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FAQ: Iris – The app for better social networks

Iris is a Nostr Android, iOS and web client for better social networks. For desktop (Windows, MacOS, Linux), Docker and other versions, see the instructions.

Create meaningful connections and build your network with Iris.

Say goodbye to distractions, ads and controlled feeds. Say hello to accessible and secure social networking. Iris gives you complete control over your data and profile.

Choose a name or alias and start connecting with friends and followers. You don't need a phone number or any other personal information to sign up.

Discover a new world of social networking with Iris that is based on a simple, flexible, and open protocol called Nostr that is easy to use and ensures your data is always safe.

Start experiencing the future of social media with Iris.

Contents

• How to sign up
• Alby support
• Avatar
• Profile banner
• Dark/light theme
• Login options
• Log out or switch account
• Username (nostr)
• Iris username
• Versions

• Audio player
• Backups and Restore
• Block
• Color badges on user names
• Delete Account
• Embedded Media Formats
• Feed
• Follow and Unfollow
• Follower Count
• Following List
• Languages and Translations
• Likes
• Log in with the Public Key
• Markdown
• Media Links
• Mute
• Notes
• New Follower Notifications
• Notifications
• Search Notes
• Unknown Users
• Upload Media
• Report Notes and Users (Public)
• Undo and Delete
• View As
• Webtorrent Magnet Links

• Lightning Address
• Receiving Lightning
• Zapping

• Key Safety on Browser Apps
• Privacy on Uploaded Images
• Private Message Privacy (DMs)
• Privacy on Relays

Getting started

Sign up, get a free NIP05 & Iris username in 40 seconds

https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/52623440/225862232-7ac9a16a-bf14-4745-ad48-3e3a67bc597e.mp4

There is a growing number of instructions on how to use Iris such as nostr.how.

Alby support

Alby extension with multiple keys works on the Iris web version.

Avatar

Gif avatars are supported on Iris.

Profile banner

1500x500 pixels is the preferred size.

Dark/light theme

You can change the theme on settings. Iris will remember your selection even on other Iris clients.

Login options

Log in with your private key (nsec), public key (npub) or with an extension such as Alby or nos2x (Iris supports window.nostr login).

If you log in with a public key (npub) you cannot make any changes such as follow, write notes, like, read DMs.

Log out or switch account

You can end your current session by logging out or switching accounts.

❗️❗️❗️ If you have not saved your private key (nsec) you cannot log in again and there is no way to restore your account access. Only you have access to the private key. If you lose the private key the account is lost forever.

Username (nostr)

Iris supports profile URLs in the following formats (examples):

• https://iris.to/bob (bob is an iris.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

Iris username helps users to find your nostr profile easier.

https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/52623440/226199682-d32d345e-9d3f-424e-abd6-76d2897c740e.mp4

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).

Versions

Android version

Google Play store version and apk.

Iris updates the version automatically. No need to install a new version. Just quit the app and restart if you want to expedite the updating or it does not do it for some reason.

Browser version

The web version of Iris works on most common browsers: iris.to.

Notice that some of the features may not be available or need to be enabled or configured for them to work (for example, some media files may not play on Chrome and Chromium-based browsers such as Brave).

iOS app (Apple)

Get Iris from App store.

Iris updates the version automatically. No need to install a new version. Just quit the app and reopen it if you want to expedite the updating or if it does not do it for some reason.

Testflight

Iris is on Testflight public testing. Join here.

Iris updates the version automatically. No need to install a new version. Just quit the app and reopen it if you want to expedite the updating or if it does not do it for some reason.

Desktop (Windows, MacOS, Linux), Docker and other versions

Visit the instructions for downloads and details.

Using Iris

Audio player

Notes can play audio such as mp3-files if your OS or browser supports it.

Backups and Restore

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).

Block

User blocks are private (they are encrypted and stored as a nostr event kind 16462).

When you block someone on Iris, DMs will be locally removed as well, and any further DMs are rejected. If you followed the user before blocking the block also unfollows the user. If you want to unblock you need to follow the user again. Unblocking does not restore the previous follow status.

You can mute a note (and its thread) if you don't want to block the user.

Color badges on usernames

• 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

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.

The delete account option is only available on some versions (e.g. Play and App store).

Embedded media formats

Youtube, IG, Spotify, Tidal and Twitch embeds play on notes.

Feed

Following feed shows only the people you directly follow.

Global feed shows events from everyone in your extended network of follows 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.

Follow and unfollow

You can follow and unfollow users from their profile view menu, from each note's menu or by visiting following/follower lists.

