect://

This portion just defines the type of information that follows it. Because the string starts with this marker, any software reading it will know that what follows is information on how to communicate with a Lightning wallet, so long as it has been programmed to recognize it.

b889ff5b1513b641e2a139f661a661364979c5beee91842f8f0ef42ab558e9d4

This section is just a public key, the same as an npub. In fact, it can be readily converted to an npub if you want using nostrcheck.me (npub1zdr…qha9)'s key converter. It's a nostr identity just like yours or mine, but you won't find any GM posts or catstr pictures in its note history. It's only posting special note types used by NWC. This public key belongs to your Lightning wallet, and just like you can have multiple npubs for each of your alter egos, your wallet creates a separate public key to use with each new app you want to connect it to. Or at least it should. The Nostr client you use will tag your wallet in notes it creates by using this public key.

relay=wss%3A%2F%2Frelay.damus.io

This section is probably easily recognizable. It's the same as typing relay=wss://relay.damus.io, except that it has to use %3A%2F%2F in place of ://. This tells your Nostr client which relay it needs to use to communicate with your wallet. Hopefully your wallet uses a relay with high up-time, because one of the major ways for NWC to fail is if the relay is down. You also can't use just any relay. It has to accept the note kinds used by NWC, which is why wallets don't typically let their users choose the relay that will be used. You also can't just modify the connection string to use a relay you prefer, even if you know it allows NWC note kinds. This is because it will result in your Nostr client sending requests to your wallet on that relay, but your wallet is not reading from that relay, so it will never receive the requests.

secret=71a8c14c1407c113601079c4302dab36460f0ccd0ad506f1f2dc73b5100e4f3c

This is just a Nostr private key. It's an nsec, but in hex format. Your wallet is giving your Nostr client a private key that it must use to sign all of the requests it sends to your wallet. No request signed by any other private key will be answered by your wallet. Your wallet will generate a separate private key for each connection string, allowing you as the user to revoke those connections individually, or set a separate budget for each connection.

When you tap the ⚡️ icon in your Nostr client, it obtains a Lightning invoice from the user's wallet you are trying to zap using their Lightning address. It then creates a note tagging your wallet's public key and requesting payment of that Lightning invoice, signing the note with the private key your wallet generated for it, and writing that note to the specified Nostr relay. Your wallet is constantly checking that relay for new notes and when it sees the payment request signed by an authorized private key, it pays the invoice, so long as it is within the budget you set, and sends out a payment receipt stating it has been paid so your client can light up the zap indicator to show that it was successful. All of this from a single tap of your finger in Amethyst.

More than Zaps

Now that we know the basics of how NWC works, it doesn't take much extrapolation to realize that this communication between wallet and Nostr client could be used for much more than just payment requests. A client could ask for your wallet's balance information, or transaction history, or ask for a lightning invoice. In fact, why does it have to be a Nostr client making those requests at all? Why not a mobile wallet app, or browser extension?

One of the major pieces of friction felt by those who run Lightning nodes is the difficulty of connecting to them remotely in a secure way. umbrel (npub1agh…mhct) and Start9 (npub126n…e9ll) allow for connecting via Tor by default, but that can be painfully slow and unreliable. Anyone who has set up a connection to their node via LND Rest over Tor to their ZEUS (npub1xnf…lpr5) wallet can attest to the frustration of opening their wallet and waiting several seconds for the interface to load, only to receive a timeout notice.

Nostr Wallet Connect has eliminated this issue thanks to Alby Hub and Alby Go. Just create a new connection in Alby Hub, give it a budget, and scan the QR code with Alby Go and you have a fully-functional, mobile Lightning wallet connected to your node at home that loads extremely quickly and reliably, so long as the Nostr relay in-between is up and running.

Now, you may be concerned that the information being passed back and forth on this Nostr relay is incredibly sensitive financial information, especially if balance and transaction history is involved. However, this is not a concern because the content of the notes is fully encrypted. The relay owner, or anyone else with access to read data on that relay, has no idea what information is contained in the messages being sent between wallet provider and Nostr client, or Lightning node and mobile wallet. And because neither npub being used by your wallet provider or your Nostr client is the same as your npub, there is nothing tying the messages to you.

As a result, NWC is quickly becoming an integral piece of Lightning infrastructure, even if those making use of it have no interest in joining Nostr at all.

The Future of NWC

To wrap this up, I'd like to point the reader to recent developments with Nostr Wallet Connect, and other use-cases we could very well see in the near future.

First, NWC may not just be for Lightning. utxo the webmaster 🧑‍💻 (npub1utx…50e8) recently revealed that he has a working prototype of on-chain payments via NWC.

nevent1q…j485

We are already seeing it used with eCash wallets like Minibits (npub1kva…tkzv). There is no reason we shouldn't expect to see it used with all forms of Bitcoin payments. This could lead to an explosion of available wallet applications for all platforms, since they will simply be an interface for communicating with your node or wallet provider.

NWC can also be used for subscriptions, as alluded to in utxo the webmaster 🧑‍💻 (npub1utx…50e8)'s note above. Before you protest about what an awful monetization model subscriptions are, I generally agree. That said, subscriptions where the user remains in control the entire time, and can unilaterally cancel the subscription at any time, without having to jump through hoops and give explanations about why they no longer want to use the service, is a massive improvement over the current status quo. Remember, NWC allows the user to set a budget for each connection. This means your subscription can't incrementally increase its monthly fee on you. Not without you willingly going into your wallet settings and adjusting the monthly budget, at any rate.

Last one before we close this out: NWC can be used for streaming services where you pay only for what you use, and give yourself a budget. Instead of paying a monthly subscription to Netflix, you could pay per minute that you watch. Previously this could only be done by topping up a wallet controlled by the service itself, the way fountain_app (npub1v5u…n0v5)'s wallet worked with streaming sats for Podcasting 2.0. But now NWC is coming to Fountain, and users can bring their own wallet that they control.

The future of NWC is bright, and it extends well beyond zapping memes on Nostr. It's going to open up a world of possibilities for how we can use our sats to stream media, make reoccurring donations, use micro-payments to rent compute, and so much more. I don't know about you, but I am here for it!

#Nostrversity #NWC

Next up for a full review, @nprofile…h679? #asknostr

2025-03-12T23:32:39Z

Next up for a full review, nostr.build (nprofile…h679)?

#asknostr

Yes! Amber makes managing multiple npubs a breeze!

2025-02-28T17:03:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…9gca
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Yes! Amber makes managing multiple npubs a breeze!

At long last, I have finally finished my full review of #Amber ...

2025-02-28T07:34:58Z

At long last, I have finally finished my full review of #Amber signer for #Android!

I hope you find it useful, #Nostr.

quoting
naddr1qq…vexc

After my first major review of Primal on Android, we're going to go a very different direction for this next review. Primal is your standard "Twitter clone" type of kind 1 note client, now branching into long-form. They also have a team of developers working on making it one of the best clients to fill that use-case. By contrast, this review will not be focusing on any client at all. Not even an "other stuff" client.

Instead, we will be reviewing a very useful tool created and maintained by greenart7c3 (npub1w4u…0jr5) called #Amber. For those unfamiliar with Amber, it is an #Android application dedicated to managing your signing keys, and allowing you to log into various #Nostr applications without having to paste in your private key, better known as your #nsec. It is not recommended to paste your nsec into various applications because they each represent another means by which it could be compromised, and anyone who has your nsec can post as you. On Nostr, your #npub is your identity, and your signature using your private key is considered absolute proof that any given note, reaction, follow update, or profile change was authorized by the rightful owner of that identity.

It happens less often these days, but early on, when the only way to try out a new client was by inputting your nsec, users had their nsec compromised from time to time, or they would suspect that their key may have been compromised. When this occurs, there is no way to recover your account, or set a new private key, deprecating the previous one. The only thing you can do is start over from scratch, letting everyone know that your key has been compromised and to follow you on your new npub.

If you use Amber to log into other Nostr apps, you significantly reduce the likelihood that your private key will be compromised, because only one application has access to it, and all other applications reach out to Amber to sign any events. This isn't quite as secure as storing your private key on a separate device that isn't connected to the internet whatsoever, like many of us have grown accustomed to with securing our #Bitcoin, but then again, an online persona isn't nearly as important to secure for most of us as our entire life savings.

Amber is the first application of its kind for managing your Nostr keys on a mobile device. greenart7c3 (npub1w4u…0jr5) didn't merely develop the application, but literally created the specification for accomplishing external signing on Android which can be found in NIP-55. Unfortunately, Amber is only available for Android. A signer application for iOS is in the works from tyiu (npub1yau…vjmf), but is not ready for use at this time. There is also a new mobile signer app for Android and iOS called Nowser, but I have not yet had a chance to try this app out. From a cursory look at the Android version, it is indeed in the very early stages of development and cannot be compared with Amber.

This review of Amber is current as of version 3.2.5.

Overall Impression

Score: 4.5 / 5

I cannot speak highly enough about Amber as a tool that every Nostr user on Android should start using if they are not already. When the day comes that we have more options for well-developed signer apps on mobile, my opinion may very well change, but until then Amber is what we have available to us. Even so, it is an incredibly well thought-out and reliable tool for securing your nsec.

Despite being the only well-established Android signer available for Android, Amber can be compared with other external signing methods available on other platforms. Even with more competition in this arena, though, Amber still holds up incredibly well. If you are signing into web applications on a desktop, I still would recommend using a browser extension like #Alby or #Nos2x, as the experience is usually faster, more seamless, and far more web apps support this signing method (NIP-07) than currently support the two methods employed by Amber. Nevertheless that gap is definitely narrowing.

A running list I created of applications that support login and signing with Amber can be found here: Nostr Clients with External Signer Support

I have run into relatively few bugs in my extensive use of Amber for all of my mobile signing needs. Occasionally the application crashes when trying to send it a signing request from a couple of applications, but I would not be surprised if this is no fault of Amber at all, and rather the fault of those specific apps, since it works flawlessly with the vast majority of apps that support either NIP-55 or NIP-46 login.

I also believe that mobile is the ideal platform to use for this type of application. First, because most people use Nostr clients on their phone more than on a desktop. There are, of course, exceptions to that, but in general we spend more time on our phones when interacting online. New users are also more likely to be introduced to Nostr by a friend having them download a Nostr client on their phone than on a PC, and that can be a prime opportunity to introduce the new user to protecting their private key. Finally, I agree with the following assessment from hodlbod (npub1jlr…ynqn).

nevent1q…0q62

The one downside to Amber is that it will be quite foreign for new users. That is partially unavoidable with Nostr, since folks are not accustomed to public/private key cryptography in general, let alone using a private key to log into websites or social media apps. However, the initial signup process is a bit cumbersome if Amber is being used as the means of initially generating a key pair. I think some of this could be foregone at start-up in favor of streamlining onboarding, and then encourage the user to back-up their private key at a later time.

Features

Amber has some features that may surprise you, outside of just storing your private key and signing requests from your favorite Nostr clients. It is a full key management application, supporting multiple accounts, various backup methods, and even the ability to authorize other users to access a Nostr profile you control.

Android Signing

This is the signing method where Amber really shines in both speed and ease of use. Any Android application that supports this standard, and even some progressive web-apps that can be installed to your Android's home-screen, can very quickly and seamlessly connect with Amber to authorize anything that you need signed with your nsec. All you have to do is select "Login with Amber" in clients like #Amethyst or #0xChat and the app will reach out to Amber for all signing requests from there on out. If you had previously signed into the app with your nsec, you will first need to log out, then choose the option to use Amber when you log back in.

This is a massive deal, because everything you do on Nostr requires a signature from your private key. Log in? Needs a signature. Post a "GM" note? Needs a signature. Follow someone who zapped your note? Needs a signature. Zap them back? You guessed it; needs a signature. When you paste your private key into an application, it will automatically sign a lot of these actions without you ever being asked for approval, but you will quickly realize just how many things the client is doing on your behalf when Amber is asking you to approve them each time.

Now, this can also get quite annoying after a while. I recommend using the setting that allows Amber to automatically sign for basic functions, which will cut down on some of the authorization spam. Once you have been asked to authorize the same type of action a few times, you can also toggle the option to automatically authorize that action in the future. Don't worry, though, you have full control to require Amber to ask you for permission again if you want to be alerted each time, and this toggle is specific to each application, so it's not a blanket approval for all Nostr clients you connect with.

This method of signing is just as fast as signing via browser extension on web clients, which users may be more accustomed to. Everything is happening locally on the device, so it can be very snappy and secure.

Nostr Connect/Bunker Signing

This next method of signing has a bit of a delay, because it is using a Nostr relay to send encrypted information back and forth between the app the user is interacting with and Amber to obtain signatures remotely. It isn't a significant delay most of the time, but it is just enough to be noticeable.

Also, unlike the previous signing method that would automatically switch to Amber as the active application when a signing request is sent, this method only sends you a notification that you must be watching for. This can lead to situations where you are wondering why something isn't working in a client you signed into remotely, because it is waiting on you to authorize the action and you didn't notice the notification from Amber. As you use the application, you get used to the need to check for such authorization requests from time to time, or when something isn't working as expected.

By default, Amber will use relay.nsec.app to communicate with whichever Nostr app you are connecting to. You can set a different relay for this purpose, if you like, though not just any relay will support the event kinds that Amber uses for remote signing. You can even run your own relay just for your own signing purposes. In fact, the creator of Amber has a relay application you can run on your phone, called Citrine, that can be used for signing with any web app you are using locally on your phone. This is definitely more of an advanced option, but it is there for you if you want it. For most users, sticking with relay.nsec.app will be just fine, especially since the contents of the events sent back and forth for signing are all encrypted.

Something many users may not realize is that this remote signing feature allows for issuing signing permissions to team members. For instance, if anyone ever joined me in writing reviews, I could issue them a connection string from Amber, and limit their permissions to just posting long-form draft events. Anything else they tried to do would require my explicit approval each time. Moreover, I could revoke those permissions if I ever felt they were being abused, without the need to start over with a whole new npub. Of course, this requires that your phone is online whenever a team member is trying to sign using the connection string you issued, and it requires you pay attention to your notifications so you can approve or reject requests you have not set to auto-approve. However, this is probably only useful for small teams, and larger businesses will want to find a more robust solution for managing access to their npub, such as Keycast from JeffG (npub1zuu…c2uc).

The method for establishing a connection between Amber and a Nostr app for remote signing can vary for each app. Most, at minimum, will support obtaining a connection string from Amber that starts with "bunker://" and pasting it in at the time of login. Then you just need to approve the connection request from Amber and the client will log you in and send any subsequent signing requests to Amber using the same connection string.

Some clients will also offer the option to scan a QR code to connect the client to Amber. This is quite convenient, but just remember that this also means the client is setting which relay will be used for communication between the two. Clients with this option will also have a connection string you can copy and paste into Amber to achieve the same purpose. For instance, you may need this option if you are trying to connect to an app on your phone and therefore can't scan the QR code using Amber on the same phone.

Multiple Accounts

Amber does not lock you into using it with only a single set of keys. You can add all of your Nostr "accounts" to Amber and use it for signing events for each independently. Of course, Nostr doesn't actually have "accounts" in the traditional sense. Your identity is simply your key-pair, and Amber stores and accesses each private key as needed.

When first signing in using native Android signing as described above, Amber will default to whichever account was most recently selected, but you can switch to the account that is needed before approving the request. After initial login, Amber will automatically detect the account that the signing request is for.

Key Backup & Restore

Amber allows multiple ways to back up your private key. As most users would expect, you can get your standard nsec and copy/paste it to a password manager, but you can also obtain your private key as a list of mnemonic seed words, an encrypted version of your key called an ncryptsec, or even a QR code of your nsec or ncryptsec.

Additionally, in order to gain access to this information, Amber requires you to enter your device's PIN or use biometric authentication. This isn't cold-storage level protection for your private key by any means, especially since your phone is an internet connected device and does not store your key within a secure element, but it is about as secure as you can ask for while having your key accessible for signing Nostr events.

Tor Support

While Amber does not have Tor support within the app itself, it does support connecting to Tor through Orbot. This would be used with remote signing so that Amber would not connect directly over clearnet to the relay used for communication with the Nostr app requesting the signature. Instead, Amber would connect through Tor, so the relay would not see your IP address. This means you can utilize the remote signing option without compromising your anonymity.

Additional Security

Amber allows the user the option to require either biometric or PIN authentication before approving signing requests. This can provide that extra bit of assurance that no one will be able to sign events using your private key if they happen to gain access to your phone. The PIN you set in Amber is also independent from the PIN to unlock your device, allowing for separation of access.

Can My Grandma Use It?

Score: 4.0 / 5

At the end of the day, Amber is a tool for those who have some concept of the importance of protecting their private key by not pasting it into every Nostr client that comes along. This concept in itself is not terribly approachable to an average person. They are used to just plugging their password into every service they use, and even worse, they usually have the same password for everything so they can more readily remember it. The idea that they should never enter their "Nostr password" into any Nostr application would never occur to them unless someone first explained how cryptography works related to public/private key pairs.

That said, I think there can be some improvements made to how users are introduced to these concepts, and that a signer application like Amber might be ideal for the job. Considering Amber as a new user's first touchpoint with Nostr, I think it holds up well, but could be somewhat streamlined.

Upon opening the app, the user is prompted to either use their existing private key or "Create a new Nostr account." This is straightforward enough. "Account" is not a technically correct term with Nostr, but it is a term that new users would be familiar with and understand the basic concept.

The next screen announces that the account is ready, and presents the user with their public key, explaining that it is "a sort of username" that will allow others to find them on Nostr. While it is good to explain this to the user, it is unnecessary information at this point. This screen also prompts the user to set a nickname and set a password to encrypt their private key. Since the backup options also allow the user to set this password, I think this step could be pushed to a later time. This screen would better serve the new user if it simply prompted them to set a nickname and short bio that could be saved to a few default relays.

