Iris is a Nostr Android, iOS and web client for better social networks.
Please note that this FAQ section is a work-in-progress. The information may have already changed due to the frequent app and network updates.
If you cannot find the answer to your question, you can always reach out to other Iris and Nostr users for assistance.
There is a growing number of Nostr resources that may also instruct in using Iris (e.g. nostr.how).
Iris web client works with the Alby extension also with multiple keys.
Gif avatars work on Iris.
1500x500 pixels is the preferred size.
You can change the theme on settings. Iris will remember your selection even on other clients.
Supports npub and window.nostr login as well as Alby and nos2x browser extensions. You can also paste your public key (npub) if you don't want to make any changes (e.g. follow, write notes, like, read DMs etc.).
Google Play store version. (apk)
Iris supports profile URLs in the following formats (examples):
https://iris.to/bob(bob is aniris.to/username)https://iris.to/alice@example.com(if you have a NIP05; not your email)https://iris.to/example.com(if you have a NIP05 _@example.com)https://iristo/npub(nostr public key)
The username that you can change in "edit profile" is not unique. However, NIP05 identifiers such as alice@example.com are unique.
Iris username helps users to find your nostr profile easier.
The format is iris.to/username (for example: iris.to/sirius).
You can also use username@iris.to format (NIP05; e.g. sirius@iris.to) in user searches.
You cannot change your Iris username. They are unique, more than 3 characters long and using letters and numbers only. You can use underscore (_) but no other special characters are allowed.
Namesquatting, impersonation, vulgar or otherwise offensive usernames may result in you losing your username (also spamming or otherwise abusive username usage).
Iris works on most common browsers: iris.to.
Get Iris from App store.
Iris is in Testflight public testing. Join here.
Notes can play audio.
Indicates that the user has a NIP05 identifier.
You can download (and copy) your profile data and the following list.
You can restore your previous data either by uploading the file (.json) or pasting the same data into the field.
Restoring your old following data will merge it with your current version. The profile data is restored only if it's the latest version (event). All other events are republished (not posted as new).
User blocks are private. When you block someone on Iris, DMs will be locally removed as well, and any further DMs rejected. Block lists are stored encrypted to self in event kind 16462.
- Blue = a followed user
- White = you don't follow but 1-10 of your following follows the user (hover over the icon and Iris shows the count)
- Yellow = you don't follow but over 10 of your following follows the user (hover over the icon and Iris shows the count)
Delete account feature on Account settings resets your profile and following, and disables login to Iris. If you want to come back after deleting your account, sign up again and create a new account.
Following feed shows only the people you directly follow.
Global feed shows all the events that you have configured Iris to accept.
You can adjust your feed experience by setting the following distance limit (or turn it off entirely) from Settings / Social network. Your network starts from you and who you follow and goes forward from there.
You can also adjust the minimum amount of followers required per user at the maximum followed distance you have set that Iris will include in the feed. These settings apply to all your feeds (both Following and Global).
The Social network -settings are stored locally only. If you have multiple clients they are not synched between clients.
The users you choose to report are blocked on your feed and the list of your flagged users is public.
Your follower count may seem lower on Iris than other clients. Iris rejects events from authors that your social network has not interacted with. You get way less spam and your follower count number is lower for the same reason.
Nostr doesn't save individual follows as events, only the most recent version of your contact list. You'd have to save the "followed" event locally either manually or by your client. Keeping more than one nostr client session open (not logged out) is not advised since this may reset your following list.
You can post image URLs and the media is shown in the notes.
Global feed shows events from everyone in your extended network of follows.
Youtube, IG, Spotify, Tidal and Twitch play on notes.
Brave browser issue: Spotify embed may cause Brave to ask to install a Widevine DRM BS extension.
Click the number next to the heart in a note to see who liked it.
If a user's name is not found, a deterministic Adjective Animal name is shown instead of the public key (e.g. Grubby Magpie)
If you use a public key to log in you have a read-only view of certain information but cannot add, edit or delete information.
This is not supported yet.
There're no restrictions on who sees your posted notes. All notes are public. Clients can change what the user views (see the feed and spam section) but it does not change the fact that nostr handles all notes as public for now (unless they are DM content), and you should consider everything as public.
For a quote note (you can also have more than one), copy the NoteID (from the note menu) and paste it on the new note into the position where you want the quoted note.
Mentioning users When writing a note, type @ and wait for the menu to come out and choose the preferred user by clicking it from the menu.
Posting notes works also by pressing cmd/ctrl + return on your keyboard.
Iris shows notifications for new followers but doesn't save the notification yet. The notification is only shown when Iris has locally cached someone's contact list and gets a new version of it (updates were made elsewhere).
Iris shows notifications in one place (the ❤️ on the menu).
