Damus is a Twitter-like client for iPhone, iPad, and MacOS that implements the Nostr protocol. Some of the main features and capabilities of Damus include:

• Personal Feed: A feed of all the notes from everyone you follow.
• Global Feed: A feed of all the public notes that have been posted by users on the platform.
• Encrypted DMs: The ability to send encrypted direct messages to other users.
• Tagging users: The ability to mention other users in your notes by using their public keys.
• Hashtags: The ability to tag your notes with hashtags to make them more discoverable to other users.
• Search: The ability to search for users, hashtags, and notes in the Global Feed.
• Customizing your profile: The ability to edit your name, username, and profile picture.
• Viewing other users’ profiles: The ability to view the name, username, public key, and recent notes of other users.
• Following and unfollowing users: The ability to follow or unfollow other users to control the content that appears in your Personal Feed.

Here is a good video overview of Damus posted in their BriFitDance:

Who is behind Damus and why building on top of NOSTR?

Damus is being worked on by William Casarin who is also Bitcoin and Lightning developer. Here is a great youtube video where he discussed Damus, and we even made a transcript of this video if you would like it here. Nostr is a decentralized protocol for building censorship-resistant global networks. It was created by @fiatjaf and is designed to be the simplest possible censorship-resistant alternative to platforms like Twitter. Instead of relying on servers, Nostr ties identities to private keys and allows users to publish signed JSON blobs to a network of relays. These relays are dumb and will accept messages from anyone, making it difficult for any individual actor to censor a user. nostr has been used to build a variety of applications, including a Twitter-like client, a chess engine, and a decentralized organization. One key feature of nostr is that it is not built on a blockchain, and instead utilizes more efficient databases like Postgres and SQLite.

Damus and NOSTR Protocol

Damus is a social media client that is built to be compliant with the Nostr protocol. It has iPhone, iPad and MacOS versions. As you already probably know, the Nostr protocol is a decentralized, open-source protocol for social media that allows users to have control over their data and privacy. You can read more about NOSTR here, but to summarize the key points about the protocol:

• Nostr is a decentralized protocol for building censorship-resistant global networks
• It was created by @fiatjaf and is designed to be a simple alternative to platforms like Twitter
• Identities in Nostr are tied to private keys and users can publish signed JSON blobs to a network of relays
• These relays are dumb and will accept messages from anyone, making it difficult for any individual actor to censor a user
• Nostr has been used to build a variety of applications, including a Twitter-like client, a chess engine, and a decentralized organization
• Nostr is not built on a blockchain and instead utilizes more efficient databases like Postgres and SQLite

Damus – the client app for NOSTR – is available as an app for iOS devices and can be downloaded via Testflight. The app allows users to post notes, tag other users, and engage with notes by reposting, liking, or replying to them. The app also includes features for encrypted direct messaging and searching for users and tags. Users can also add additional relays to send their notes to and can manage their public and private keys through the app’s settings. It is important to keep the private key safe and not share it publicly.

Main features and capabilities of Damus

1. Posting notes: Users can post notes on Damus which can be seen in their personal and global feeds.
2. Tagging users: Users can tag other users in their notes by using their public key.
3. Reposting and liking notes: Users can repost and like other users’ notes.
4. Replying to notes: Users can reply to other users’ notes which will appear in their personal and global feeds and will also trigger a notification for the original poster.
5. Formatting notes: Users can use certain formatting conventions, such as asterisks for italics and tildes for strikethrough, to format their notes.
6. Direct messaging: Users can send encrypted direct messages to other users.
7. Searching for users and tags: Users can search for other users and tags using the search feature in the app.
8. Adding relays: Users can add additional relays to send their notes to.
9. Managing keys: Users can view and manage their public and private keys through the app’s settings.

Damus and NIPS Specs Implementation

As a social media client that is built to be compliant with the Nostr protocol, which is a decentralized, open-source protocol for social media, Damus implements the following Nostr Implementation Possibilities (NIPS):

• NIP-01: Basic protocol flow outlines the basic flow of the Nostr protocol, including the process for sending and receiving notes. It specifies the structure and content of notes, as well as how notes are stored and retrieved by clients.
• NIP-08: Mentions specifies how users can mention other users in their notes by using their public keys. This allows users to directly address and tag other users in their notes, which can help to increase the interactivity of the platform.
• NIP-10: Reply conventions outlines the conventions for replying to notes in the Nostr protocol. It specifies how replies should be formatted and how they should be displayed in different clients. This allows for more seamless communication between users and enables conversations to happen within the app.
• NIP-12: Generic tag queries (hashtags) specifies how users can use hashtags to tag their notes and how other users can search for notes using hashtags. This helps users to discover and engage with more content within the app and allows for the creation of communities around specific topics or themes.

In terms of functionality:

1. NIP-01: Basic protocol flow: This NIP allows Damus to send and receive notes using the Nostr protocol.
2. NIP-08: Mentions: This NIP allows users to mention other users in their notes by using their public keys, which allows for more interactive communication between users.
3. NIP-10: Reply conventions: This NIP allows users to reply to other users’ notes, which allows for more interactive communication between users and enables conversations to happen within the app.
4. NIP-12: Generic tag queries (hashtags): This NIP allows users to tag their notes with hashtags and allows other users to search for notes using hashtags. This helps users to discover and engage with more content within the app.