Of course, Amber is currently prompting for a password to be set up-front because the next screen requires the new user to download a "backup kit" in order to continue. While I do believe it is a good idea to encourage the creation of a backup, it is not crucial to do so immediately upon creation of a new npub that has nothing at stake if the private key is lost. This is something the UI could remind the user to do at a later time, reducing the friction of profile creation, and expediting getting them into the action.

Outside of these minor onboarding friction points, I think Amber does a great job of explaining to the user the purpose of each of its features, all within the app and without any need to reference external documentation. As long as the user understands the basic concept that their private key is being stored by Amber in order to sign requests from other Nostr apps, so they don't have to be given the private key, Amber is very good about explaining the rest without getting too far into the technical weeds.

The most glaring usability issue with Amber is that it isn't available in the Play Store. Average users expect to be able to find applications they can trust in their mobile device's default app store. There is a valid argument to be made that they are incorrect in this assumption, but that doesn't change the fact that this is the assumption most people make. They believe that applications in the Play Store are "safe" and that anything they can't install through the Play Store is suspect. The prompts that the Android operating system requires the user to approve when installing "unknown apps" certainly doesn't help with this impression.

Now, I absolutely love the Zapstore from franzap (npub1wf4…dgh9), but it doesn't do much to alleviate this issue. Users will still need to be convinced that it is safe to install the Zapstore from the GitHub repo, and then install Amber from there. Furthermore, this adds yet another step to the onboarding process.

Instead of:

Install Amber

Set up your keys

Install the client you want to use

Log in with Amber

The process becomes:

Go to the Zapstore GitHub and download the latest version from the releases page.

Install the APK you downloaded, allowing any prompt to install unknown apps.

Open Zapstore and install Amber, allowing any prompt to install unknown apps again.

Open Amber and set up your keys.

Install the client you want to use

Log in with Amber

An application as important as Amber for protecting users' private keys should be as readily available to the new user as possible. New users are the ones most prone to making mistakes that could compromise their private keys. Amber should be available to them in the Play Store.

How do UI Look?

Score: 4.5 / 5

Amber's UI can be described as clean but utilitarian. But then, Amber is a tool, so this is somewhat expected. It is not an app you will be spending a lot of time in, so the UI just needs to be serviceable. I would say it accomplishes this and then some. UI elements are generally easy to understand what they do, and page headings fill in the gaps where that is not the case.

I am not the biggest fan of the color-scheme, particularly in light-mode, but it is not bad in dark-mode at all, and Amber follows whatever theme you have set for your device in that respect. Additionally, the color choice does make sense given the application's name.

It must also be taken into consideration that Amber is almost entirely the product of a single developer's work. He has done a great job producing an app that is not only useful, but pleasant to interact with. The same cannot be said for most utility apps I have previously used, with interfaces that clearly made good design the lowest priority. While Amber's UI may not be the most beautiful Nostr app I have seen, design was clearly not an afterthought, either, and it is appreciated.

Relay Management

Score: 4.9 / 5

Even though Amber is not a Nostr client, where users can browse notes from their favorite npubs, it still relies heavily on relays for some of its features. Primarily, it uses relays for communicating with other Nostr apps for remote signing requests. However, it also uses relays to fetch profile data, so that each private key you add to Amber will automatically load your chosen username and profile picture.

In the relay settings, users can choose which relays are being used to fetch profile data, and which relays will be used by default when creating new remote signing connection strings.

The user can also see which relays are currently connected to Amber and even look at the information that has been passed back and forth on each of those active relays. This information about actively connected relays is not only available within the application, but also in the notification that Amber has to keep in your device's notification tray in order to continue to operate in the background while you are using other apps.

Optionality is the name of the game when it comes to how Amber handles relay selection. The user can just stick with the default signing relay, use their own relay as the default, or even use a different relay for each Nostr application that they connect to for remote signing. Amber gives the user an incredible amount of flexibility in this regard.

In addition to all of this, because not all relays accept the event types needed for remote signing, when you add a relay address to Amber, it automatically tests that relay to see if it will work. This alone can be a massive time saver, so users aren't trying to use relays that don't support remote signing and wondering why they can't log into noStrudel with the connection string they got from Amber.

The only way I could see relay management being improved would be some means of giving the user relay recommendations, in case they want to use a relay other than relay.nsec.app, but they aren't sure which other relays will accept remote signing events. That said, most users who want to use a different relay for signing remote events will likely be using their own, in which case recommendations aren't needed.

Current Users' Questions

The AskNostr hashtag can be a good indication of the pain points that other users are currently having with any Nostr application. Here are some of the most common questions submitted about Amber in the last two months.

nevent1q…0585

This is a good example of Amber working correctly, but the app the user is trying to log into not working. In my experience with #Olas in particular, it sometimes allows remote signer login, and sometimes doesn't. Amber will receive the signing request and I will approve it, but Olas remains on the login screen.

If Amber is receiving the signing requests, and you are approving them, the fault is likely with the application you are trying to log into.

That's it. That's all the repeated questions I could find. Oh, there were a few one-off questions where relay.nsec.app wouldn't connect, or where the user's out-of-date web browser was the issue. Outside of that, though, there were no common questions about how to use Amber, and that is a testament to Amber's ease of use all on its own.

Wrap Up

If you are on Android and you are not already using Amber to protect your nsec, please do yourself a favor and get it installed. It's not at all complicated to set up, and it will make trying out all the latest Nostr clients a safe and pleasant experience.

If you are a client developer and you have not added support for NIP-55 or NIP-46, do your users the courtesy of respecting the sanctity of their private keys. Even developers who have no intention of compromising their users' keys can inadvertently do so. Make that eventuality impossible by adding support for NIP-55 and NIP-46 signing.

Finally, I apologize for the extended time it took me to get this review finished. The time I have available is scarce, Nostr is distracting, and greenart7c3 (npub1w4u…0jr5) kept improving Amber even as I was putting it through its paces over the last two months. Keep shipping, my friend! You have made one of the most useful tools we have seen for Nostr to date!

Now... What should I review next?

There's not a lot of manual communication that has to take ...

2025-01-03T03:39:33Z

In reply to nevent1q…x7rj
_________________________

There's not a lot of manual communication that has to take place the way Shopstr has things set up, but a seller DOES need to be notified of the sale in some way, along with shipping details for sending out the product, and the buyer should receive some form of communication that the order has been received and accepted, and then a notification when it has been shipped. Shopstr handles most of these communications automatically, "while the seller is busy doing other things." The seller just needs to send the buyer notification when the item has shipped, which Shopstr would have no way of knowing has or has not taken place.

The issue is that all of this automatic notification is occurring via NIP-17 DMs that sellers may not have access to in their client of choice, and may not realize they need to check on a regular basis for order notifications. That doesn't have anything to do with the NIP-15 spec, though. That NIP specifies kind 4 DMs as the notification method, which is currently supported by most clients, but which some are considering removing since they leak metadata.

Also, Shopstr is based on NIP-99 "Classifieds" rather than NIP-15 "Marketplaces."

GM #Nostr! After much testing and discussion with the developer, ...

2025-01-02T19:23:57Z

GM #Nostr!

After much testing and discussion with the developer, I have decided #Shopstr is not yet ready for a full review.

The short version is, Shopstr is a fantastic idea and I hope to see it build upon the foundation that has been laid, but there are still some major pitfalls to using NIP-99 based marketplaces in general.

A good chunk of this is no fault of Shopstr's solo developer, calvadev (npub16dh…0nkq), whatsoever. This is because communication between a buyer and a seller must happen privately somehow, and DMs on Nostr are currently a mess. The best we currently have are NIP-17 DMs, but they are not supported by some of the most popular clients, and sometimes they aren't received even on clients that do support them.

For the sake of his users' privacy, calvadev (npub16dh…0nkq) has relied on the best Nostr-native standard we currently have available to us for communication. Additionally, he has sought to mitigate the poor receiver-side privacy of Lightning by routing payments via eCash and sent to the seller via DM. A sort of VPN-for-payments approach, which is quite clever in my opinion.

However, since not everyone is using a client that can receive NIP-17 DMs, and even those who are don't check their DM requests regularly, this has resulted in a poor experience for both buyers and sellers, with some sellers resolving to take their listings down altogether. Hopefully we will see a better spec for DMs soon, and we will see wide adoption of it by clients, so these types of issues can be resolved.

Until then, and because it is largely no fault of the dev, I do not feel I can give Shopstr a fair shake at a full review.

I'll start looking into the next app I want to review shortly. Stay tuned!

Will give it a shot later tonight from home.

2024-12-21T02:55:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…vjzc
_________________________

Will give it a shot later tonight from home.

Very doubtful, as I am no dev, and I use my Alby Hub almost ...

2024-12-21T00:07:44Z

In reply to nevent1q…r2ra
_________________________

Very doubtful, as I am no dev, and I use my Alby Hub almost exclusively.

Spent a good chunk of the last two days picking ...

2024-12-20T05:18:14Z

Spent a good chunk of the last two days picking calvadev (nprofile…p6g5)'s brain about the issues I was having when testing out #Shopstr, only to find out the entire problem was my ISP blocking traffic with Minibits (nprofile…r4s5)....

Thank you for your incredible patience, sir!

I have started in on reviewing Shopstr. Is there a preferred way ...

2024-12-18T05:13:52Z

In reply to nevent1q…xzxx
_________________________

I have started in on reviewing Shopstr. Is there a preferred way I could reach out to you directly with questions?

If you opened the channels, chances are all of the liquidity is ...

2024-12-16T21:39:13Z

In reply to nevent1q…h5uu
_________________________

If you opened the channels, chances are all of the liquidity is on your side of the channels, so you can't receive anything. You either need to purchase a channel from someone else, so all the liquidity is on their side of the channel, or you need to send some sats out, either to another Lightning wallet you own, or start zapping some folks, or you can send larger amounts to yourself on-chain using Boltz.exchange.

Cool. I wonder if anyone has started a Nostr-based #Plebnet ...

2024-12-16T17:23:58Z

In reply to nevent1q…8yym
_________________________

Cool. I wonder if anyone has started a Nostr-based #Plebnet yet...

I'll poke around and let you know if I find anything.

Not sure about Minibits having G an npub, but yes, you would ...

2024-12-16T03:32:57Z

In reply to nevent1q…p23u
_________________________

Not sure about Minibits having G an npub, but yes, you would replace the primal lightning address with the one from Minibits in your profile.

You can also change that lightning address if you don't like the one they assigned you:

On #Amethyst, go to the zap settings by long pressing the zap ...

2024-12-16T03:00:10Z

In reply to nevent1q…e0zc
_________________________

On #Amethyst, go to the zap settings by long pressing the zap icon on any post and paste your connection string from Minibits here:

On #Primal, go to the Settings, then wallet settings, and paste the same connection string here:

@nprofile…xnfk would be a better one to ask about the exact ...

2024-12-16T02:55:02Z

In reply to nevent1q…w6d3
_________________________

calle (nprofile…xnfk) would be a better one to ask about the exact risks.

Essentially, Ecash is still very much experimental. Additionally, only choose reputable mints. Minibits runs their own mint, though, and I have never had issues with it. The mint is custodianof the actual sats, and they issue you tokens to redeem those sats, so they could rug you at any time.

Nope! Built into the wallet! ...

2024-12-16T02:50:33Z

In reply to nevent1q…pcz6
_________________________

Nope! Built into the wallet!

Just copy and paste the connection string into Amethyst's zap settings once you have set a daily budget and named the connection.

What's a #Nostr centric lightning channel? I have heard of ...

2024-12-16T02:44:57Z

In reply to nevent1q…s8f4
_________________________

What's a #Nostr centric lightning channel? I have heard of wallet apps built for Nostr integration, but I have not heard of specific channels focused on Nostr.

I am also not sure how you would add liquidity to a channel that you are not already one of the channel partners.

Maybe you are looking for Lightning nodes focused on Nostr that might need another channel for incoming liquidity?

Any Nostr Wallet Connect compatible wallet will work with ...

2024-12-16T02:41:01Z

In reply to nevent1q…fjre
_________________________

Any Nostr Wallet Connect compatible wallet will work with #Amethyst and Minibits (nprofile…r4s5) is definitely one of them.

That would be a question for @nprofile…p6g5, but I don't ...

2024-12-15T17:35:09Z

In reply to nevent1q…amk4
_________________________

That would be a question for calvadev (nprofile…p6g5), but I don't believe that matters.

@nprofile…5y4p THANK YOU for that fat zap!

2024-12-15T16:59:30Z

In reply to nevent1q…9dey
_________________________

I1225cgh856xzzss (nprofile…5y4p) THANK YOU for that fat zap!

Damus or Nostur. Primal is also available on iOS and is generally ...

2024-12-15T16:18:45Z

In reply to nevent1q…093v
_________________________

Damus or Nostur. Primal is also available on iOS and is generally a very approachable client for new folks.

If he goes with Damus, remember to have him go to https;//zap.army/ to enable zapping notes.

Saw that. But it was only after OP proved he understood your ...

2024-12-15T16:10:38Z

In reply to nevent1q…hxhr
_________________________

Saw that. But it was only after OP proved he understood your reply exactly as I knew he would:

quoting
nevent1q…sgtz
Alright, so because strike is unavailable in Canada this means that I am unable to zap?

Looking at the original note, his goal is to be able to zap on ...

2024-12-15T16:08:28Z

In reply to nevent1q…72nu
_________________________

Looking at the original note, his goal is to be able to zap on Primal, but Primal's wallet is not available for Canada, and he wants to know if there is a way around it.

Your response made it seem like there is no way around it. Either use their wallet,giving them KYC info, or you're SOL.

That is not the case. The way around it is to use a NWC enabled wallet and connect it to Primal in the wallet settings.

This is not true. You can connect an external wallet to zap with ...

2024-12-15T16:03:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…wnxm
_________________________

This is not true. You can connect an external wallet to zap with Primal.

I would recommend using another wallet with Nostr Wallet Connect ...

2024-12-15T16:02:16Z

In reply to nevent1q…g9cx
_________________________

I would recommend using another wallet with Nostr Wallet Connect so you can connect it to Primal in the wallet settings. You can do this self-custody using Alby (nprofile…qss4) Hub, or you can do it with a custodial option using OVO (nprofile…0pev).

Have you checked out unleashed.chat? Reasonably priced. You pay ...

2024-12-15T00:03:28Z

In reply to nevent1q…q744
_________________________

Have you checked out unleashed.chat? Reasonably priced. You pay in sats. Has Nostr integration and a few different models to choose from.

@npub1m4n…c2jl has this one: #note1gw7…z8p7 Not sure how ...

2024-12-14T23:49:21Z

In reply to nevent1q…zk3d
_________________________

Laeserin (npub1m4n…c2jl) has this one:

quoting
note1gw7…z8p7

# Nostr Developers

Anyone contributing code or auxiliary code (tests, build scripts, mockups, CSS, UML, etc.) to a Nostr project. Please name at least one project worked on.

This is not an exhaustive list and it will never be complete. Please fork and add, as necessary. Please do not add team or product names, only individual developers.

Being added to the page only means that there is evidence of them working on a Nostr project. It is not an endorsement of any particular project.