You can search users by
⚡️ npub
⚡️ NIP05 (jack@cash.app)
⚡️ @ (and start typing the name)
Notes by the NoteID (starting with note1) ⚡️ with hashtags and keywords
There's also support for Chinese, Japanese and Korean languages. Iris search is based on https://nostr.band with its content, results and features.
You can use the attach media option when writing a note, or upload to imgur, nostr.build or a similar service and then insert the link to the note.
Video and audio uploads are supported on notes.
You can publicly report users' posts. It publishes a delete event for the reported note in Nostr.
In the note menu, there’s a delete option for notes. It’s up to relays and other clients to respect it so consider it more as a wish than anything else. Hidden or ignored is not deleted. This is how nostr protocol works. Unboosting and unliking work the same way (not available yet).
Iris allows you to view other accounts with their public key (a nostr protocol feature) if you're using a browser extension login. Visit the user's profile and open the user's profile menu and select the "View as..." option.
Notes preview and play Magnet webtorrent media links (may not work on mobile devices).
lightning:iristoapp@getalby.com format is supported. Add your lightning wallet in the edit profile section.
Issue a Lightning invoice or you can also use lightning:iristoapp@getalby.comformat.
Your mobile wallet needs to be registered on the device for the link to be recognised when you click it.
Lightning wallets are starting to implement the zapping feature. You could try www.walletofsatoshi.com for mobile or https://getalby.com for desktop, for example. The technical term is NIP-57.
Currently, The ⚡️ is a lightning: link to the user's address (see how it works). There is no listing of zaps yet.
Browser applications are not signed by the developer unlike native apps and browser extensions. Someone could hack the server or DNS and serve malicious code that steals your private key. XSS is also a risk, although not common in applications that use a framework like react.
Image loading is done via proxy to resize and avoid IP leaking unless it's from a whitelisted (e.g. imgur.com and nostr.build)
Only the message content is encrypted: sender, recipient and timestamp are visible to everyone.
Iris caches profiles, follows and the latest 1000 notes for a faster and better user experience.
If you force refresh on your browser that might help (cmd/ctrl +R in some browsers) or quitting the app may also help clear the local cache (iOS).
Keyword search works with relays that have implemented it.
Iris stores a few of the latest messages, contacts and metadata, but could store more in the future.
If your NIP05 is not showing on your profile, check whether you have technical errors in the NIP05 implementation (e.g. CORS error).
if your NIP05 shows as valid on one client, but invalid on the other it could be a local cache issue. Try cmd/cntr + R to do a force refresh on the browser, or quit and restart the app.
The relays Iris uses can change over time since they reflect the content you're viewing.
You can add, remove and disable (and enable with ☑) relays. By saving publicly the current relay list is published and you can use it on other clients.
Iris account has usually between 8-13 active relays and runs smoothly.
Iris asks for 1000 latest events from known users initially. Some relays don't like the large authors filter (100-2000). Then it subscribes to all upcoming messages but discards those that are from unknown authors. When you open someone's profile, all their events are queried.
Iris may not work with ws: but only with wss: (using webcrypto api). Browsers don't let you connect to a non-secure address (ws) if the page is loaded from a secure origin (https).
Iris saves the notifications and DM threads' last seen timestamp for easier client synchronisation.
The NIP-05 identifier is an easier way to find your public key profile. Just like email addresses, many people can have the same NIP05 name (e.g. Alice), but not on the same domain (e.g. alice@domain.com).
It could be that you're not logged in with your private key, you're offline or not connected to the relays. A quick way to see whether you're logged in with your private key (nsec) is to see whether the DMs are open and whether you can read their content.
If your relays are not allowing you to write to them new events you may have only read-only access (usually with paid relays).
It could be that your other client's relays have not picked it up.
Copy the noteid from one client and paste it into the Iris search box on the other and see whether it comes up.
If you're sure that it is published you could try to "Resend to relays" from the note menu.
It could also be that you're not logged in with your private key, you're offline or not connected to the relays. A quick way to see whether you're logged in with your private key (nsec) is to see whether the DMs are open and whether you can read their content.
If the original video format is not supported by your browser or operating system Iris cannot play it. For example, Chrome (and Chromium-based browsers such as Brave) do not play Apple's QuickTime format (.mov).
The file could also be corrupted, or not downloaded completely or if you have disabled embeds on the Settings menu it may not play either.
See the previous answer first.
Iris uploads the pictures to a third-party service (e.g. www.nostr.build ) so it's a possibility that something is not working on their end. Yet, if you can get the picture URL from the original post (for example, "Copy raw data" from the note menu) and paste it on a browser you can verify whether it's available and visible.
Martti Malmi develops Iris full-time.
Iris is the Greek goddess of the rainbow and the messenger of gods. Iris means rainbow in ancient Greek. The iris of the eye is named so because of its many colors. Eyes are essential for human communication. Iris users could be called iridians.
Join the Iris.to telegram group: https://t.me/+u-qC51vCUWQ3NmRk
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