Getting Started with Damus

Steps for downloading and setting up the Damus iOS app

To download the Damus iOS app, you can follow these steps:

1. Go to the Testflight website: https://testflight.apple.com/
2. Scroll down to the “Join a TestFlight Beta Program” section.
3. Enter the following invitation code in the “Invitation Code” field: CLwjLxWl
4. Click “Join”.
5. You will be redirected to the App Store to download the TestFlight app. Click “Get” to download the app.
6. Once TestFlight is installed, open the app and you should see Damus listed.
7. Click “Install” to download and install the Damus app.

How to set up relays and manage your public and secret keys in the app’s settings

To set up relays and manage your public and secret keys in the app’s settings on Damus, you can follow these steps:

1. Open the Damus app and tap the gear icon in the top right corner to access the settings.
2. In the settings menu, tap “Relays”.
3. To add a new relay, tap the “+” button. You can find more relays to add by visiting https://nostr.info/relays/.
4. To view your public key (also known as your User ID or pubkey), tap “Public Key” in the settings menu. This is your personal address and how people can find and tag you in the app.
5. To view your secret key, tap “Secret Key” in the settings menu. This is your private key, which is unique to you and should be kept safe. Never share your private key publicly and be careful when sharing it with other clients.
6. To log out of the app, tap “Log out” in the settings menu.

Overview of features of the Personal Feed and how to post, tag, and format Notes

The Personal Feed in Damus is a feed of all the notes from everyone you follow. It is accessed by tapping the home icon in the bottom navigation.

To post a note in the Personal Feed, tap the blue “+” button. This will open a compose window where you can type your note. When you are finished, tap “Post” to send your note to your Personal and Global Feeds.

To tag a user in your note, you can use their public key (also known as their User ID or pubkey). To find someone’s public key, you can search for their username in the search bar at the top of the Global Feed and click on their profile. Then, tap the key icon to copy their public key to your clipboard. You can then go back to your Personal Feed and paste the public key into your note by typing “@” followed by the key (e.g., @npub1xtscya34g58tk0z605fvr788k263gsu6cy9x0mhnm87echrgufzsevkk5s).

You can also use certain formatting conventions to format your notes. These include using asterisks for italics (e.g., *italic*), using two asterisks for bold (e.g., **bold**), using two tildes for strikethrough (e.g., ~~strikethrough~~), and using a back-tick for code (e.g., code). Please note that formatting may not display as intended in other web clients.

How to send encrypted DMs and view your DM history

To send encrypted direct messages (DMs) on Damus, you can follow these steps:

1. Tap the chat icon in the bottom navigation to access the DM feature.
2. Tap the “+” button in the top right corner to create a new DM.
3. Type the public key (also known as the User ID or pubkey) of the user you want to message in the “To” field. You can find someone’s public key by searching for their username in the search bar at the top of the Global Feed and clicking on their profile. Then, tap the key icon to copy their public key to your clipboard.
4. Type your message in the “Message” field.
5. Tap “Send” to send your DM.

To view your DM history, tap on an existing conversation in the DM list. This will open the conversation and show you a list of all the messages that have been exchanged with that user.

Overview of the Global Feed and how to search for and follow users

The Global Feed in Damus is a feed of all the public notes that have been posted by users on the platform. It is accessed by tapping the search icon in the bottom navigation.

To search for a user in the Global Feed, you can use the search bar at the top of the screen. Type in the username or public key of the user you want to find and tap “Search”. This will show you the user’s profile, which includes their name, username, public key, and a list of their recent notes.

To follow a user, you can tap the “Follow” button on their profile. This will add their notes to your Personal Feed and allow you to see their notes in your feed.

Other Features of Damus

Ability to schedule posts for later and set reminders for notes

Damus does not currently have the ability to schedule posts for later or set reminders for notes. However, it is possible that this feature may be added in the future.

The use of hashtags and how to search for them in the Global Feed

Hashtags are used on Damus to tag notes and make them more discoverable to other users. To use a hashtag in a note, you can simply type the “#” symbol followed by the term you want to use as the hashtag (e.g., “#tech”, “#news”).

To search for notes with a specific hashtag in the Global Feed, you can use the search bar at the top of the screen. Type in the hashtag you want to search for (e.g., “#tech”) and tap “Search”. This will show you a list of all the notes that have been tagged with that hashtag.

The ability to customize your profile and view other users’ profiles

On Damus, you have the ability to customize your profile and view other users’ profiles. To customize your own profile, you can follow these steps:

1. Tap the gear icon in the top right corner to access the settings.
2. Tap “Edit Profile” to open the profile editor.
3. You can then edit your name, username, and profile picture by tapping on the corresponding fields.
4. When you are finished, tap “Save” to update your profile.

To view another user’s profile, you can search for their username in the search bar at the top of the Global Feed and click on their profile. This will show you their name, username, public key, and a list of their recent notes. You can also follow or unfollow them by tapping the “Follow” or “Unfollow” button on their profile.

Overall Conclusion

Overall Damus is one of the bests Twitter-like social media app for iPhone, iPad, and MacOS that implements the Nostr protocol. It features well rounded implementation Personal Feed of notes from users you follow, a Global Feed of all public notes, encrypted direct messaging, the ability to tag users and use hashtags, search functionality, customization of your profile, and the ability to follow and unfollow other users. Damus also supports certain formatting conventions in notes, such as italics, bold, strikethrough, and code formatting. Overall, Damus is a feature-rich app that offers a lot of functionality for users.

If you’re interested in trying out Damus, I would highly recommend giving it a try! It is a unique and feature-rich social media app that offers a lot of functionality for users. I hope you’ll enjoy using the app and exploring all its features.

If you do try out Damus, I would love to hear about your experience with it. Feel free to share your thoughts and feedback on the app in the comments below. Your input can help others decide whether Damus is the right app for them, and it can also help the developers improve the app in the future.