## The List

| **Handle** | **Identifier** | **Project(s)** |
| ---------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Abhay | npub1cgd35mxmy37vhkfcmjckk9dylguz6q8l67cj6h9m45tj5rx569cql9kfex | [Formstr](https://formstr.app ) |
| Agr0n | npub1pp355axf69z8ndrz8zdnqa54s90e5xy737mwqk9e9cvt606nwszsdx8nu7 | [eNuts](https://apps.apple.com/de/app/enuts/id6477824421) |
| Akiomi Kamakura | npub1f5uuywemqwlejj2d7he6zjw8jz9wr0r5z6q8lhttxj333ph24cjsymjmug | [Nostrends](https://nostrends.vercel.app/), [Nosey](https://nosey.vercel.app) |
| Aleks Svetski | npub1dtgg8yk3h23ldlm6jsy79tz723p4sun9mz62tqwxqe7c363szkzqm8up6m | [Satlantis](https://www.satlantis.io/) |
| Alex Gleason | npub108pv4cg5ag52nq082kd5leu9ffrn2gdg6g4xdwatn73y36uzplmq9uyev6 | [NosDrive](https://nosdrive.app/) |
| Ben | npub10000000thpep7auj058803nqtymqlf3rw87lzhe6mkfeywnpxg5sjw7nql | Stemstr |
| Ben the Car Man | npub1u8lnhlw5usp3t9vmpz60ejpyt649z33hu82wc2hpv6m5xdqmuxhs46turz | [Zapplepay Autozap](https://www.zapplepay.com/autozap) |
| Bitkarrot | npub18pudjhdhhp2v8gxnkttt00um729nv93tuepjda2jrwn3eua5tf5s80a699 | [Hive Talk](https://hivetalk.org/) |
| Bordalix | npub1vt803quxxq32fuwkp42g2lyaw2t9qupvnl3z0vyc3s9kudkyhn8qt28cxv | [Nostr Utils](https://joaobordalo.com/portfolio/nostr-utils.html) |
| Brugeman, Artur | npub1xdtducdnjerex88gkg2qk2atsdlqsyxqaag4h05jmcpyspqt30wscmntxy | [Nostr Band](https://nostr.band/) |
| Calle | npub12rv5lskctqxxs2c8rf2zlzc7xx3qpvzs3w4etgemauy9thegr43sf485vg | [Cashu](https://github.com/cashubtc/nutshell) |
| Calvadev | npub16dhgpql60vmd4mnydjut87vla23a38j689jssaqlqqlzrtqtd0kqex0nkq | [Shopstr](https://shopstr.store) |
| Cameri | npub1qqqqqqyz0la2jjl752yv8h7wgs3v098mh9nztd4nr6gynaef6uqqt0n47m | |
| Captain | npub1cpstx8lzhwctunfe80rugz5qsj9ztw8surec9j6mf8phha68dj6qhm8j5e | [Nostr Graveyard](https://nostr-graveyard.vercel.app/), [[GitCitadel]] |
| Chief Monkey | npub1a3um269aaf3u5cy37kuykrrrnsg2pyv7za06pxjduv25lq5sdujs2qmdj6 | [Plebian Market](https://plebeian.market/) |
| ChipTuner | npub1qdjn8j4gwgmkj3k5un775nq6q3q7mguv5tvajstmkdsqdja2havq03fqm7 | [[Noscrypt]] library, [[GitCitadel]] |
| Chrisatmachine | npub1ygzj9skr9val9yqxkf67yf9jshtyhvvl0x76jp5er09nsc0p3j6qr260k2 | [Blogstack](https://blogstack.io/) |
| ChunkSlap | npub1jpqqht86ks4gkfdepreugedwfcz8gg5me9v8q7jmq9vyv2805rlseq7fpk | [Keys.band](https://keys.band/) |
| Cloud Fodder | npub10npj3gydmv40m70ehemmal6vsdyfl7tewgvz043g54p0x23y0s8qzztl5h | [relay.tools](https://relay.tools/) |
| DanConwayDev | npub15qydau2hjma6ngxkl2cyar74wzyjshvl65za5k5rl69264ar2exs5cyejr | [[GitWorkshop]] |
| Daniel | daniel@nos.social | [Undocumented Nostr Kinds](https://undocumented.nostrkinds.info/) |
| Daniel Wigton | npub1w4jkwspqn9svwnlrw0nfg0u2yx4cj6yfmp53ya4xp7r24k7gly4qaq30zp | [[GitCitadel]] |
| Dashu | npub19yeqjawls407xjnmgkk6yss7936pcd7qzd5srlj8wye6j8433vrsjazqwk | [Nostrmo](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/nostrmo/id6447441761) |
| Diego | npub168nqgewzkamnyh53x0epqrftkv2pdh9gzr6558v4vetzr3w7uxfs63926e | [Nos2X-fox browser signer](https://diegogurpegui.com/nos2x-fox/) |
| Dluvian | npub1useke4f9maul5nf67dj0m9sq6jcsmnjzzk4ycvldwl4qss35fvgqjdk5ks | [Voyage](https://github.com/dluvian/voyage) |
| Don't Believe The Hype | npub1nxa4tywfz9nqp7z9zp7nr7d4nchhclsf58lcqt5y782rmf2hefjquaa6q8 | [[Amethyst]], NostrAIDVM (npub1cc79kn3phxc7c6mn45zynf4gtz0khkz59j4anew7dtj8fv50aqrqlth2hf) |
| Doug Hoyte | npub1yxprsscnjw2e6myxz73mmzvnqw5kvzd5ffjya9ecjypc5l0gvgksh8qud4 | [Strfry](https://github.com/hoytech/strfry) Oddbean (obsolete) |
| Dread | npub1u0uch7uuh6m4vwsnnxpkqtjs7ctvkl4mqmpjjkuwudmn9rc9zgrqx6rrgt | ?? |
| Dtonon | npub10000003zmk89narqpczy4ff6rnuht2wu05na7kpnh3mak7z2tqzsv8vwqk | [Nostr Design](https://github.com/dtonon) |
| Egge | npub1mhcr4j594hsrnen594d7700n2t03n8gdx83zhxzculk6sh9nhwlq7uc226 | [Npub Cash](https://npub.cash/) |
| Electronic Monkey | npub1ghzp7g0peac4lfkeegst3cqz546dk7a5n6twazvrf3nd432yddaqa3qtwq | [Flycat](https://flycat.club/) |
| Enki | npub1gnwpctdec0aa00hfy4lvadftu08ccs9677mr73h9ddv2zvw8fu9smmerrq | [Sovereign Bitcoiner](https://sovbit.host/) |
| Fabian | npub1n0sturny6w9zn2wwexju3m6asu7zh7jnv2jt2kx6tlmfhs7thq0qnflahe | [Nostur](https://nostur.com/) |
| Fiatjaf | npub180cvv07tjdrrgpa0j7j7tmnyl2yr6yr7l8j4s3evf6u64th6gkwsyjh6w6 | [Wikistr](https://wikistr.com/), [Nostr Tools](https://github.com/nbd-wtf/nostr-tools), [NAK](https://github.com/fiatjaf/nak) |
| Finrod Felagund | npub1ecdlntvjzexlyfale2egzvvncc8tgqsaxkl5hw7xlgjv2cxs705s9qs735 | [[GitCitadel]] |
| Fishcake | npub1nxy4qpqnld6kmpphjykvx2lqwvxmuxluddwjamm4nc29ds3elyzsm5avr7 | [Nostr Build](https://nostr.build/) |
| Franzap | npub1wf4pufsucer5va8g9p0rj5dnhvfeh6d8w0g6eayaep5dhps6rsgs43dgh9 | [Zap Store](https://zap.store) |
| FreeFrom | npub1sctag667a7np6p6ety2up94pnwwxhd2ep8n8afr2gtr47cwd4ewsvdmmjm | [FreeFrom](https://freefrom.space/) |
| Florian | npub1klr0dy2ul2dx9llk58czvpx73rprcmrvd5dc7ck8esg8f8es06qs427gxc | [Slidestr](https://slidestr.net) |
| GBKS | npub1kuc70777tsvj67fl75s2dmy376t97hv05xmyuyshzzy6vhj5q5jstv0eyw | [Nosta](https://nosta.me/) |
| GS Sovereignty | npub1mygerccwqpzyh9pvp6pv44rskv40zutkfs38t0hqhkvnwlhagp6s3psn5p | [Nostrocket](https://nostrocket.org/rockets) |
| GreenArt7c3 | npub1w4uswmv6lu9yel005l3qgheysmr7tk9uvwluddznju3nuxalevvs2d0jr5 | [Amber](https://github.com/greenart7c3/Amber) |
| Negrunch | npub1qqqqqqqx2tj99mng5qgc07cgezv5jm95dj636x4qsq7svwkwmwnse3rfkq | [Rana](https://github.com/grunch/rana) |
| Gzuuus | npub1gzuushllat7pet0ccv9yuhygvc8ldeyhrgxuwg744dn5khnpk3gs3ea5ds | [Nostree](https://nostree.me/) |
| Henry | npub1xv6axulxcx6mce5mfvfzpsy89r4gee3zuknulm45cqqpmyw7680q5pxea6 | Stemstr |
| highperfocused | npub1fq8vrf63vsrqjrwqgtwlvauqauc0yme6se8g8dqhcpf6tfs3equqntmzut | [Lumina](https://lumina.rocks/) |
| Hodlbod | npub1jlrs53pkdfjnts29kveljul2sm0actt6n8dxrrzqcersttvcuv3qdjynqn | [Coracle](https://coracle.social/) |
| hzrd149 | npub1ye5ptcxfyyxl5vjvdjar2ua3f0hynkjzpx552mu5snj3qmx5pzjscpknpr | [[Nostrudel]], [[Blossom]] |
| Iefan | npub1cmmswlckn82se7f2jeftl6ll4szlc6zzh8hrjyyfm9vm3t2afr7svqlr6f | [Nostrnet](https://nostrnet.work/) |
| Jack Chakany | npub1chakany8dcz93clv4xgcudcvhnfhdyqutprq2yh72daydevv8zasmuhf02 | [Nosbin](https://nosbin.com/) |
| James | npub10a8kw2hsevhfycl4yhtg7vzrcpwpu7s6med27juf4lzqpsvy270qrh8zkw | [[Obsidian Nostr Writer]] |
| Jeff G | npub1zuuajd7u3sx8xu92yav9jwxpr839cs0kc3q6t56vd5u9q033xmhsk6c2uc | [Listr](https://listr.lol/) |
| Jingles | npub1alpha9l6f7kk08jxfdaxrpqqnd7vwcz6e6cvtattgexjhxr2vrcqk86dsn | [Nostr Kiwi](https://nostr.kiwi/), [Satcom](https://satcom.app/) |
| Josua Schmidt | npub1axy65mspxl2j5sgweky6uk0h4klmp00vj7rtjxquxure2j6vlf5smh6ukq | Testautomation for Nips |
| Karnage | npub1r0rs5q2gk0e3dk3nlc7gnu378ec6cnlenqp8a3cjhyzu6f8k5sgs4sq9ac | [Nostr Design](https://nostrdesign.org) |
| Katie | npub1qlkwmzmrhzpuak7c2g9akvcrh7wzkd7zc7fpefw9najwpau662nqealf5y | Nostr.wine |
| KenCode | npub1tudt8gchdhx05vuku4f7sydr3ra0aa6vaekc3ewrj2fn83paeduqpc99uk | [Agorise]() |
| Kieran | npub1v0lxxxxutpvrelsksy8cdhgfux9l6a42hsj2qzquu2zk7vc9qnkszrqj49 | [Snort](https://snort.social/) |
| Koala Sat | npub1v3tgrwwsv7c6xckyhm5dmluc05jxd4yeqhpxew87chn0kua0tjzqc6yvjh | [Nostros](https://github.com/KoalaSat/nostros) |
| LeoLox | npub1w9llyw8c3qnn7h27u3msjlet8xyjz5phdycr5rz335r2j5hj5a0qvs3tur | [Camelus](https://camelus.app/) |
| Liminal | npub1m3xdppkd0njmrqe2ma8a6ys39zvgp5k8u22mev8xsnqp4nh80srqhqa5sf | [[nkbip-01]], [[GitCitadel]] |
| Low Information Voter | npub1494rtg3ygq4cqawymgs0q3mcj6hucvu4kmadv03s5ey2sg32df5shtzmp0 | [Minitru](https://gitworkshop.dev/r/naddr1qqrk66twd968yagpzemhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzv9hxgq3q494rtg3ygq4cqawymgs0q3mcj6hucvu4kmadv03s5ey2sg32df5sxpqqqpmejnlutry/) |
| ManiMe | npub1manlnflyzyjhgh970t8mmngrdytcp3jrmaa66u846ggg7t20cgqqvyn9tn | [Nostr Meet](https://nostrmeet.me/) |
| Martti Malmi | npub1g53mukxnjkcmr94fhryzkqutdz2ukq4ks0gvy5af25rgmwsl4ngq43drvk | Iris |
| Matt Lorentz | npub16zsllwrkrwt5emz2805vhjewj6nsjrw0ge0latyrn2jv5gxf5k0q5l92l7 | [Nos Social](https://nos.social/) |
| Mattn | npub1937vv2nf06360qn9y8el6d8sevnndy7tuh5nzre4gj05xc32tnwqauhaj6 | [Algia](https://github.com/mattn/algia) |
| Mazin | npub18kzz4lkdtc5n729kvfunxuz287uvu9f64ywhjz43ra482t2y5sks0mx5sz | [Nostr Wine](https://nostr.wine/) |
| MichaelJ / buttercat | npub1wqfzz2p880wq0tumuae9lfwyhs8uz35xd0kr34zrvrwyh3kvrzuskcqsyn | [[Aedile NDK]], [[GitCitadel]] |
| MichZ | npub1jdyaqyngdj4tgmmtlm7j7npkr3fwzjcumcwdqf68dc9wd5lf39rqwlfwsu | My Librarian |
| Mike Dilger | npub1acg6thl5psv62405rljzkj8spesceyfz2c32udakc2ak0dmvfeyse9p35c | |
| Miljan | npub16c0nh3dnadzqpm76uctf5hqhe2lny344zsmpm6feee9p5rdxaa9q586nvr | [Primal](https://primal.net/) |
| Mleku | npub1fjqqy4a93z5zsjwsfxqhc2764kvykfdyttvldkkkdera8dr78vhsmmleku | [replicatr relay](https://mleku.net/) |
| Moss | npub129z0az8lgffuvsywazww07hx75qas3veh3dazsq56z8y39v86khs2uy5gm | [Freerse](https://freerse.com/) |
| Niel Liesmons | npub149p5act9a5qm9p47elp8w8h3wpwn2d7s2xecw2ygnrxqp4wgsklq9g722q | Highlighter |
| Noshole | npub1ymt2j3n8tesrlr0yhaheem6yyqmmwrr7actslurw6annls6vnrcslapxnz | [Turd Soup](https://turdsoup.com/) |
| Nostr Build | npub1nxy4qpqnld6kmpphjykvx2lqwvxmuxluddwjamm4nc29ds3elyzsm5avr7 | [Nostr Build](https://nostr.build/) |
| OpenMike | npub1a6c3jcdj23ptzcuflek8a04f4hc2cdkat95pd6n3r8jjrwyzrw0q43lfrr | [Tunestr](https://welcome.tunestr.io/) |
| 0xtr | npub1ktt8phjnkfmfrsxrgqpztdjuxk3x6psf80xyray0l3c7pyrln49qhkyhz0 | [Nostr Tool](https://github.com/0xtrr/nostr-tool) |
| Pablo | npub1l2vyh47mk2p0qlsku7hg0vn29faehy9hy34ygaclpn66ukqp3afqutajft | [Shipyard](https://shipyard.pub/), [Highlighter](https://highlighter.com/), [Wikifreedia](https://wikifreedia.xyz/) |
| Pitiunited | npub178umpxtdflcm7a08nexvs4mu384kx0ngg9w8ltm5eut6q7lcp0vq05qrg4 | [Swarmstr](https://swarmstr.com ) |
| Purple | npub1896p07z8xngpct5ma00mdrad4gqfnwfwdqcl706wrm25ajynahhs27x5ge | [[GitWorkshop]] |
| Quentin | npub138s5hey76qrnm2pmv7p8nnffhfddsm8sqzm285dyc0wy4f8a6qkqtzx624 | [NostrCheck Server](https://github.com/quentintaranpino/nostrcheck-api-ts) |
| Rabble | npub1wmr34t36fy03m8hvgl96zl3znndyzyaqhwmwdtshwmtkg03fetaqhjg240 | Nos Social |
| Reya | npub1zfss807aer0j26mwp2la0ume0jqde3823rmu97ra6sgyyg956e0s6xw445 | [Lume](https://lume.nu/) |
| Roberto | npub1uapy44zhu5f0markfftt7m2z3gr2zwssq6h3lw8qlce0d5pjvhrs3q9pmv | Damus |
| Rock | npub1yauhh489aefdkzsewe5vj2u68elzxlsln7nn5yxr34e3c22vljdqkn7h9m | Stemstr |
| Rockstar | npub1j8y6tcdfw3q3f3h794s6un0gyc5742s0k5h5s2yqj0r70cpklqeqjavrvg | [BTCPay Server](https://github.com/btcpayserver) |
| Ronin | npub13thhtj384uq2dacvzjr94efgvrxdcd50geyecl8kkg6jkzd8p86sgtwvcs | [Oblisk Sync](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/oblisk-sync/jbjbhombfpkgggbghnjgdigbkflocmlk ) |
| RooSoft | npub1alyr7qwglvcfmukgse4cc7fyej9k7pvq4lw7r4hpdc4kzp7zsckqmy0qkx | [Elixir](https://github.com/RooSoft/nostr) |
| Sarakeshtix | npub1zumzudhtu2558fgvycnjlc7pq9l4m338vghgcfzafftz9qg45ruslzpl4x | [Memestr](https://memestr.app/) |
| Sam Samskies | npub1vp8fdcyejd4pqjyrjk9sgz68vuhq7pyvnzk8j0ehlljvwgp8n6eqsrnpsw | [Advanced Nostr Search](https://advancednostrsearch.vercel.app/) |
| Sandwich | npub1uac67zc9er54ln0kl6e4qp2y6ta3enfcg7ywnayshvlw9r5w6ehsqq99rx | [Nostr Watch](https://nostr.watch) |
| Santos | npub1kkumsnghywv56pspxcrzyla4hy0em6yzpvzvlpydrhxvy0g9fuusyqgewf | ZBD |
| Sep | npub18c556t7n8xa3df2q82rwxejfglw5przds7sqvefylzjh8tjne28qld0we7 | [Docstr](https://docstr.app/), [Pinstr](https://pinstr.app/) |
| Semisol | npub12262qa4uhw7u8gdwlgmntqtv7aye8vdcmvszkqwgs0zchel6mz7s6cgrkj | [Nostr Follow List Recovery Tool](https://hist.nostr.land/) |
| Seth | npub15u3cqhx6vuj3rywg0ph5mfv009lxja6cyvqn2jagaydukq6zmjwqex05rq | [Zap Cooking](https://zap.cooking) |
| Sherry | npub1ejxswthae3nkljavznmv66p9ahp4wmj4adux525htmsrff4qym9sz2t3tv | [[Nostrocket]] |
| Silberengel / Laeserin | npub1l5sga6xg72phsz5422ykujprejwud075ggrr3z2hwyrfgr7eylqstegx9z | [[GitCitadel]] |
| Sommerfeld | npub16r0tl8a39hhcrapa03559xahsjqj4s0y6t2n5gpdk64v06jtgekqdkz5pl | [[GitWorkshop]], [Sentrum](https://github.com/sommerfelddev/sentrum) |
| SnowCait | npub1s02jksmr6tgmcksf3hnmue7pyzlm0sxwarh7lk8tdeprw2hjg6ysp7fxtw | [Nostter](https://nostter.app/) |
| Stuart Bowman | npub1lunaq893u4hmtpvqxpk8hfmtkqmm7ggutdtnc4hyuux2skr4ttcqr827lj | [Satellite](https://satellite.earth/) |
| Super Testnet | npub1yxp7j36cfqws7yj0hkfu2mx25308u4zua6ud22zglxp98ayhh96s8c399s | [Nostrgram](https://brilliancebitcoin.github.io/nostrgram/) |
| Syusui_s | npub1jcsr6e38dcepf65nkmrc54mu8jd8y70eael9rv308wxpwep6sxwqgsscyc | [Rabbit](https://rabbit.syusui.net/) |
| Talha Bugra | npub1ajw88ymtx9hjvwtcafau0sx20evdmyjggjt0mxnel7ae577lsxdqgvwxkm | [NostrChat](https://www.nostrchat.io/) |
| Terry Yu | npub1yaul8k059377u9lsu67de7y637w4jtgeuwcmh5n7788l6xnlnrgs3tvjmf | [Nostr SDK for Apple](https://nostr-sdk.github.io/nostr-sdk-ios/documentation/nostrsdk/) |
| Thorwegian | https://berserker.town/@thor | [NADAR](https://nadar.tigerville.no/) |
| Tijl | npub1q7klm2w94hyq3qdm9ffzpahrrq0qcppmjrapzhz0rq6xgq3fdrnqr6atmj | [Wikinostr](https://wikinostr.tijl.xyz/) |
| Tony | npub1t0nyg64g5vwprva52wlcmt7fkdr07v5dr7s35raq9g0xgc0k4xcsedjgqv | [Mutiny Wallet](https://www.mutinywallet.com/) |
| verbiricha | npub107jk7htfv243u0x5ynn43scq9wrxtaasmrwwa8lfu2ydwag6cx2quqncxg | [Habla](https://habla.news/), [Nostrrr Relay Explorer](https://nostrrr.com/), [[GitWorkshop]] |
| Vic | npub1yx6pjypd4r7qh2gysjhvjd9l2km6hnm4amdnjyjw3467fy05rf0qfp7kza | [Corny Chat](https://cornychat.com/) |
| Vitor | npub1gcxzte5zlkncx26j68ez60fzkvtkm9e0vrwdcvsjakxf9mu9qewqlfnj5z | [Amethyst](https://gitworkshop.dev/r/naddr1qqyxzmt9w358jum5qyt8wumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnwdaehgu3wvfskueqzyprqcf0xst760qet2tglytfay2e3wmvh9asdehpjztkceyh0s5r9cqcyqqq80xgrnzxwe/) |
| Vivek | npub1ltx67888tz7lqnxlrg06x234vjnq349tcfyp52r0lstclp548mcqnuz40t | [Zapddit](https://zapddit.com/) |
| Waterdan | npub1dww6jgxykmkt7tqjqx985tg58dxlm7v83sa743578xa4j7zpe3hql6pdnf | [Blowater](https://blowater.app) |
| Water783 | npub10td4yrp6cl9kmjp9x5yd7r8pm96a5j07lk5mtj2kw39qf8frpt8qm9x2wl | [0xchat](www.0xchat.com) |
| Will / jb55 | npub1xtscya34g58tk0z605fvr788k263gsu6cy9x0mhnm87echrgufzsevkk5s | [Damus](https://gitworkshop.dev/r/naddr1qqzkgctdw4esz9nhwden5te0wfjkccte9ehx7um5wghxyctwvspzqvhpsfmr23gwhv795lgjc8uw0v44z3pe4sg2vlh08k0an3wx3cj9qvzqqqrhnyk2k8cc/proposals/) |
| Zach Meyers | npub1zach44xjpc4yyhx6pgse2cj2pf98838kja03dv2e8ly8lfr094vqvm5dy5 | [Flockstr](https://www.flockstr.com/) |

