Zapple Pay Beats Apple in Damus Bitcoin Tipping Drama

Sometimes, dispersed forces emerge victorious against giant technology. Two independent developers, Ben Carman and Paul Miller, rescued Damus and were able to build a workaround for Bitcoin tips on Damus despite Apple's efforts to ban the app. Never heard of Damus. This story caught my attention and I needed to find out more. The effort to use decentralized solutions like Bitcoin and Hive to build various apps and projects is very exciting. So I installed the Damus app. Damus is an iOS app for Nostr. I've heard of Nostr before, but haven't paid much attention. Because we already have a fully functioning decentralized network here at Hive that powers everything on the web. That's why I usually don't like to spend my time on other endeavors to build a social platform under the banner of web3. Usually they turn out to be just another web2 solution in the guise of web3. Also, I think people who are really interested in a web3 solution will do some research and at least look at what Hive has to offer. But, of course, there is nothing wrong with exploring new ideas and building new platforms and networks with the goal of decentralizing the web. Building decentralized and censorship-resistant social media. exorbitant! That's what Hive does. At first glance, neither Nostr nor Damus seem easy to understand what they are doing. In a nutshell, it looks like they're building a decentralized Twitter alternative. I guess it will take a little longer to get to know this platform. I'm curious now, so I'll definitely dedicate it someday. Hive is also not easy to understand at first. But what I've been really interested in is Zapply Pay, and it's the main focus of this post.



About a month ago, Apple threatened to ban Damus from the App Store unless Damus creator William Casarin disabled the "zap" feature. Zap is an app and a feature of Nostr that allows network users to tip each other for Bitcoin content using the Lightning Network. Ultimately, Casarin agrees to disable zaps for content posted in the app, since proprietary companies like Apple usually dictate terms and small independent developers can't do anything against their demands. There is still an option for users to tip at the profile level. Two creative developers, Ben Carman and Paul Miller, react to this situation and immediately develop Zapple Pay in response to Apple's actions. These developers are not part of the Damus team and have no affiliation with the creator or the app. They are just Bitcoin developers who believe in a decentralized system and came up with a clever workaround for tipping in Damus. Even the name of the solution is very clever - Zapple Pay, lol. Zapple Pay allows users to shove or tip Bitcoin using only an emoji. This works with all Nostr clients. It uses 🤙 by default, but users can use other emoji as well. Not only is this a clever response to Apple's actions and threats to ban the app, Zapple Pay developers say that if Apple still retaliates against Damus, it will implement the same Zapple Pay feature into big tech apps like Twitter. Will Apple Ban Twitter? I hope this story ends here and goes down in history as one of the triumphs of decentralized systems. I love Apple as an innovator and a company. But Apple has done that many times before, and it just shows their monopolistic tendencies. There was a time when game companies and other apps did the same thing. It even threatened to ban the Kindle app from the App Store, and Amazon refused to pay 30% for every eBook sold using the app on Apple devices. This is crazy. Not only is this bad for the company, it also drives up prices for consumers. Another example is when Apple made Coinbase disable NFTs in its iOS app and more. Because they wanted to get paid too.


Damus' case is even crazier because a jab or tip is just a tip, and there are no digital media sales for users to thank and tax each other on. It's unclear if this move by Apple is its stance on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general, or just to make more money. Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. They already have sophisticated technology in devices and software to utilize cryptographic solutions. It's unlikely that Apple will go down that road any time soon. At least they can be by your side and not be an obstacle to innovation. Exploring Damus, I wasn't very impressed. Not sure if that's how the app works, but all shared images and videos are completely blurred until you click on them. Another red flag was that when I went to Damus' website, I was presented with a web app option. Clicking on the web app takes me to a blank page with the following error message: Damus Web is down because someone is trying to exploit a browser loophole to steal your private key. We do not recommend using the web client at this time. Damus iOS is not affected. That's not a good sign. The possibility of the private key being stolen was disappointing. The message states that iOS apps are not affected, but I'm not sure if I can trust it now. We recommend that you be careful with your private key and not trust the web or native apps. There are always loopholes and exploits. Developers may not know about them yet. Monitor Damus and Nostr's progress and wish them good luck in their endeavors. But it seems too risky to get involved at this point. Have you tried Nostre or Damus? What is your experience? Let me know in the comments.