**Amethyst is nearly my perfect *native* Android client for Nostr**
Over the last month I've tested out over a half dozen different Android apps for Nostr. Each week, I would be incredibly impressed with their progress, write a weekly recap of their features and enhancements, but in the end none of them were able to be used as a daily driver.
A long last, our **global nightmare** has come to an end. Amethyst was released to the Google Play Store for the world to download and install on January 25, 2023. Having a Nostr client running on Android means tapping into the largest market on the planet. **Roughly 75% of the world uses Android** on their smartphone. With Amethyst, Nostr was now able to be used by the masses.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vitorpamplona.amethyst
Amethyst is very smooth and fluent throughout the application, something other apps or even web clients are lacking. Amethyst comes with native image uploading, meaning you don't have to go and upload your image elsewhere, copy the link, and then find your way back to the app. Amethyst utilizes the popular Imugr.com image service for hosting.
Amethyst also boasts **link preview**, showing rich snippets for links that are included in posts. This is something that has become standard on social networks like Facebook or Twitter over the years. It's definitely a nice quality of life enhancement, in my opinion.
One feature that I don't use on other clients, because it's not included, are Public channels. Not all clients display these properly or even not at all, but they work like Telegram channel. They allow users to form a public group or collection of posts around the same topic.
As a power user with many relays, I'll say that most clients are slow and laggy for me. Astral and Snort are great clients and I still use them daily. Snort is my absolute favorite. I often switch back and forth between the two, because some features work better for me on Astral, such as DMs. On Snort, my DMs are very slow and mostly broken. This is a Derek issue though. On Amethyst, my DMs just work. I'm very happy to see them working as intended.
Amethyst is nearly perfect. There are three features that I use daily that this Nostr client does not include, at least at this time.
* NIP-05 display
* Lightning on posts and profiles
* Markdown
NIP-05 display is important to me, not because I founded NostrPlebs.com, but for identification. I believe this is very important for the community as a whole. I'm spoiled by Snort's implementation, seeing pretty NostrPlebs.com users throughout my feed. Besides this, every client out there shows this. It's commonplace and expected.
Lightning on posts and profiles is equally important. Nearly the entire Nostr community at this time is composed of Bitcoiners. Lightning integration allows us to use Nostr as a **Value 4 Value economy**, zapping, tipping, or paying users for their content and their contributions has become a way of life over the past month.
Markdown may not be important to everyone, but in my long form posts, such as this one, I like to include bold, italics, and bulleted lists. Most popular clients include these things.
For now, I'll most likely be using Snort while at home on my desktop or laptop, but when I'm mobile, my go to client of choice will no longer be a web client. I'll be using Amethyst.
*Things to report in a week: data usage and battery life comparisons.*
Derek Ross
npub18a…tp424
2023-01-25 20:05:36
Author Public Key
npub18ams6ewn5aj2n3wt2qawzglx9mr4nzksxhvrdc4gzrecw7n5tvjqctp424Published at
2023-01-25 20:05:36Event JSON
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"created_at": 1674677136,
"kind": 1,
"tags": [],
"content": "**Amethyst is nearly my perfect *native* Android client for Nostr**\n\nOver the last month I've tested out over a half dozen different Android apps for Nostr. Each week, I would be incredibly impressed with their progress, write a weekly recap of their features and enhancements, but in the end none of them were able to be used as a daily driver.\n\nA long last, our **global nightmare** has come to an end. Amethyst was released to the Google Play Store for the world to download and install on January 25, 2023. Having a Nostr client running on Android means tapping into the largest market on the planet. **Roughly 75% of the world uses Android** on their smartphone. With Amethyst, Nostr was now able to be used by the masses.\n\nhttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vitorpamplona.amethyst\n\nAmethyst is very smooth and fluent throughout the application, something other apps or even web clients are lacking. Amethyst comes with native image uploading, meaning you don't have to go and upload your image elsewhere, copy the link, and then find your way back to the app. Amethyst utilizes the popular Imugr.com image service for hosting.\n\nAmethyst also boasts **link preview**, showing rich snippets for links that are included in posts. This is something that has become standard on social networks like Facebook or Twitter over the years. It's definitely a nice quality of life enhancement, in my opinion.\n\nOne feature that I don't use on other clients, because it's not included, are Public channels. Not all clients display these properly or even not at all, but they work like Telegram channel. They allow users to form a public group or collection of posts around the same topic.\n\nAs a power user with many relays, I'll say that most clients are slow and laggy for me. Astral and Snort are great clients and I still use them daily. Snort is my absolute favorite. I often switch back and forth between the two, because some features work better for me on Astral, such as DMs. On Snort, my DMs are very slow and mostly broken. This is a Derek issue though. On Amethyst, my DMs just work. I'm very happy to see them working as intended.\n\nAmethyst is nearly perfect. There are three features that I use daily that this Nostr client does not include, at least at this time. \n\n* NIP-05 display\n* Lightning on posts and profiles\n* Markdown\n\nNIP-05 display is important to me, not because I founded NostrPlebs.com, but for identification. I believe this is very important for the community as a whole. I'm spoiled by Snort's implementation, seeing pretty NostrPlebs.com users throughout my feed. Besides this, every client out there shows this. It's commonplace and expected.\n\nLightning on posts and profiles is equally important. Nearly the entire Nostr community at this time is composed of Bitcoiners. Lightning integration allows us to use Nostr as a **Value 4 Value economy**, zapping, tipping, or paying users for their content and their contributions has become a way of life over the past month.\n\nMarkdown may not be important to everyone, but in my long form posts, such as this one, I like to include bold, italics, and bulleted lists. Most popular clients include these things.\n\nFor now, I'll most likely be using Snort while at home on my desktop or laptop, but when I'm mobile, my go to client of choice will no longer be a web client. I'll be using Amethyst.\n\n*Things to report in a week: data usage and battery life comparisons.*",
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}