Not sure how current it is, though.

It's actually a pretty cool concept. Here's the interface ...

2024-12-14T22:56:01Z

In reply to nevent1q…hwzy
_________________________

It's actually a pretty cool concept. Here's the interface for setting it up. And I set a maximum limit so some dev couldn't just take it over and ensure their app gets the most "votes."

Also, the point of integrating sats into Nostr was to encourage a ...

2024-12-14T22:52:29Z

In reply to nevent1q…fp2y
_________________________

Also, the point of integrating sats into Nostr was to encourage a value for value economy. If you have read my work, and you think it would be valuable to have me write a review for X app next rather than Y, then you can express that value.

Yeah, that's the only way to set up a poll on #Amethyst. If ...

2024-12-14T22:49:52Z

In reply to nevent1q…fp2y
_________________________

Yeah, that's the only way to set up a poll on #Amethyst. If we had polls that don't require sats, I absolutely would have used that.

We need qualifications for doing anything on #Nostr? My work ...

2024-12-14T22:44:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…ry9x
_________________________

We need qualifications for doing anything on #Nostr?

My work should speak for itself. If the material is informative, accurate, and helpful to decide whether you want to use a Nostr client or tool, and it is presented in a readable and engaging format, then I am adequately qualified. If I have failed in that, well... There's a mute option for a reason. lol

Check out the #gunstr hashtag. You should find what you are ...

2024-12-14T22:16:09Z

In reply to nevent1q…dghy
_________________________

Check out the #gunstr hashtag. You should find what you are looking for.

Exactly. Or whatever amount of sats you want, really. The more ...

2024-12-14T22:07:27Z

In reply to nevent1q…7mnv
_________________________

Exactly. Or whatever amount of sats you want, really. The more sats, the better the hug. 😉

Not all clients display this, but you can attach a message to ...

2024-12-14T22:01:39Z

In reply to nevent1q…mjlt
_________________________

Not all clients display this, but you can attach a message to your zap in some clients. Here's what it looks like in Amethyst:

Qualifications for?

2024-12-14T21:49:57Z

In reply to nevent1q…vsjy
_________________________

Qualifications for?

I really like lightsats.com If they never claim the sats, you can ...

2024-12-14T21:48:19Z

In reply to nevent1q…jvgh
_________________________

I really like lightsats.com

If they never claim the sats, you can get them back easily.

I believe you technically can, but it won't be as clean and ...

2024-12-14T21:46:33Z

In reply to nevent1q…egkk
_________________________

I believe you technically can, but it won't be as clean and easy as using a wallet that has Nostr Wallet Connect, such as an Alby (npub1get…0nfm) Hub wallet, or OVO (npub1h2q…w8ch).

From what I understand, fountain_app (npub1v5u…n0v5) intends to add NWC, so you will be able to use your own wallet with their app. Not sure if they are planning to add it so you can connect their wallet with Nostr apps like #Amethyst, though. I am sure Oscar Merry (npub1unm…d0j2) could provide insight.

Nostr is permissionless. It's kind of the point. As for HOW ...

2024-12-14T21:40:55Z

In reply to nevent1q…yczn
_________________________

Nostr is permissionless. It's kind of the point. As for HOW to develop one... Maybe our DVM legend PABLOF7z (npub1l2v…ajft) has some insight, or can point you in the right direction?

Someone REALLY wants Shopstr to be the next review. I have no ...

2024-12-14T21:36:18Z

Someone REALLY wants Shopstr to be the next review. I have no problem with that!

I have had a few other suggestions since posting this poll, such as ditto.pub and npub.pro. Though I cannot add them to this poll, they will be added to the next one.

I will give folks a few more days to vote on this poll and then start in on reviewing the top vote-getter.

These reviews do take some time, so it probably won't be released until late this month, or early January.

quoting
nevent1q…mc7r

My first ever full-review of #Primal on #Android has been well received. Thank you to everyone who has sent in feedback, zaps, and suggestions!

The review can be read at www.nostr-reviews.com or anywhere long-form notes can be found.

What should I review next? Here are some suggestions I have received:

#Nostr

Head over to shopstr.store to list them. You can also do so ...

2024-12-14T21:26:10Z

In reply to nevent1q…t3kw
_________________________

Head over to shopstr.store to list them.

You can also do so directly through #Amethyst. To do so, create a new post like you normally would, but tap the icon at the bottom of the compose window that looks like a price tag. It's just to the left of the Bitcoin "B." This will change it to a marketplace listing.

If you are looking for subscription type things, where creators ...

2024-12-14T21:18:45Z

In reply to nevent1q…c0a3
_________________________

If you are looking for subscription type things, where creators can automatically unlock certain content for certain subscription levels, keep an eye on what PABLOF7z (npub1l2v…ajft) is building.

For just being able to paywall content, take a look at iefan 🕊️ (npub1cmm…lr6f)'s zpay.live.

There are some other things out there for specific types of content, such as lightning.video.

Looks to be in the lead on my poll, so it will probably be next!

2024-12-14T17:46:08Z

In reply to nevent1q…keef
_________________________

Looks to be in the lead on my poll, so it will probably be next!

That's a great suggestion! As a user of npub.pro myself, I ...

2024-12-14T17:44:55Z

In reply to nevent1q…l8ut
_________________________

That's a great suggestion!

As a user of npub.pro myself, I will almost certainly write a review about it at some point.

Based on my recent poll, probably Shopstr.store.

2024-12-14T17:34:45Z

In reply to nevent1q…fapj
_________________________

Based on my recent poll, probably Shopstr.store.

Tell me you're on #Damus without telling me you're on ...

2024-12-14T04:28:17Z

In reply to nevent1q…r7ke
_________________________

Tell me you're on #Damus without telling me you're on Damus.

You will just need to enable it by going to http://zap.army/

Nostr is the ultimate publishing protocol, in my opinion. You ...

2024-12-14T00:57:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…vzzt
_________________________

Nostr is the ultimate publishing protocol, in my opinion. You could release each chapter as a long-form note using Habla.news or Yakihonne. Another project to keep an eye on is what the folks at GitCitadel (npub1s3h…75wz) are building with Project #Alexandria. The idea is to bring book publishing to Nostr in a robust way, that allows books to be broken down into parts. Yes, by chapter, but also by paragraph, or even by sentence, so a few short sentences could be quote-posted from the book, or added into a long-form note that references the book, etc.

Exactly the same experience here. From what I hear, they will be ...

2024-12-14T00:41:19Z

In reply to nevent1q…rt2f
_________________________

Exactly the same experience here. From what I hear, they will be adding Nostr Wallet Connect, so you can use #Fountain with your own wallet. Really looking forward to that integration.

Excellent! Will need to try it sometime! Didn't think seed ...

2024-12-14T00:10:30Z

In reply to nevent1q…quav
_________________________

Excellent! Will need to try it sometime!

Didn't think seed words was an option since it's not listed here:

Sure did! Thanks for the zap! Glad I could assist. I'll get ...

2024-12-13T22:11:02Z

In reply to nevent1q…wqnw
_________________________

Sure did! Thanks for the zap! Glad I could assist.

I'll get to a full review of #Amethyst eventually, I am sure. Right now it's looking like I will be reviewing #Shopstr next, since it is the app with the most votes on my recent poll.

Sounds like you just need to go back into your zapping settings ...

2024-12-13T20:43:54Z

In reply to nevent1q…9q5a
_________________________

Sounds like you just need to go back into your zapping settings (long press on the zap icon on any post) and re-paste or scan your Nostr Wallet Connect string from your Alby account.

My Android tablet is waiting with bated breath!

2024-12-13T20:36:03Z

In reply to nevent1q…h305
_________________________

My Android tablet is waiting with bated breath!

You are not wrong! In many ways, @npub1xts…kk5s set the initial ...

2024-12-13T20:19:24Z

In reply to nevent1q…eyvm
_________________________

You are not wrong! In many ways, jb55 (npub1xts…kk5s) set the initial standard for what a mobile client experience could be with Damus, and made everyone else seriously up their game!

How about that! You got both of them!

2024-12-13T20:09:10Z

In reply to nevent1q…xpal
_________________________

How about that! You got both of them!

Got it. I am not sure on there, as I am an Android guy. ...

2024-12-13T20:02:56Z

In reply to nevent1q…z0s5
_________________________

Got it. I am not sure on there, as I am an Android guy. jb55 (npub1xts…kk5s) or vrod (npub1h50…rqev) could probably give us some insight, though.

Hashtags are definitely the way. Also, tags don't just need ...

2024-12-13T20:00:59Z

In reply to nevent1q…53zj
_________________________

Hashtags are definitely the way.

Also, tags don't just need to be at the bottom of your post. If you are talking about #Nostr, you can tag it in-line in your post. Same thing if you are talking about virtually any other subject. Consider what words you are already using in your post that might be hashtags folks would look up to find posts on the subject.

Then drop in a few additional hashtags you think might be relevant at the bottom of your note.

Better yet, start interacting with folks who are already using those same hashtags and begin to build a community.

What client are you using? Likely it does not. On #Primal, the ...

2024-12-13T19:52:36Z

In reply to nevent1q…avx0
_________________________

What client are you using? Likely it does not. On #Primal, the yellow "star" with a check-mark in it means the user has donated $1,000 or more to Primal and therefore has a lifetime premium subscription.

Proof of work isn't necessarily proof that the post including ...

2024-12-13T19:45:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…04xr
_________________________

Proof of work isn't necessarily proof that the post including that work is not spam, but it makes it less likely. Someone spamming the network and needing to do PoW for every note they post would become computationally prohibitive.

That said, most average users are not posting from clients that include PoW by default, so only showing notes that include PoW would exclude the vast majority of notes. It is something that I wouldn't be surprised to see explored more fully as Nostr gains more adoption and spam becomes a much more serious problem. Other than a couple short-lived spam attacks on the network, it hasn't really been a major issue yet.

It is possible to follow hashtags, but it is entirely client dependent. Unlike following another npub, nothing is added to your follow list that is saved to your relays when you follow a hashtag, so following a hashtag on #Amethyst will not translate over to #Primal, for instance. As for #noStrudel in particular, I am not sure if it is possible. I have not found it anywhere, but noStrudel has a lot of corners I haven't yet explored. Perhaps hzrd149 (npub1ye5…knpr) can shed some light on this?

Not yet. The #Primal team have promised it is coming here: ...

2024-12-13T19:34:42Z

In reply to nevent1q…83jy
_________________________

Not yet. The #Primal team have promised it is coming here:

quoting
note1n59…8ehl

We're working on it! Definitely on our list ;)

It is currently my biggest gripe with Primal's mobile clients as I mention in my full review at www.nostr-reviews.com

I have also posted a list of clients that DO support Amber on my main npub here:

quoting
note168j…atpe

# Nostr Clients with External Signer Support

This is a list of Nostr clients that I know of and whether they support any external signing NIPs, such as NIP-07 (browser extension), NIP-46 (nsec bunker remote signing), or NIP-55 (Android signer).

If there are any errors in this list, or you know of other Nostr clients that have not been included in this list, please let me know and I will get it updated.

I have left out web apps for two reasons. First, there are far too many of them and new ones cropping up all the time. Second, almost all web apps I have been able to find are supporting NIP-07 extension login, at minimum. Well done, devs!

## Desktop
🟥 Futr (Linux only for now. Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS coming soon.) Sascha-Oliver Prolić (npub18wx…4xra)
🟥 Gossip Mike Dilger ☑️ (npub1acg…p35c) - As of v0.11.3

## Android
✅ 0xChat - 55
✅ Amethyst - 55
✅ Coracle - 46, 55
✅ Flotilla - 46, 55
✅ Fountain - 55
🟥 Freerse Moss (npub129z…y5gm) - As of v1.5.11
🟥 Keychat Keychat (npub1h0u…rwx8) - As of v1.20.3
🟥 MiniBits Minibits (npub1kva…tkzv) - As of v0.1.10
✅ Nestr (Soon to be renamed) - 55
✅ Nostrmo - 55
🟥 Nostros KoalaSat (npub1v3t…yvjh) - As of v0.3.3.3-beta
✅ Olas - 46
🟥 Openvibe openvibe (npub1pls…kx8j) - As of v1.4.5
✅ Pokey - 55**
🟥 Primal miljan (npub16c0…6nvr) - As of v2.0.21
🟥 Snort Kieran (npub1v0l…qj49) - As of v0.2.1
✅ Spring Browser - 07*, 46
✅ Voyage - 55
🟥 Wavlake wavlake (npub1yfg…v6vg) - As of v1.1.0
🟥 Wheroster nickydev (npub18k6…202m) - As of v1.2.6
✅ YakiHonne - 55
✅ Yana - 55

## iOS
❓ Damus - 1.10.1
🟥 Fountain Oscar Merry (npub1unm…d0j2) - As of v1.1.3
❓ Nos.social
❓ Nostur - v1.15.0
🟥 Openvibe openvibe (npub1pls…kx8j) - As of v1.3.3
❓ 0xChat - v 1.3.3
🟥 Primal miljan (npub16c0…6nvr) - As of v1.9.91
🟥 Wheroster nickydev (npub18k6…202m) - As of v1.2.3
❓ YakiHonne - v1.3.5

*Spring is a browser with a built in NIP-07 signing extension for use with web apps on Android. It also supports using NIP-46 for remote signing.

**Pokey is unlike other clients in that it only needs your npub for most functions. It notifies you of various things like reactions, replies,and follows. Yet, it conveniently uses Amber to import your npub. However, per KoalaSat (npub1v3t…yvjh) it does also use Amber to sign for relay auth when configured to do so.

I try to keep this list up to date.

Direct messages on Nostr still need a lot of work, so many users ...

2024-12-13T19:21:48Z

In reply to nevent1q…k0cw
_________________________

Direct messages on Nostr still need a lot of work, so many users avoid them entirely. Some clients are still using only an outdated standard (NIP-04) that leaks metadata about the message sender and recipient. Other clients only use the more recent standard that leaks less metadata (NIP-17). Users on a client using NIP-04 only won't see messages sent using NIP-17, and vice versa.

There are devs working to improve the DM spec to make it usable without leaking metadata at all, and with forward privacy, should your nsec become compromised. Most notably JeffG (npub1zuu…c2uc). Until then, it is advisable to use another protocol, such as SimpleX for direct messages.

You can get your seed words using #Amber signer. Go into your ...

2024-12-13T19:10:19Z

In reply to nevent1q…hckj
_________________________

You can get your seed words using #Amber signer. Go into your settings and seed words are a back-up option.

greenart7c3 (npub1w4u…0jr5) it does not appear that you can input seed words into Amber to add that account for signing. Is this a planned feature in the future, or am I missing something?

You can think of it this way. Nostr notes are all just text. You ...

2024-12-12T22:53:21Z

In reply to nevent1q…xjx5
_________________________

You can think of it this way. Nostr notes are all just text. You can't REALLY put an image file in a note. What is happening is your client is uploading your image file to their default hosting service, or in some cases a custom hosting service you set up, and automatically pasting the link to that image into your note as text.

How that link is displayed is dependent on the Nostr client you are using, and whether the dev has included the ability to parse the image link and display the image instead. There are some Nostr clients out there that don't even display images. They just display the link, though they usually make it so you can click on the link to open the image in your web browser.

Now, while most clients support uploading images to their default hosting service, most do not support uploading video or audio files, or pretty well anything else directly in the client. You will need to find some other way to host those types of files and then paste the link into your note.

As noted by @npub1w4u…0jr5 and @npub1xts…kk5s, you just need ...

2024-12-12T22:40:28Z

In reply to nevent1q…3fcq
_________________________

As noted by greenart7c3 (npub1w4u…0jr5) and jb55 (npub1xts…kk5s), you just need to enable zaps directly to posts by doing one extra step at https://zap.army/

While true, be aware what the hashtag is for. Don't just slap ...

2024-12-12T19:52:22Z

In reply to nevent1q…7c33
_________________________

While true, be aware what the hashtag is for. Don't just slap #grownostr on anything to get views. The idea for the hashtag was to post content that isn't about Nostr or Bitcoin, so that folks can easily have a feed filled with a variety of other content.

You will first need to upload it to a hosting service like ...

2024-12-12T18:43:01Z

In reply to nevent1q…ulcm
_________________________

You will first need to upload it to a hosting service like Nostr.build or CDN.satellite.earth. Then you can copy/paste the link into your note. Some clients will be able to display a playback option within the note itself, while others will just display the link for folks to click on to listen.

You can. I have used Stream Labs for this purpose.

2024-12-12T18:39:09Z

In reply to nevent1q…42v7
_________________________

You can. I have used Stream Labs for this purpose.

I have heard Aqua is also a decent tool to use for swapping from ...

2024-12-12T18:38:14Z

In reply to nevent1q…0tuc
_________________________

I have heard Aqua is also a decent tool to use for swapping from lightning to onchain or vice versa. If I wasn't focusing on reviewing Nostr apps,I might go review it.

Maybe they'll add Nostr integration one day and I will be able to count Aqua as a Nostr app.

Definitely another great suggestion!

2024-12-12T15:55:16Z

In reply to nevent1q…wn3d
_________________________

Definitely another great suggestion!

Folks seem to want to make me spend some sats in my next #Nostr ...

2024-12-12T15:53:01Z

Folks seem to want to make me spend some sats in my next #Nostr review.

quoting
nevent1q…5w99
My first ever full-review of #Primal on #Android has been well received. Thank you to everyone who has sent in feedback, zaps, and suggestions!

The review can be read at www.nostr-reviews.com or anywhere long-form notes can be found.

What should I review next? Here are some suggestions I have received:

What say you #Nostr? Which of these apps would you like to see a ...

2024-12-12T00:00:45Z

What say you #Nostr? Which of these apps would you like to see a deep dive into?

quoting
nevent1q…5w99
My first ever full-review of #Primal on #Android has been well received. Thank you to everyone who has sent in feedback, zaps, and suggestions!

The review can be read at www.nostr-reviews.com or anywhere long-form notes can be found.

What should I review next? Here are some suggestions I have received:

Primal's custodial wallet built into their mobile apps is ...

2024-12-11T19:22:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…t2gq
_________________________

Primal's custodial wallet built into their mobile apps is fantastic for this!

I write about it in my full review of the Android app available here:

quoting
naddr1qq…6adk

I am happy to present to you the first full review posted to Nostr Reviews: #Primal for #Android!

Primal has its origins as a micro-blogging, social media client, though it is now expanding its horizons into long-form content. It was first released only as a web client in March of 2023, but has since had a native client released for both iOS and Android. All of Primal's clients recently had an update to Primal 2.0, which included both performance improvements and a number of new features. This review will focus on the Android client specifically, both on phone and tablet.

Since Primal has also added features that are only available to those enrolled in their new premium subscription, it should also be noted that this review will be from the perspective of a free user. This is for two reasons. First, I am using an alternate npub to review the app, and if I were to purchase premium at some time in the future, it would be on my main npub. Second, despite a lot of positive things I have to say about Primal, I am not planning to regularly use any of their apps on my main account for the time being, for reasons that will be discussed later in the review.

The application can be installed through the Google Play Store, Zapstore (npub10r8…t2p8), or by downloading it directly from Primal's GitHub. The full review is current as of Primal Android version 2.0.21. Updates to the review on 4/30/2025 are current as of version 2.2.13.

In the ecosystem of "notes and other stuff," Primal is predominantly in the "notes" category. It is geared toward users who want a social media experience similar to Twitter or Facebook with an infinite scrolling feed of notes to interact with. However, there is some "other stuff" included to complement this primary focus on short and long form notes including a built-in Lightning wallet powered by #Strike, a robust advanced search, and a media-only feed.

Overall Impression

Score: 4.4 / 5 (Updated 4/30/2025)

Primal may well be the most polished UI of any Nostr client native to Android. It is incredibly well designed and thought out, with all of the icons and settings in the places a user would expect to find them. It is also incredibly easy to get started on Nostr via Primal's sign-up flow. The only two things that will be foreign to new users are the lack of any need to set a password or give an email address, and the prompt to optionally set up the wallet.

Complaints prior to the 2.0 update about Primal being slow and clunky should now be completely alleviated. I only experienced quick load times and snappy UI controls with a couple very minor exceptions, or when loading DVM-based feeds, which are outside of Primal's control.

Primal is not, however, a client that I would recommend for the power-user. Control over preferred relays is minimal and does not allow the user to determine which relays they write to and which they only read from. Though you can use your own wallet, it will not appear within the wallet interface, which only works with the custodial wallet from Strike. Moreover, and most eggregiously, the only way for existing users to log in is by pasting their nsec, as Primal does not support either the Android signer or remote signer options for users to protect their private key at this time. This lack of signer support is the primary reason the client received such a low overall score. If even one form of external signer log in is added to Primal, the score will be amended to 4.2 / 5, and if both Android signer and remote signer support is added, it will increase to 4.5.

Update: As of version 2.2.13, Primal now supports the Amber Android signer! One of the most glaring issues with the app has now been remedied and as promised, the overall score above has been increased.

Another downside to Primal is that it still utilizes an outdated direct message specification that leaks metadata that can be readily seen by anyone on the network. While the content of your messages remains encrypted, anyone can see who you are messaging with, and when. This also means that you will not see any DMs from users who are messaging from a client that has moved to the latest, and far more private, messaging spec.

That said, the beautiful thing about Nostr as a protocol is that users are not locked into any particular client. You may find Primal to be a great client for your average #bloomscrolling and zapping memes, but opt for a different client for more advanced uses and for direct messaging.

Features

Primal has a lot of features users would expect from any Nostr client that is focused on short-form notes, but it also packs in a lot of features that set it apart from other clients, and that showcase Primal's obvious prioritization of a top-tier user experience.

Home Feed

By default, the infinitely scrolling Home feed displays notes from those you currently follow in chronological order. This is traditional Nostr at its finest, and made all the more immersive by the choice to have all distracting UI elements quickly hide themselves from view as the you begin to scroll down the feed. They return just as quickly when you begin to scroll back up.

Scrolling the feed is incredibly fast, with no noticeable choppiness and minimal media pop-in if you are on a decent internet connection.

Helpfully, it is easy to get back to the top of the feed whenever there is a new post to be viewed, as a bubble will appear with the profile pictures of the users who have posted since you started scrolling.

Interacting With Notes

Interacting with a note in the feed can be done via the very recognizable icons at the bottom of each post. You can comment, zap, like, repost, and/or bookmark the note.

Notably, tapping on the zap icon will immediately zap the note your default amount of sats, making zapping incredibly fast, especially when using the built-in wallet. Long pressing on the zap icon will open up a menu with a variety of amounts, along with the ability to zap a custom amount. All of these amounts, and the messages that are sent with the zap, can be customized in the application settings.

Users who are familiar with Twitter or Instagram will feel right at home with only having one option for "liking" a post. However, users from Facebook or other Nostr clients may wonder why they don't have more options for reactions. This is one of those things where users who are new to Nostr probably won't notice they are missing out on anything at all, while users familiar with clients like #Amethyst or #noStrudel will miss the ability to react with a 🤙 or a 🫂.

It's a similar story with the bookmark option. While this is a nice bit of feature parity for Twitter users, for those already used to the ability to have multiple customized lists of bookmarks, or at minimum have the ability to separate them into public and private, it may be a disappointment that they have no access to the bookmarks they already built up on other clients. Primal offers only one list of bookmarks for short-form notes and they are all visible to the public. However, you are at least presented with a warning about the public nature of your bookmarks before saving your first one.

Yet, I can't dock the Primal team much for making these design choices, as they are understandable for Primal's goal of being a welcoming client for those coming over to Nostr from centralized platforms. They have optimized for the onboarding of new users, rather than for those who have been around for a while, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Post Creation

Composing posts in Primal is as simple as it gets. Accessed by tapping the obvious circular button with a "+" on it in the lower right of the Home feed, most of what you could need is included in the interface, and nothing you don't.

Your device's default keyboard loads immediately, and the you can start typing away.

There are options for adding images from your gallery, or taking a picture with your camera, both of which will result in the image being uploaded to Primal's media-hosting server. If you prefer to host your media elsewhere, you can simply paste the link to that media into your post.

There is also an @ icon as a tip-off that you can tag other users. Tapping on this simply types "@" into your note and brings up a list of users. All you have to do to narrow down the user you want to tag is continue typing their handle, Nostr address, or paste in their npub.

This can get mixed results in other clients, which sometimes have a hard time finding particular users when typing in their handle, forcing you to have to remember their Nostr address or go hunt down their npub by another means. Not so with Primal, though. I had no issues tagging anyone I wanted by simply typing in their handle.

Of course, when you are tagging someone well known, you may find that there are multiple users posing as that person. Primal helps you out here, though. Usually the top result is the person you want, as Primal places them in order of how many followers they have. This is quite reliable right now, but there is nothing stopping someone from spinning up an army of bots to follow their fake accounts, rendering follower count useless for determining which account is legitimate. It would be nice to see these results ranked by web-of-trust, or at least an indication of how many users you follow who also follow the users listed in the results.

Once you are satisfied with your note, the "Post" button is easy to find in the top right of the screen.

Feed Selector and Marketplace

Primal's Home feed really shines when you open up the feed selection interface, and find that there are a plethora of options available for customizing your view. By default, it only shows four options, but tapping "Edit" opens up a new page of available toggles to add to the feed selector.

The options don't end there, though. Tapping "Add Feed" will open up the feed marketplace, where an ever-growing number of custom feeds can be found, some created by Primal and some created by others. This feed marketplace is available to a few other clients, but none have so closely integrated it with their Home feeds like Primal has.

Unfortunately, as great as these custom feeds are, this was also the feature where I ran into the most bugs while testing out the app.

One of these bugs was while selecting custom feeds. Occasionally, these feed menu screens would become unresponsive and I would be unable to confirm my selection, or even use the back button on my device to back out of the screen. However, I was able to pull the screen down to close it and re-open the menu, and everything would be responsive again.

This only seemed to occur when I spent 30 seconds or more on the same screen, so I imagine that most users won't encounter it much in their regular use.

Another UI bug occurred for me while in the feed marketplace. I could scroll down the list of available feeds, but attempting to scroll back up the feed would often close the interface entirely instead, as though I had pulled the screen down from the top, when I was swiping in the middle of the screen.

The last of these bugs occurred when selecting a long-form "Reads" feed while in the menu for the Home feed. The menu would allow me to add this feed and select it to be displayed, but it would fail to load the feed once selected, stating "There is no content in this feed." Going to a different page within the the app and then going back to the Home tab would automatically remove the long-form feed from view, and reset back to the most recently viewed short-form "Notes" feed, though the long-form feed would still be available to select again. The results were similar when selecting a short-form feed for the Reads feed.

I would suggest that if long-form and short-form feeds are going to be displayed in the same list, and yet not be able to be displayed in the same feed, the application should present an error message when attempting to add a long-form feed for the Home feed or a short-form feed for the Reads feed, and encourage the user add it to the proper feed instead.

Long-Form "Reads" Feed

A brand new feature in Primal 2.0, users can now browse and read long-form content posted to Nostr without having to go to a separate client. Primal now has a dedicated "Reads" feed to browse and interact with these articles.

This feed displays the author and title of each article or blog, along with an image, if available. Quite conveniently, it also lets you know the approximate amount of time it will take to read a given article, so you can decide if you have the time to dive into it now, or come back later.

Noticeably absent from the Reads feed, though, is the ability to compose an article of your own. This is another understandable design choice for a mobile client. Composing a long-form note on a smart-phone screen is not a good time. Better to be done on a larger screen, in a client with a full-featured text editor.

Tapping an article will open up an attractive reading interface, with the ability to bookmark for later. These bookmarks are a separate list from your short-form note bookmarks so you don't have to scroll through a bunch of notes you bookmarked to find the article you told yourself you would read later and it's already been three weeks.

While you can comment on the article or zap it, you will notice that you cannot repost or quote-post it. It's not that you can't do so on Nostr. You absolutely can in other clients. In fact, you can do so on Primal's web client, too. However, Primal on Android does not handle rendering long-form note previews in the Home feed, so they have simply left out the option to share them there. See below for an example of a quote-post of a long-form note in the Primal web client vs the Android client.

Primal Web:

Primal Android:

The Explore Tab

Another unique feature of the Primal client is the Explore tab, indicated by the compass icon. This tab is dedicated to discovering content from outside your current follow list. You can find the feed marketplace here, and add any of the available feeds to your Home or Reads feed selections. You can also find suggested users to follow in the People tab. The Zaps tab will show you who has been sending and receiving large zaps. Make friends with the generous ones!

The Media tab gives you a chronological feed of just media, displayed in a tile view. This can be great when you are looking for users who post dank memes, or incredible photography on a regular basis. Unfortunately, it appears that there is no way to filter this feed for sensitive content, and so you do not have to scroll far before you see pornographic material.

Indeed, it does not appear that filters for sensitive content are available in Primal for any feed. The app is kind enough to give a minimal warning that objectionable content may be present when selecting the "Nostr Firehose" option in your Home feed, with a brief "be careful" in the feed description, but there is not even that much of a warning here for the media-only feed.

The media-only feed doesn't appear to be quite as bad as the Nostr Firehose feed, so there must be some form of filtering already taking place, rather than being a truly global feed of all media. Yet, occasional sensitive content still litters the feed and is unavoidable, even for users who would rather not see it. There are, of course, ways to mute particular users who post such content, if you don't want to see it a second time from the same user, but that is a never-ending game of whack-a-mole, so your only realistic choices in Primal are currently to either avoid the Nostr Firehose and media-only feeds, or determine that you can put up with regularly scrolling past often graphic content.

This is probably the only choice Primal has made that is not friendly to new users. Most clients these days will have some protections in place to hide sensitive content by default, but still allow the user to toggle those protections off if they so choose. Some of them hide posts flagged as sensitive content altogether, others just blur the images unless the user taps to reveal them, and others simply blur all images posted by users you don't follow. If Primal wants to target new users who are accustomed to legacy social media platforms, they really should follow suit.

The final tab is titled "Topics," but it is really just a list of popular hashtags, which appear to be arranged by how often they are being used. This can be good for finding things that other users are interested in talking about, or finding specific content you are interested in.

If you tap on any topic in the list, it will display a feed of notes that include that hashtag. What's better, you can add it as a feed option you can select on your Home feed any time you want to see posts with that tag.

The only suggestion I would make to improve this tab is some indication of why the topics are arranged in the order presented. A simple indicator of the number of posts with that hashtag in the last 24 hours, or whatever the interval is for determining their ranking, would more than suffice.

Even with those few shortcomings, Primal's Explore tab makes the client one of the best options for discovering content on Nostr that you are actually interested in seeing and interacting with.

Built-In Wallet

While this feature is completely optional, the icon to access the wallet is the largest of the icons at the bottom of the screen, making you feel like you are missing out on the most important feature of the app if you don't set it up. I could be critical of this design choice, but in many ways I think it is warranted. The built-in wallet is one of the most unique features that Primal has going for it.

Consider: If you are a new user coming to Nostr, who isn't already a Bitcoiner, and you see that everyone else on the platform is sending and receiving sats for their posts, will you be more likely to go download a separate wallet application or use one that is built-into your client? I would wager the latter option by a long shot. No need to figure out which wallet you should download, whether you should do self-custody or custodial, or make the mistake of choosing a wallet with unexpected setup fees and no Lightning address so you can't even receive zaps to it. miljan (npub16c0…6nvr) often states that he believes more people will be onboarded to Bitcoin through Nostr than by any other means, and by including a wallet into the Primal client, his team has made adopting Bitcoin that much easier for new Nostr users.

Some of us purists may complain that it is custodial and KYC, but that is an unfortunate necessity in order to facilitate onboarding newcoiners to Bitcoin. This is not intended to be a wallet for those of us who have been using Bitcoin and Lightning regularly already. It is meant for those who are not already familiar with Bitcoin to make it as easy as possible to get off zero, and it accomplishes this better than any other wallet I have ever tried.

In large part, this is because the KYC is very light. It does need the user's legal name, a valid email address, date of birth, and country of residence, but that's it! From there, the user can buy Bitcoin directly through the app, but only in the amount of $4.99 at a time. This is because there is a substantial markup on top of the current market price, due to utilizing whatever payment method the user has set up through their Google Play Store. The markup seemed to be about 19% above the current price, since I could purchase 4,143 sats for $4.99 ($120,415 / Bitcoin), when the current price was about $101,500. But the idea here is not for the Primal wallet to be a user's primary method of stacking sats. Rather, it is intended to get them off zero and have a small amount of sats to experience zapping with, and it accomplishes this with less friction than any other method I know.

Moreover, the Primal wallet has the features one would expect from any Lightning wallet. You can send sats to any Nostr user or Lightning address, receive via invoice, or scan to pay an invoice. It even has the ability to receive via on-chain. This means users who don't want to pay the markup from buying through Primal can easily transfer sats they obtained by other means into the Primal wallet for zapping, or for using it as their daily-driver spending wallet.

Speaking of zapping, once the wallet is activated, sending zaps is automatically set to use the wallet, and they are fast. Primal gives you immediate feedback that the zap was sent and the transaction shows in your wallet history typically before you can open the interface. I can confidently say that Primal wallet's integration is the absolute best zapping experience I have seen in any Nostr client.

One thing to note that may not be immediately apparent to new users is they need to add their Lightning address with Primal into their profile details before they can start receiving zaps. So, sending zaps using the wallet is automatic as soon as you activate it, but receiving is not. Ideally, this could be further streamlined, so that Primal automatically adds the Lightning address to the user's profile when the wallet is set up, so long as there is not currently a Lightning address listed.

Of course, if you already have a Lightning wallet, you can connect it to Primal for zapping, too. We will discuss this further in the section dedicated to zap integration.

Advanced Search

Search has always been a tough nut to crack on Nostr, since it is highly dependent on which relays the client is pulling information from. Primal has sought to resolve this issue, among others, by running a caching relay that pulls notes from a number of relays to store them locally, and perform some spam filtering. This allows for much faster retrieval of search results, and also makes their advanced search feature possible.

Advanced search can be accessed from most pages by selecting the magnifying glass icon, and then the icon for more options next to the search bar.

As can be seen in the screenshot below, there are a plethora of filters that can be applied to your search terms.

You can immediately see how this advanced search could be a very powerful tool for not just finding a particular previous note that you are looking for, but for creating your own custom feed of notes. Well, wouldn't you know it, Primal allows you to do just that! This search feature, paired with the other features mentioned above related to finding notes you want to see in your feed, makes Primal hands-down the best client for content discovery.

The only downside as a free user is that some of these search options are locked behind the premium membership. Or else you only get to see a certain number of results of your advanced search before you must be a premium member to see more.

Can My Grandma Use It?

Score: 4.8 / 5 Primal has obviously put a high priority on making their client user-friendly, even for those who have never heard of relays, public/private key cryptography, or Bitcoin. All of that complexity is hidden away. Some of it is available to play around with for the users who care to do so, but it does not at all get in the way of the users who just want to jump in and start posting notes and interacting with other users in a truly open public square.

To begin with, the onboarding experience is incredibly smooth. Tap "Create Account," enter your chosen display name and optional bio information, upload a profile picture, and then choose some topics you are interested in. You are then presented with a preview of your profile, with the ability to add a banner image, if you so choose, and then tap "Create Account Now."

From there you receive confirmation that your account has been created and that your "Nostr key" is available to you in the application settings. No further explanation is given about what this key is for at this point, but the user doesn't really need to know at the moment, either. If they are curious, they will go to the app settings to find out.

At this point, Primal encourages the user to activate Primal Wallet, but also gives the option for the user to do it later.

That's it! The next screen the user sees if they don't opt to set up the wallet is their Home feed with notes listed in chronological order. More impressive, the feed is not empty, because Primal has auto-followed several accounts based on your selected topics.

Now, there has definitely been some legitimate criticism of this practice of following specific accounts based on the topic selection, and I agree. I would much prefer to see Primal follow hashtags based on what was selected, and combine the followed hashtags into a feed titled "My Topics" or something of that nature, and make that the default view when the user finishes onboarding. Following particular users automatically will artificially inflate certain users' exposure, while other users who might be quality follows for that topic aren't seen at all.

The advantage of following particular users over a hashtag, though, is that Primal retains some control over the quality of the posts that new users are exposed to right away. Primal can ensure that new users see people who are actually posting quality photography when they choose it as one of their interests. However, even with that example, I chose photography as one of my interests and while I did get some stunning photography in my Home feed by default based on Primal's chosen follows, I also scrolled through the Photography hashtag for a bit and I really feel like I would have been better served if Primal had simply followed that hashtag rather than a particular set of users.

We've already discussed how simple it is to set up the Primal Wallet. You can see the features section above if you missed it. It is, by far, the most user friendly experience to onboarding onto Lightning and getting a few sats for zapping, and it is the only one I know of that is built directly into a Nostr client. This means new users will have a frictionless introduction to transacting via Lightning, perhaps without even realizing that's what they are doing.

Discovering new content of interest is incredibly intuitive on Primal, and the only thing that new users may struggle with is getting their own notes seen by others. To assist with this, I would suggest Primal encourage users to make their first post to the introductions hashtag and direct any questions to the AskNostr hashtag as part of the onboarding process. This will get them some immediate interactions from other users, and further encouragement to set up their wallet if they haven't already done so.

How do UI look?

Score: 4.9 / 5

Primal is the most stunningly beautiful Nostr client available, in my honest opinion. Despite some of my hangups about certain functionality, the UI alone makes me want to use it.

It is clean, attractive, and intuitive. Everything I needed was easy to find, and nothing felt busy or cluttered. There are only a few minor UI glitches that I ran into while testing the app. Some of them were mentioned in the section of the review detailing the feed selector feature, but a couple others occurred during onboarding.

First, my profile picture was not centered in the preview when I uploaded it. This appears to be because it was a low quality image. Uploading a higher quality photo did not have this result.

The other UI bug was related to text instructions that were cut off, and not able to scroll to see the rest of them. This occurred on a few pages during onboarding, and I expect it was due to the size of my phone screen, since it did not occur when I was on a slightly larger phone or tablet.

Speaking of tablets, Primal Android looks really good on a tablet, too! While the client does not have a landscape mode by default, many Android tablets support forcing apps to open in full-screen landscape mode, with mixed results. However, Primal handles it well. I would still like to see a tablet version developed that takes advantage of the increased screen real estate, but it is certainly a passable option.

At this point, I would say the web client probably has a bit better UI for use on a tablet than the Android client does, but you miss out on using the built-in wallet, which is a major selling point of the app.

This lack of a landscape mode for tablets and the few very minor UI bugs I encountered are the only reason Primal doesn't get a perfect score in this category, because the client is absolutely stunning otherwise, both in light and dark modes. There are also two color schemes available for each.

Log In Options

Score: 4 / 5 (Updated 4/30/2025)

Unfortunately, Primal has not included any options for log in outside of pasting your private key into the application. While this is a very simple way to log in for new users to understand, it is also the least secure means to log into Nostr applications.

This is because, even with the most trustworthy client developer, giving the application access to your private key always has the potential for that private key to somehow be exposed or leaked, and on Nostr there is currently no way to rotate to a different private key and keep your identity and social graph. If someone gets your key, they are you on Nostr for all intents and purposes.

This is not a situation that users should be willing to tolerate from production-release clients at this point. There are much better log in standards that can and should be implemented if you care about your users.

That said, I am happy to report that external signer support is on the roadmap for Primal, as confirmed below:

note1n59…8ehl

No word yet on whether this will be Android signer or remote signer support, or both.

This lack of external signer support is why I absolutely will not use my main npub with Primal for Android. I am happy to use the web client, which supports and encourages logging in with a browser extension, but until the Android client allows users to protect their private key, I cannot recommend it for existing Nostr users.

Update: As of version 2.2.13, all of what I have said above is now obsolete. Primal has added Android signer support, so users can now better protect their nsec by using Amber!

I would still like to see support for remote signers, especially with nstart.me as a recommended Nostr onboarding process and the advent of FROSTR for key management. That said, Android signer support on its own has been a long time coming and is a very welcome addition to the Primal app. Bravo Primal team!

Zap Integration

Score: 4.8 / 5

As mentioned when discussing Primal's built-in wallet feature, zapping in Primal can be the most seamless experience I have ever seen in a Nostr client. Pairing the wallet with the client is absolutely the path forward for Nostr leading the way to Bitcoin adoption.

But what if you already have a Lightning wallet you want to use for zapping? You have a couple options. If it is an Alby wallet or another wallet that supports Nostr Wallet Connect, you can connect it with Primal to use with one-tap zapping.

How your zapping experience goes with this option will vary greatly based on your particular wallet of choice and is beyond the scope of this review. I used this option with a hosted wallet on my Alby Hub and it worked perfectly. Primal gives you immediate feedback that you have zapped, even though the transaction usually takes a few seconds to process and appear in your wallet's history.

The one major downside to using an external wallet is the lack of integration with the wallet interface. This interface currently only works with Primal's wallet, and therefore the most prominent tab in the entire app goes unused when you connect an external wallet.

An ideal improvement would be for the wallet screen to work similar to Alby Go when you have an external wallet connected via Nostr Wallet Connect, allowing the user to have Primal act as their primary mobile Lightning wallet. It could have balance and transaction history displayed, and allow sending and receiving, just like the integrated Primal wallet, but remove the ability to purchase sats directly through the app when using an external wallet.

Content Discovery

Score: 4.8 / 5

Primal is the best client to use if you want to discover new content you are interested in. There is no comparison, with only a few caveats.

First, the content must have been posted to Nostr as either a short-form or long-form note. Primal has a limited ability to display other types of content. For instance, discovering video content or streaming content is lacking.

Second, you must be willing to put up with the fact that Primal lacks a means of filtering sensitive content when you are exploring beyond the bounds of your current followers. This may not be an issue for some, but for others it could be a deal-breaker.

Third, it would be preferable for Primal to follow topics you are interested in when you choose them during onboarding, rather than follow specific npubs. Ideally, create a "My Topics" feed that can be edited by selecting your interests in the Topics section of the Explore tab.

Relay Management

Score: 2.5 / 5

For new users who don't want to mess around with managing relays, Primal is fantastic! There are 7 relays selected by default, in addition to Primal's caching service. For most users who aren't familiar with Nostr's protocol archetecture, they probably won't ever have to change their default relays in order to use the client as they would expect.

However, two of these default relays were consistently unreachable during the week that I tested. These were relay.plebes.fans and remnant.cloud. The first relay seems to be an incorrect URL, as I found nosflare.plebes.fans online and with perfect uptime for the last 12 hours on nostr.watch. I was unable to find remnant.cloud on nostr.watch at all. A third relay was intermittent, sometimes online and reachable, and other times unreachable: v1250.planz.io/nostr. If Primal is going to have default relays, they should ideally be reliable and with accurate URLs.

That said, users can add other relays that they prefer, and remove relays that they no longer want to use. They can even set a different caching service to use with the client, rather than using Primal's.

However, that is the extent of a user's control over their relays. They cannot choose which relays they want to write to and which they want to read from, nor can they set any private relays, outbox or inbox relays, or general relays. Loading the npub I used for this review into another client with full relay management support revealed that the relays selected in Primal are being added to both the user's public outbox relays and public inbox relays, but not to any other relay type, which leads me to believe the caching relay is acting as the client's only general relay and search relay.

One unique and welcomed addition is the "Enhanced Privacy" feature, which is off by default, but which can be toggled on. I am not sure why this is not on by default, though. Perhaps someone from the Primal team can enlighten me on that choice.

By default, when you post to Nostr, all of your outbox relays will see your IP address. If you turn on the Enhanced Privacy mode, only Primal's caching service will see your IP address, because it will post your note to the other relays on your behalf. In this way, the caching service acts similar to a VPN for posting to Nostr, as long as you trust Primal not to log or leak your IP address.

In short, if you use any other Nostr clients at all, do not use Primal for managing your relays.

Media Hosting Options

Score: 4.9 / 5 This is a NEW SECTION of this review, as of version 2.2.13!

Primal has recently added support for the Blossom protocol for media hosting, and has added a new section within their settings for "Media Uploads."

Media hosting is one of the more complicated problems to solve for a decentralized publishing protocol like Nostr. Text-based notes are generally quite small, making them no real burden to store on relays, and a relay can prune old notes as they see fit, knowing that anyone who really cared about those notes has likely archived them elsewhere. Media, on the other hand, can very quickly fill up a server's disk space, and because it is usually addressable via a specific URL, removing it from that location to free up space means it will no longer load for anyone.

Blossom solves this issue by making it easy to run a media server and have the same media mirrored to more than one for redundancy. Since the media is stored with a file name that is a hash of the content itself, if the media is deleted from one server, it can still be found from any other server that has the same file, without any need to update the URL in the Nostr note where it was originally posted.

Prior to this update, Primal only allowed media uploads to their own media server. Now, users can upload to any blossom server, and even choose to have their pictures or videos mirrored additional servers automatically. To my knowledge, no other Nostr client offers this automatic mirroring at the time of upload.

One of my biggest criticisms of Primal was that it had taken a siloed approach by providing a client, a caching relay, a media server, and a wallet all controlled by the same company. The whole point of Nostr is to separate control of all these services to different entities. Now users have more options for separating out their media hosting and their wallet to other providers, at least. I would still like to see other options available for a caching relay, but that relies on someone else being willing to run one, since the software is open for anyone to use. It's just not your average, lightweight relay that any average person can run from home.

Regardless, this update to add custom Blossom servers is a most welcome step in the right direction!

Current Users' Questions

The AskNostr hashtag can be a good indication of the pain points that other users are currently having with a client. Here are some of the most common questions submitted about Primal since the launch of 2.0:

note1dqv…k0rd

This was a pretty common question, because users expect that they will be able to create the same type of content that they can consume in a particular client. I can understand why this was left out in a mobile client, but perhaps it should be added in the web client.

note16xn…w8xe

This is a more concerning bug, since it appears some users are experiencing their images being replaced with completely different images. I did not experience anything similar in my testing, though.

note1uhr…e7mr

There hasn't been an answer to this, but I have not been able to find a way. It seems search results will always include replies as well as original notes, so a feed made from the search results will as well. Perhaps a filter can be added to the advanced search to exclude replies? There is already a filter to only show replies, but there is no corresponding filter to only show original notes.

note1zln…mtq6

Since both mobile platforms support the wallet, users expect that they will be able to access it in their web client, too. At this time, they cannot. The only way to have seamless zapping in the web client is to use the Alby extension, but there is not a way to connect it to your Primal wallet via Nostr Wallet Connect either. This means users must have a separate wallet for zapping on the web client if they use the Primal Wallet on mobile.

note15tf…5wep

It seems that Primal is filtering for spam even for profiles you actively follow. Moreover, exactly what the criteria is for being considered spam is currently opaque.

note1xex…uced

For those unaware, Blossom is a protocol for hosting media as blobs identified by a hash, allowing them to be located on and displayed from other servers they have been mirrored to when when the target server isn't available. Primal currently runs a Blossom server (blossom.primal.net) so I would expect we see Blossom support in the future.

note1unu…50y6

Currently, Primal on Android only supports uploading photos to your posts. Users must upload any video to some other hosting service and copy/paste a link to the video into their post on Primal. I would not be surprised to see this feature added in the near future, though.

note10w6…grex

Many Nostr users have more than one npub for various uses. Users would prefer to have a way to quickly switch between accounts than to have to log all the way out and paste their npub for the other account every time they want to use it.

There is good news on this front, though:

note17xv…kxlh

Wrap Up

All in all, Primal is an excellent client. It won't be for everyone, but that's one of the strengths of Nostr as a protocol. You can choose to use the client that best fits your own needs, and supplement with other clients and tools as necessary.

There are a couple glaring issues I have with Primal that prevent me from using it on my main npub, but it is also an ever-improving client, that already has me hopeful for those issues to be resolved in a future release.

So, what should I review next? Another Android client, such as #Amethyst or #Voyage? Maybe an "other stuff" app, like #Wavlake or #Fountain? Please leave your suggestions in the comments.

I hope this review was valuable to you! If it was, please consider letting me know just how valuable by zapping me some sats and reposting it out to your follows.

Thank you for reading!

PV 🤙

Another good custodial option would be OVO (nprofile…0pev).

Non-custodial, check out ZEUS (nprofile…5fk2) and Alby (nprofile…qss4) Hub.

This is my biggest gripe about Primal in my recent review. They ...

2024-12-10T23:45:08Z

In reply to nevent1q…5ewe
_________________________

This is my biggest gripe about Primal in my recent review. They say signer support will be coming, though.

Looks like it is back up!

2024-12-10T18:40:05Z

In reply to nevent1q…dt7r
_________________________

Looks like it is back up!

Probably my fault. My node has been down intermittently due to ...

2024-12-10T15:32:42Z

In reply to nevent1q…j84h
_________________________

Probably my fault. My node has been down intermittently due to some internet issues in the last day or so and my zapping wallet is hosted on my node via Alby Hub.

Won't have a chance to investigate the issue until I get home this evening.

New website powered by @nprofile…l6t9! ...

2024-12-09T07:25:09Z

New website powered by Npub.pro (nprofile…l6t9)!

https://www.nostr-reviews.com

Oh, there's plenty of Nostr users on iOS, and some good ...

2024-12-09T04:14:21Z

In reply to nevent1q…e4d9
_________________________

Oh, there's plenty of Nostr users on iOS, and some good clients over there to be reviewed eventually. But I'll need to be able to justify spending money on an iPhone to my wife somehow.

Look forward to the list! And yes, they renamed it to the Nostr ...

2024-12-09T03:59:58Z

In reply to nevent1q…jhfj
_________________________

Look forward to the list!

And yes, they renamed it to the Nostr Firehose, which I think is a good description of what you get. 🤣

Would love to! Unfortunately I am one iOS device short of being ...

2024-12-09T03:58:07Z

In reply to nevent1q…9k8h
_________________________

Would love to! Unfortunately I am one iOS device short of being able to do so.

Looking forward to reviewing NoteDeck when we have a production release, though!

Really appreciate the feedback and the zap! I learned a ton about ...

2024-12-09T03:00:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…59zu
_________________________

Really appreciate the feedback and the zap! I learned a ton about Primal from doing the review, too.

What would you like to see me review next?

Thank you so much for reposting, zapping, and your feedback! Glad ...

2024-12-09T02:58:47Z

In reply to nevent1q…trhy
_________________________

Thank you so much for reposting, zapping, and your feedback!

Glad to hear you're going to give Primal a go, as well. I am definitely outside of their target audience, but I also understand that there are far more folks who absolutely are within it.

Any suggestions for what I should review next?

Really appreciate the feedback! Any app you would like to see a ...

2024-12-09T02:46:52Z

In reply to nevent1q…yhud
_________________________

Really appreciate the feedback! Any app you would like to see a review on next?

Do you have friends and family you've been trying to ...

2024-12-08T19:08:46Z

Do you have friends and family you've been trying to purplepill into trying out #Nostr?

#Primal may be just the client to get them started with.

Read the full-length review to see why.

quoting
naddr1qq…6396

I am happy to present to you the first full review posted to Nostr Reviews: #Primal for #Android!

Primal has its origins as a micro-blogging, social media client, though it is now expanding its horizons into long-form content. It was first released only as a web client in March of 2023, but has since had a native client released for both iOS and Android. All of Primal's clients recently had an update to Primal 2.0, which included both performance improvements and a number of new features. This review will focus on the Android client specifically, both on phone and tablet.

Since Primal has also added features that are only available to those enrolled in their new premium subscription, it should also be noted that this review will be from the perspective of a free user. This is for two reasons. First, I am using an alternate npub to review the app, and if I were to purchase premium at some time in the future, it would be on my main npub. Second, despite a lot of positive things I have to say about Primal, I am not planning to regularly use any of their apps on my main account for the time being, for reasons that will be discussed later in the review.

The application can be installed through the Google Play Store, Zapstore (npub10r8…t2p8), or by downloading it directly from Primal's GitHub. The full review is current as of Primal Android version 2.0.21. Updates to the review on 4/30/2025 are current as of version 2.2.13.

In the ecosystem of "notes and other stuff," Primal is predominantly in the "notes" category. It is geared toward users who want a social media experience similar to Twitter or Facebook with an infinite scrolling feed of notes to interact with. However, there is some "other stuff" included to complement this primary focus on short and long form notes including a built-in Lightning wallet powered by #Strike, a robust advanced search, and a media-only feed.

Overall Impression

Score: 4.4 / 5 (Updated 4/30/2025)

Primal may well be the most polished UI of any Nostr client native to Android. It is incredibly well designed and thought out, with all of the icons and settings in the places a user would expect to find them. It is also incredibly easy to get started on Nostr via Primal's sign-up flow. The only two things that will be foreign to new users are the lack of any need to set a password or give an email address, and the prompt to optionally set up the wallet.

Complaints prior to the 2.0 update about Primal being slow and clunky should now be completely alleviated. I only experienced quick load times and snappy UI controls with a couple very minor exceptions, or when loading DVM-based feeds, which are outside of Primal's control.

Primal is not, however, a client that I would recommend for the power-user. Control over preferred relays is minimal and does not allow the user to determine which relays they write to and which they only read from. Though you can use your own wallet, it will not appear within the wallet interface, which only works with the custodial wallet from Strike. Moreover, and most eggregiously, the only way for existing users to log in is by pasting their nsec, as Primal does not support either the Android signer or remote signer options for users to protect their private key at this time. This lack of signer support is the primary reason the client received such a low overall score. If even one form of external signer log in is added to Primal, the score will be amended to 4.2 / 5, and if both Android signer and remote signer support is added, it will increase to 4.5.

Update: As of version 2.2.13, Primal now supports the Amber Android signer! One of the most glaring issues with the app has now been remedied and as promised, the overall score above has been increased.

Another downside to Primal is that it still utilizes an outdated direct message specification that leaks metadata that can be readily seen by anyone on the network. While the content of your messages remains encrypted, anyone can see who you are messaging with, and when. This also means that you will not see any DMs from users who are messaging from a client that has moved to the latest, and far more private, messaging spec.

That said, the beautiful thing about Nostr as a protocol is that users are not locked into any particular client. You may find Primal to be a great client for your average #bloomscrolling and zapping memes, but opt for a different client for more advanced uses and for direct messaging.

Features

Primal has a lot of features users would expect from any Nostr client that is focused on short-form notes, but it also packs in a lot of features that set it apart from other clients, and that showcase Primal's obvious prioritization of a top-tier user experience.

Home Feed

By default, the infinitely scrolling Home feed displays notes from those you currently follow in chronological order. This is traditional Nostr at its finest, and made all the more immersive by the choice to have all distracting UI elements quickly hide themselves from view as the you begin to scroll down the feed. They return just as quickly when you begin to scroll back up.

Scrolling the feed is incredibly fast, with no noticeable choppiness and minimal media pop-in if you are on a decent internet connection.

Helpfully, it is easy to get back to the top of the feed whenever there is a new post to be viewed, as a bubble will appear with the profile pictures of the users who have posted since you started scrolling.

Interacting With Notes

Interacting with a note in the feed can be done via the very recognizable icons at the bottom of each post. You can comment, zap, like, repost, and/or bookmark the note.

Notably, tapping on the zap icon will immediately zap the note your default amount of sats, making zapping incredibly fast, especially when using the built-in wallet. Long pressing on the zap icon will open up a menu with a variety of amounts, along with the ability to zap a custom amount. All of these amounts, and the messages that are sent with the zap, can be customized in the application settings.

Users who are familiar with Twitter or Instagram will feel right at home with only having one option for "liking" a post. However, users from Facebook or other Nostr clients may wonder why they don't have more options for reactions. This is one of those things where users who are new to Nostr probably won't notice they are missing out on anything at all, while users familiar with clients like #Amethyst or #noStrudel will miss the ability to react with a 🤙 or a 🫂.

It's a similar story with the bookmark option. While this is a nice bit of feature parity for Twitter users, for those already used to the ability to have multiple customized lists of bookmarks, or at minimum have the ability to separate them into public and private, it may be a disappointment that they have no access to the bookmarks they already built up on other clients. Primal offers only one list of bookmarks for short-form notes and they are all visible to the public. However, you are at least presented with a warning about the public nature of your bookmarks before saving your first one.

Yet, I can't dock the Primal team much for making these design choices, as they are understandable for Primal's goal of being a welcoming client for those coming over to Nostr from centralized platforms. They have optimized for the onboarding of new users, rather than for those who have been around for a while, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Post Creation

Composing posts in Primal is as simple as it gets. Accessed by tapping the obvious circular button with a "+" on it in the lower right of the Home feed, most of what you could need is included in the interface, and nothing you don't.

Your device's default keyboard loads immediately, and the you can start typing away.

There are options for adding images from your gallery, or taking a picture with your camera, both of which will result in the image being uploaded to Primal's media-hosting server. If you prefer to host your media elsewhere, you can simply paste the link to that media into your post.

There is also an @ icon as a tip-off that you can tag other users. Tapping on this simply types "@" into your note and brings up a list of users. All you have to do to narrow down the user you want to tag is continue typing their handle, Nostr address, or paste in their npub.

This can get mixed results in other clients, which sometimes have a hard time finding particular users when typing in their handle, forcing you to have to remember their Nostr address or go hunt down their npub by another means. Not so with Primal, though. I had no issues tagging anyone I wanted by simply typing in their handle.

Of course, when you are tagging someone well known, you may find that there are multiple users posing as that person. Primal helps you out here, though. Usually the top result is the person you want, as Primal places them in order of how many followers they have. This is quite reliable right now, but there is nothing stopping someone from spinning up an army of bots to follow their fake accounts, rendering follower count useless for determining which account is legitimate. It would be nice to see these results ranked by web-of-trust, or at least an indication of how many users you follow who also follow the users listed in the results.

Once you are satisfied with your note, the "Post" button is easy to find in the top right of the screen.

Feed Selector and Marketplace

Primal's Home feed really shines when you open up the feed selection interface, and find that there are a plethora of options available for customizing your view. By default, it only shows four options, but tapping "Edit" opens up a new page of available toggles to add to the feed selector.

The options don't end there, though. Tapping "Add Feed" will open up the feed marketplace, where an ever-growing number of custom feeds can be found, some created by Primal and some created by others. This feed marketplace is available to a few other clients, but none have so closely integrated it with their Home feeds like Primal has.

Unfortunately, as great as these custom feeds are, this was also the feature where I ran into the most bugs while testing out the app.

One of these bugs was while selecting custom feeds. Occasionally, these feed menu screens would become unresponsive and I would be unable to confirm my selection, or even use the back button on my device to back out of the screen. However, I was able to pull the screen down to close it and re-open the menu, and everything would be responsive again.

This only seemed to occur when I spent 30 seconds or more on the same screen, so I imagine that most users won't encounter it much in their regular use.

Another UI bug occurred for me while in the feed marketplace. I could scroll down the list of available feeds, but attempting to scroll back up the feed would often close the interface entirely instead, as though I had pulled the screen down from the top, when I was swiping in the middle of the screen.

The last of these bugs occurred when selecting a long-form "Reads" feed while in the menu for the Home feed. The menu would allow me to add this feed and select it to be displayed, but it would fail to load the feed once selected, stating "There is no content in this feed." Going to a different page within the the app and then going back to the Home tab would automatically remove the long-form feed from view, and reset back to the most recently viewed short-form "Notes" feed, though the long-form feed would still be available to select again. The results were similar when selecting a short-form feed for the Reads feed.

I would suggest that if long-form and short-form feeds are going to be displayed in the same list, and yet not be able to be displayed in the same feed, the application should present an error message when attempting to add a long-form feed for the Home feed or a short-form feed for the Reads feed, and encourage the user add it to the proper feed instead.

Long-Form "Reads" Feed

A brand new feature in Primal 2.0, users can now browse and read long-form content posted to Nostr without having to go to a separate client. Primal now has a dedicated "Reads" feed to browse and interact with these articles.

This feed displays the author and title of each article or blog, along with an image, if available. Quite conveniently, it also lets you know the approximate amount of time it will take to read a given article, so you can decide if you have the time to dive into it now, or come back later.

Noticeably absent from the Reads feed, though, is the ability to compose an article of your own. This is another understandable design choice for a mobile client. Composing a long-form note on a smart-phone screen is not a good time. Better to be done on a larger screen, in a client with a full-featured text editor.

Tapping an article will open up an attractive reading interface, with the ability to bookmark for later. These bookmarks are a separate list from your short-form note bookmarks so you don't have to scroll through a bunch of notes you bookmarked to find the article you told yourself you would read later and it's already been three weeks.

While you can comment on the article or zap it, you will notice that you cannot repost or quote-post it. It's not that you can't do so on Nostr. You absolutely can in other clients. In fact, you can do so on Primal's web client, too. However, Primal on Android does not handle rendering long-form note previews in the Home feed, so they have simply left out the option to share them there. See below for an example of a quote-post of a long-form note in the Primal web client vs the Android client.

Primal Web:

Primal Android:

The Explore Tab

Another unique feature of the Primal client is the Explore tab, indicated by the compass icon. This tab is dedicated to discovering content from outside your current follow list. You can find the feed marketplace here, and add any of the available feeds to your Home or Reads feed selections. You can also find suggested users to follow in the People tab. The Zaps tab will show you who has been sending and receiving large zaps. Make friends with the generous ones!

The Media tab gives you a chronological feed of just media, displayed in a tile view. This can be great when you are looking for users who post dank memes, or incredible photography on a regular basis. Unfortunately, it appears that there is no way to filter this feed for sensitive content, and so you do not have to scroll far before you see pornographic material.

Indeed, it does not appear that filters for sensitive content are available in Primal for any feed. The app is kind enough to give a minimal warning that objectionable content may be present when selecting the "Nostr Firehose" option in your Home feed, with a brief "be careful" in the feed description, but there is not even that much of a warning here for the media-only feed.

The media-only feed doesn't appear to be quite as bad as the Nostr Firehose feed, so there must be some form of filtering already taking place, rather than being a truly global feed of all media. Yet, occasional sensitive content still litters the feed and is unavoidable, even for users who would rather not see it. There are, of course, ways to mute particular users who post such content, if you don't want to see it a second time from the same user, but that is a never-ending game of whack-a-mole, so your only realistic choices in Primal are currently to either avoid the Nostr Firehose and media-only feeds, or determine that you can put up with regularly scrolling past often graphic content.

This is probably the only choice Primal has made that is not friendly to new users. Most clients these days will have some protections in place to hide sensitive content by default, but still allow the user to toggle those protections off if they so choose. Some of them hide posts flagged as sensitive content altogether, others just blur the images unless the user taps to reveal them, and others simply blur all images posted by users you don't follow. If Primal wants to target new users who are accustomed to legacy social media platforms, they really should follow suit.

The final tab is titled "Topics," but it is really just a list of popular hashtags, which appear to be arranged by how often they are being used. This can be good for finding things that other users are interested in talking about, or finding specific content you are interested in.

If you tap on any topic in the list, it will display a feed of notes that include that hashtag. What's better, you can add it as a feed option you can select on your Home feed any time you want to see posts with that tag.

The only suggestion I would make to improve this tab is some indication of why the topics are arranged in the order presented. A simple indicator of the number of posts with that hashtag in the last 24 hours, or whatever the interval is for determining their ranking, would more than suffice.

Even with those few shortcomings, Primal's Explore tab makes the client one of the best options for discovering content on Nostr that you are actually interested in seeing and interacting with.

Built-In Wallet

While this feature is completely optional, the icon to access the wallet is the largest of the icons at the bottom of the screen, making you feel like you are missing out on the most important feature of the app if you don't set it up. I could be critical of this design choice, but in many ways I think it is warranted. The built-in wallet is one of the most unique features that Primal has going for it.

Consider: If you are a new user coming to Nostr, who isn't already a Bitcoiner, and you see that everyone else on the platform is sending and receiving sats for their posts, will you be more likely to go download a separate wallet application or use one that is built-into your client? I would wager the latter option by a long shot. No need to figure out which wallet you should download, whether you should do self-custody or custodial, or make the mistake of choosing a wallet with unexpected setup fees and no Lightning address so you can't even receive zaps to it. miljan (npub16c0…6nvr) often states that he believes more people will be onboarded to Bitcoin through Nostr than by any other means, and by including a wallet into the Primal client, his team has made adopting Bitcoin that much easier for new Nostr users.

Some of us purists may complain that it is custodial and KYC, but that is an unfortunate necessity in order to facilitate onboarding newcoiners to Bitcoin. This is not intended to be a wallet for those of us who have been using Bitcoin and Lightning regularly already. It is meant for those who are not already familiar with Bitcoin to make it as easy as possible to get off zero, and it accomplishes this better than any other wallet I have ever tried.

In large part, this is because the KYC is very light. It does need the user's legal name, a valid email address, date of birth, and country of residence, but that's it! From there, the user can buy Bitcoin directly through the app, but only in the amount of $4.99 at a time. This is because there is a substantial markup on top of the current market price, due to utilizing whatever payment method the user has set up through their Google Play Store. The markup seemed to be about 19% above the current price, since I could purchase 4,143 sats for $4.99 ($120,415 / Bitcoin), when the current price was about $101,500. But the idea here is not for the Primal wallet to be a user's primary method of stacking sats. Rather, it is intended to get them off zero and have a small amount of sats to experience zapping with, and it accomplishes this with less friction than any other method I know.

Moreover, the Primal wallet has the features one would expect from any Lightning wallet. You can send sats to any Nostr user or Lightning address, receive via invoice, or scan to pay an invoice. It even has the ability to receive via on-chain. This means users who don't want to pay the markup from buying through Primal can easily transfer sats they obtained by other means into the Primal wallet for zapping, or for using it as their daily-driver spending wallet.

Speaking of zapping, once the wallet is activated, sending zaps is automatically set to use the wallet, and they are fast. Primal gives you immediate feedback that the zap was sent and the transaction shows in your wallet history typically before you can open the interface. I can confidently say that Primal wallet's integration is the absolute best zapping experience I have seen in any Nostr client.

One thing to note that may not be immediately apparent to new users is they need to add their Lightning address with Primal into their profile details before they can start receiving zaps. So, sending zaps using the wallet is automatic as soon as you activate it, but receiving is not. Ideally, this could be further streamlined, so that Primal automatically adds the Lightning address to the user's profile when the wallet is set up, so long as there is not currently a Lightning address listed.

Of course, if you already have a Lightning wallet, you can connect it to Primal for zapping, too. We will discuss this further in the section dedicated to zap integration.

Advanced Search

Search has always been a tough nut to crack on Nostr, since it is highly dependent on which relays the client is pulling information from. Primal has sought to resolve this issue, among others, by running a caching relay that pulls notes from a number of relays to store them locally, and perform some spam filtering. This allows for much faster retrieval of search results, and also makes their advanced search feature possible.

Advanced search can be accessed from most pages by selecting the magnifying glass icon, and then the icon for more options next to the search bar.

As can be seen in the screenshot below, there are a plethora of filters that can be applied to your search terms.

You can immediately see how this advanced search could be a very powerful tool for not just finding a particular previous note that you are looking for, but for creating your own custom feed of notes. Well, wouldn't you know it, Primal allows you to do just that! This search feature, paired with the other features mentioned above related to finding notes you want to see in your feed, makes Primal hands-down the best client for content discovery.

The only downside as a free user is that some of these search options are locked behind the premium membership. Or else you only get to see a certain number of results of your advanced search before you must be a premium member to see more.

Can My Grandma Use It?

Score: 4.8 / 5 Primal has obviously put a high priority on making their client user-friendly, even for those who have never heard of relays, public/private key cryptography, or Bitcoin. All of that complexity is hidden away. Some of it is available to play around with for the users who care to do so, but it does not at all get in the way of the users who just want to jump in and start posting notes and interacting with other users in a truly open public square.

To begin with, the onboarding experience is incredibly smooth. Tap "Create Account," enter your chosen display name and optional bio information, upload a profile picture, and then choose some topics you are interested in. You are then presented with a preview of your profile, with the ability to add a banner image, if you so choose, and then tap "Create Account Now."

From there you receive confirmation that your account has been created and that your "Nostr key" is available to you in the application settings. No further explanation is given about what this key is for at this point, but the user doesn't really need to know at the moment, either. If they are curious, they will go to the app settings to find out.

At this point, Primal encourages the user to activate Primal Wallet, but also gives the option for the user to do it later.

That's it! The next screen the user sees if they don't opt to set up the wallet is their Home feed with notes listed in chronological order. More impressive, the feed is not empty, because Primal has auto-followed several accounts based on your selected topics.

Now, there has definitely been some legitimate criticism of this practice of following specific accounts based on the topic selection, and I agree. I would much prefer to see Primal follow hashtags based on what was selected, and combine the followed hashtags into a feed titled "My Topics" or something of that nature, and make that the default view when the user finishes onboarding. Following particular users automatically will artificially inflate certain users' exposure, while other users who might be quality follows for that topic aren't seen at all.

The advantage of following particular users over a hashtag, though, is that Primal retains some control over the quality of the posts that new users are exposed to right away. Primal can ensure that new users see people who are actually posting quality photography when they choose it as one of their interests. However, even with that example, I chose photography as one of my interests and while I did get some stunning photography in my Home feed by default based on Primal's chosen follows, I also scrolled through the Photography hashtag for a bit and I really feel like I would have been better served if Primal had simply followed that hashtag rather than a particular set of users.

We've already discussed how simple it is to set up the Primal Wallet. You can see the features section above if you missed it. It is, by far, the most user friendly experience to onboarding onto Lightning and getting a few sats for zapping, and it is the only one I know of that is built directly into a Nostr client. This means new users will have a frictionless introduction to transacting via Lightning, perhaps without even realizing that's what they are doing.

Discovering new content of interest is incredibly intuitive on Primal, and the only thing that new users may struggle with is getting their own notes seen by others. To assist with this, I would suggest Primal encourage users to make their first post to the introductions hashtag and direct any questions to the AskNostr hashtag as part of the onboarding process. This will get them some immediate interactions from other users, and further encouragement to set up their wallet if they haven't already done so.

How do UI look?

Score: 4.9 / 5

Primal is the most stunningly beautiful Nostr client available, in my honest opinion. Despite some of my hangups about certain functionality, the UI alone makes me want to use it.

It is clean, attractive, and intuitive. Everything I needed was easy to find, and nothing felt busy or cluttered. There are only a few minor UI glitches that I ran into while testing the app. Some of them were mentioned in the section of the review detailing the feed selector feature, but a couple others occurred during onboarding.

First, my profile picture was not centered in the preview when I uploaded it. This appears to be because it was a low quality image. Uploading a higher quality photo did not have this result.

The other UI bug was related to text instructions that were cut off, and not able to scroll to see the rest of them. This occurred on a few pages during onboarding, and I expect it was due to the size of my phone screen, since it did not occur when I was on a slightly larger phone or tablet.

Speaking of tablets, Primal Android looks really good on a tablet, too! While the client does not have a landscape mode by default, many Android tablets support forcing apps to open in full-screen landscape mode, with mixed results. However, Primal handles it well. I would still like to see a tablet version developed that takes advantage of the increased screen real estate, but it is certainly a passable option.

At this point, I would say the web client probably has a bit better UI for use on a tablet than the Android client does, but you miss out on using the built-in wallet, which is a major selling point of the app.

This lack of a landscape mode for tablets and the few very minor UI bugs I encountered are the only reason Primal doesn't get a perfect score in this category, because the client is absolutely stunning otherwise, both in light and dark modes. There are also two color schemes available for each.

Log In Options

Score: 4 / 5 (Updated 4/30/2025)

Unfortunately, Primal has not included any options for log in outside of pasting your private key into the application. While this is a very simple way to log in for new users to understand, it is also the least secure means to log into Nostr applications.

This is because, even with the most trustworthy client developer, giving the application access to your private key always has the potential for that private key to somehow be exposed or leaked, and on Nostr there is currently no way to rotate to a different private key and keep your identity and social graph. If someone gets your key, they are you on Nostr for all intents and purposes.

This is not a situation that users should be willing to tolerate from production-release clients at this point. There are much better log in standards that can and should be implemented if you care about your users.

That said, I am happy to report that external signer support is on the roadmap for Primal, as confirmed below:

note1n59…8ehl

No word yet on whether this will be Android signer or remote signer support, or both.

This lack of external signer support is why I absolutely will not use my main npub with Primal for Android. I am happy to use the web client, which supports and encourages logging in with a browser extension, but until the Android client allows users to protect their private key, I cannot recommend it for existing Nostr users.

Update: As of version 2.2.13, all of what I have said above is now obsolete. Primal has added Android signer support, so users can now better protect their nsec by using Amber!

I would still like to see support for remote signers, especially with nstart.me as a recommended Nostr onboarding process and the advent of FROSTR for key management. That said, Android signer support on its own has been a long time coming and is a very welcome addition to the Primal app. Bravo Primal team!

Zap Integration

Score: 4.8 / 5

As mentioned when discussing Primal's built-in wallet feature, zapping in Primal can be the most seamless experience I have ever seen in a Nostr client. Pairing the wallet with the client is absolutely the path forward for Nostr leading the way to Bitcoin adoption.

But what if you already have a Lightning wallet you want to use for zapping? You have a couple options. If it is an Alby wallet or another wallet that supports Nostr Wallet Connect, you can connect it with Primal to use with one-tap zapping.

How your zapping experience goes with this option will vary greatly based on your particular wallet of choice and is beyond the scope of this review. I used this option with a hosted wallet on my Alby Hub and it worked perfectly. Primal gives you immediate feedback that you have zapped, even though the transaction usually takes a few seconds to process and appear in your wallet's history.

The one major downside to using an external wallet is the lack of integration with the wallet interface. This interface currently only works with Primal's wallet, and therefore the most prominent tab in the entire app goes unused when you connect an external wallet.

An ideal improvement would be for the wallet screen to work similar to Alby Go when you have an external wallet connected via Nostr Wallet Connect, allowing the user to have Primal act as their primary mobile Lightning wallet. It could have balance and transaction history displayed, and allow sending and receiving, just like the integrated Primal wallet, but remove the ability to purchase sats directly through the app when using an external wallet.

Content Discovery

Score: 4.8 / 5

Primal is the best client to use if you want to discover new content you are interested in. There is no comparison, with only a few caveats.

First, the content must have been posted to Nostr as either a short-form or long-form note. Primal has a limited ability to display other types of content. For instance, discovering video content or streaming content is lacking.

Second, you must be willing to put up with the fact that Primal lacks a means of filtering sensitive content when you are exploring beyond the bounds of your current followers. This may not be an issue for some, but for others it could be a deal-breaker.

Third, it would be preferable for Primal to follow topics you are interested in when you choose them during onboarding, rather than follow specific npubs. Ideally, create a "My Topics" feed that can be edited by selecting your interests in the Topics section of the Explore tab.

Relay Management

Score: 2.5 / 5

For new users who don't want to mess around with managing relays, Primal is fantastic! There are 7 relays selected by default, in addition to Primal's caching service. For most users who aren't familiar with Nostr's protocol archetecture, they probably won't ever have to change their default relays in order to use the client as they would expect.

However, two of these default relays were consistently unreachable during the week that I tested. These were relay.plebes.fans and remnant.cloud. The first relay seems to be an incorrect URL, as I found nosflare.plebes.fans online and with perfect uptime for the last 12 hours on nostr.watch. I was unable to find remnant.cloud on nostr.watch at all. A third relay was intermittent, sometimes online and reachable, and other times unreachable: v1250.planz.io/nostr. If Primal is going to have default relays, they should ideally be reliable and with accurate URLs.

That said, users can add other relays that they prefer, and remove relays that they no longer want to use. They can even set a different caching service to use with the client, rather than using Primal's.

However, that is the extent of a user's control over their relays. They cannot choose which relays they want to write to and which they want to read from, nor can they set any private relays, outbox or inbox relays, or general relays. Loading the npub I used for this review into another client with full relay management support revealed that the relays selected in Primal are being added to both the user's public outbox relays and public inbox relays, but not to any other relay type, which leads me to believe the caching relay is acting as the client's only general relay and search relay.

One unique and welcomed addition is the "Enhanced Privacy" feature, which is off by default, but which can be toggled on. I am not sure why this is not on by default, though. Perhaps someone from the Primal team can enlighten me on that choice.

By default, when you post to Nostr, all of your outbox relays will see your IP address. If you turn on the Enhanced Privacy mode, only Primal's caching service will see your IP address, because it will post your note to the other relays on your behalf. In this way, the caching service acts similar to a VPN for posting to Nostr, as long as you trust Primal not to log or leak your IP address.

In short, if you use any other Nostr clients at all, do not use Primal for managing your relays.

Media Hosting Options

Score: 4.9 / 5 This is a NEW SECTION of this review, as of version 2.2.13!

Primal has recently added support for the Blossom protocol for media hosting, and has added a new section within their settings for "Media Uploads."

Media hosting is one of the more complicated problems to solve for a decentralized publishing protocol like Nostr. Text-based notes are generally quite small, making them no real burden to store on relays, and a relay can prune old notes as they see fit, knowing that anyone who really cared about those notes has likely archived them elsewhere. Media, on the other hand, can very quickly fill up a server's disk space, and because it is usually addressable via a specific URL, removing it from that location to free up space means it will no longer load for anyone.

Blossom solves this issue by making it easy to run a media server and have the same media mirrored to more than one for redundancy. Since the media is stored with a file name that is a hash of the content itself, if the media is deleted from one server, it can still be found from any other server that has the same file, without any need to update the URL in the Nostr note where it was originally posted.

Prior to this update, Primal only allowed media uploads to their own media server. Now, users can upload to any blossom server, and even choose to have their pictures or videos mirrored additional servers automatically. To my knowledge, no other Nostr client offers this automatic mirroring at the time of upload.

One of my biggest criticisms of Primal was that it had taken a siloed approach by providing a client, a caching relay, a media server, and a wallet all controlled by the same company. The whole point of Nostr is to separate control of all these services to different entities. Now users have more options for separating out their media hosting and their wallet to other providers, at least. I would still like to see other options available for a caching relay, but that relies on someone else being willing to run one, since the software is open for anyone to use. It's just not your average, lightweight relay that any average person can run from home.

Regardless, this update to add custom Blossom servers is a most welcome step in the right direction!

Current Users' Questions

The AskNostr hashtag can be a good indication of the pain points that other users are currently having with a client. Here are some of the most common questions submitted about Primal since the launch of 2.0:

note1dqv…k0rd

This was a pretty common question, because users expect that they will be able to create the same type of content that they can consume in a particular client. I can understand why this was left out in a mobile client, but perhaps it should be added in the web client.

note16xn…w8xe

This is a more concerning bug, since it appears some users are experiencing their images being replaced with completely different images. I did not experience anything similar in my testing, though.

note1uhr…e7mr

There hasn't been an answer to this, but I have not been able to find a way. It seems search results will always include replies as well as original notes, so a feed made from the search results will as well. Perhaps a filter can be added to the advanced search to exclude replies? There is already a filter to only show replies, but there is no corresponding filter to only show original notes.

note1zln…mtq6

Since both mobile platforms support the wallet, users expect that they will be able to access it in their web client, too. At this time, they cannot. The only way to have seamless zapping in the web client is to use the Alby extension, but there is not a way to connect it to your Primal wallet via Nostr Wallet Connect either. This means users must have a separate wallet for zapping on the web client if they use the Primal Wallet on mobile.

note15tf…5wep

It seems that Primal is filtering for spam even for profiles you actively follow. Moreover, exactly what the criteria is for being considered spam is currently opaque.

note1xex…uced

For those unaware, Blossom is a protocol for hosting media as blobs identified by a hash, allowing them to be located on and displayed from other servers they have been mirrored to when when the target server isn't available. Primal currently runs a Blossom server (blossom.primal.net) so I would expect we see Blossom support in the future.

note1unu…50y6

Currently, Primal on Android only supports uploading photos to your posts. Users must upload any video to some other hosting service and copy/paste a link to the video into their post on Primal. I would not be surprised to see this feature added in the near future, though.

note10w6…grex

Many Nostr users have more than one npub for various uses. Users would prefer to have a way to quickly switch between accounts than to have to log all the way out and paste their npub for the other account every time they want to use it.

There is good news on this front, though:

note17xv…kxlh

Wrap Up

All in all, Primal is an excellent client. It won't be for everyone, but that's one of the strengths of Nostr as a protocol. You can choose to use the client that best fits your own needs, and supplement with other clients and tools as necessary.

There are a couple glaring issues I have with Primal that prevent me from using it on my main npub, but it is also an ever-improving client, that already has me hopeful for those issues to be resolved in a future release.

So, what should I review next? Another Android client, such as #Amethyst or #Voyage? Maybe an "other stuff" app, like #Wavlake or #Fountain? Please leave your suggestions in the comments.

I hope this review was valuable to you! If it was, please consider letting me know just how valuable by zapping me some sats and reposting it out to your follows.

Thank you for reading!

PV 🤙

This review focuses on the #Android client, but Primal is also available for #iOS and on the web at https://primal.net

Feel free to send me suggestions of Nostr apps you would like ...

2024-12-04T18:16:14Z

Feel free to send me suggestions of Nostr apps you would like reviewed!

Hoping to have the #Primal #Android review posted this weekend.

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It's been barely two years since I joined Nostr on my main npub, Dikaios1517 (npub1kun…3lhe), and in just that relatively short time, the amount of development on top of this protocol has been staggering. When jack (npub1sg6…f63m) first opened the floodgates of adoption by tweeting about Nostr, it felt like most of the available clients were barely serviceable and held together with a prayer and copious amounts of duct tape. Of course, it can sometimes still feel that way, but there are definitely some Nostr apps looking and feeling more polished and providing true innovation when compared with legacy social platforms. Indeed, there are a growing number of Nostr-based applications and tools that have very little to do with social media at all.

One thing we have not had available to the growing Nostr community, and those considering joining it, is a source for application reviews that is thorough, approachable, knowledgeable, and balanced. This is what I hope to begin to provide through this new npub dedicated to reviewing as many of the Nostr clients, apps, and tools as I possibly can, so you the reader can determine which ones will fit your needs, and perhaps help you find new ones you had never heard about.

One of the best parts about Nostr is the portability of your identity and social graph, allowing users to log into any Nostr-based application with their same "account" without some centralized tech giant like Google or Apple owning who you are and all of your data. Leverage this super-power of Nostr with me as we explore the best applications and tools the intrepid developers building on this platform have cooked up.

What will you review?

My choice of applications to review will be based on a few factors.

First, I will only be reviewing applications that have a production release, or are otherwise considered production ready by the developer. jb55 (npub1xts…kk5s), you won't have to worry that I will be putting NoteDeck under the microscope while it is still very much in alpha. All of us who love to try the new clients as soon as they are available understand well enough that there will be plenty of bugs, UI quirks, and rough edges to look past.

Second, I will generally be reviewing applications that are meant to be user-facing for the average person. That is, apps that your normie friends might soon be using, and then asking you why they can't edit anything they post. I will not be doing reviews of various relay implementations, for instance, unless they are designed to be approachable to the average user to install and manage. cloud fodder (npub10np…tl5h), your project might just be a notable exception.

Third, my reviews will be limited by the operating systems I have available to me at the time. Sorry folks over on iOS, Mac, and Windows. I will only be able to review apps I can run on Android, Linux, or my web browser for the time being.

How will the apps be rated?

I want to be thorough in my reviews, and yet avoid overloading my readers with information they don't care about. In order to attempt to achieve this, I will break my reviews into several sections, so readers can skip to the sections relevant to their interests.

First, I will provide a basic overview of the type of application I am reviewing, what it is trying to achieve, and why a user might want to try it out.

Next, I will give my overall impression of the application. The good, the bad, and the ugly, as it were, so that those who just want a brief rundown can get the TLDR right out the gate and be on their way.

Then we will begin diving into the nitty-gritty with an in depth look at the main features of the application. What it does well. What features seem lacking. What expected features are absent. What features make it unique and set it apart from other applications with a similar purpose.

For the sake of all the baby Nostriches out there, the next section will be an assessment of how approachable the application would likely be to a normie who is coming to Nostr with no idea what a public and private key are, what relays are, or why they might want to start interacting here instead of on a legacy equivalent. What would someone used to Twitter think of #Snort? What would someone used to Spotify think of #Fountain or #Wavlake?

The next section will be a review of the application's UI. The design and polish. How easy it is to find the things you want in the areas you would expect them. In short, how well the application achieves the goal of making the user feel at home and want to continue using the app just through quality UI design.

If you know me and my contstant harping on developers to include various forms of external signing, it should be no surprise to you that the next section will cover login options. What does the sign-in and sign-up flow look like, and does the user have to expose their private key to the application in order to use it?

A review of virtually any Nostr application would be incomplete without a section dedicated to zap integration. How prominent is zapping in the app? How easy is it to zap or start receiving zaps? Are zaps displayed in a way that encourages users to compete to be top zapper? Is Nostr Wallet Connect supported for using external wallets for one-tap-zapping?

Most Nostr applications, even "other stuff" clients, are designed to present some form of content to the user. The next section will cover how easy it is for the user to find the type of content they may be interested in, or to discover content they didn't know they might be interested in. For social clients, how easy is it to discover other users that they might want to follow?

The backbone of the protocol is the interplay between clients and relays, and the next section of the review will cover how the app manages relays. Are they hidden from the user? Are there sensible defaults? Can users who want to do so select the relays they prefer? Does the app respect relays the user has selected in other apps, or are the app's relays independent of those selected in other apps. Worse, does the app overwrite your selected relays with its defaults?

Finally, I will scour the #AskNostr feed for questions and comments from other users about the app under review to get more perspectives than just my own. What are the common pain-points other users are having? What do they love about the app? What features would they like to see added?

Are there other sections you would like to see me add before I start dropping reviews? Get them to me soon, because I am currently taking notes for my first review, which will be the #Primal #Android client!

PV 🤙