Follower count

The follower count is constructed from your social network's following lists. Iris gathers the data from relays and counts who is following you. There is no single "follower count" as in traditional centralised social media.

The follower count may vary between clients and sessions for this reason. Some relays may be offline or not accessible and therefore the current follower count reflects this. It does not necessarily mean that someone has unfollowed you.

Following list

Your entire contact (following) list is updated every time you follow or unfollow someone.

Nostr doesn't save individual follows as events, only the most recent version of your contact list. Keeping more than one nostr client session open (not logged out) is not advised since this may reset your following list if an older or incomplete list is retrieved from the network by your latest active client.

It's recommended to take frequent backups of your profile (and following list). You cannot back up your follower list since that is counted by the client and is not stored anywhere (nostr protocol does not have a concept for a follower list).

Brave browser issue: Spotify embed may cause Brave to ask to install a Widevine DRM extension.

Languages and translations

You can use Iris on many languages. If your native language is not available or you would like to contribute to translations all help is appreciated.

Each note has a Translate option on its menu. Some languages may not be available and the service is an open-source voluntary solution so the translation quality and availability may vary.

Likes

Click the number next to the heart in a note to see who liked it. On a browser, you can also hover over the icon to see the name of the user.

Log in with the public key

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.

Markdown

Markdown is not supported yet.

Media links

You can post media URLs (the url should end with .png .jpg .gif .mp3 mp4 or a similar media file format) and the media is shown in the note.

Mute

Notes can be muted without blocking the user. This is helpful if there are note threads with lots of replies and notifications.

Each note has a menu where you can find the Mute option.

Notes

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 in a note), copy the NoteID (from the note menu) and paste it on the new note into the position where you want the quoted note.

For mentioning a user 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.

New follower notifications

Iris shows notifications for new followers but doesn't save the notification. 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).

Notifications

Iris shows notifications in one place (the ❤️ on the menu).

Notifications from a note that has more than 10 people mentioned are not shown.

Search notes

You can search users by

• npub
• NIP05 (jack@cash.app)
• @ (and start typing the name)

Notes by

• the NoteID (starting with note1)
• hashtags
• keywords

Search supports also Chinese, Japanese and Korean languages.

Iris search is based on https://nostr.band with its content, results and features.

Unknown users

If a user's name is not found, a deterministic Adjective Animal name is shown instead of the public key (e.g. Tall Marsupial).

Upload media

Video and audio uploads are supported on notes.

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. The accepted file sizes and media formats depend on the hosting provider.

Iris uploads to nostr.build when using the attach media option and inserts the media link(s) after a successful upload.

Report notes and users (public)

You can publicly report users' posts. Reporting publishes a delete event for the reported note on Nostr.

The users you choose to report are blocked on your feed. The list of your reported users is public.

Undo and delete

There’s a delete option for notes in the note menu.

It’s up to relays and other clients to respect the delete request. Consider the delete on Nostr 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).

View as

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.

Use log out or switch account when you want to exit the "View as..." mode.

Webtorrent magnet links

Notes preview and play Magnet webtorrent media links (may not work on mobile devices).

Lightning

Lightning address

lightning:iristoapp@getalby.com format is supported. Add your lightning wallet in the edit profile section.

Receiving lightning

Issue a Lightning invoice or you can also use lightning:iristoapp@getalby.comformat.

Zapping

You can zap by clicking the ⚡️ button. 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. The technical term is NIP-57 when checking for nostr zapping compatible Bitcoin lightning wallets.

The ⚡️ symbol is a lightning: link to the user's Bitcoin address.

Privacy and security

Key safety on browser apps

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.

Nostr is still a young protocol and the key management features are not yet fully developed.

Privacy on uploaded images

Image loading on Iris is done via a proxy to resize and avoid IP leaking unless it's from a whitelisted (e.g. imgur.com and nostr.build) service.

Private message privacy (DMs)

Only the message content is encrypted on Nostr: the sender, recipient and timestamp are visible to everyone.

Visit your profile with a public key login or see someone else's profile with the View as... feature to experience the level of privacy firsthand.

Privacy on relays

Your internet protocol (IP) address is exposed to the relays you connect to. If you want to improve your privacy, consider utilizing a service that masks your IP address (e.g. a VPN) from trackers online. You can also connect to Iris messenger on Tor Browser, which will mask your IP address.

The relay also learns which public keys you are requesting, meaning your public key will be tied to your IP address.

Network, storage and relays

Caching

Iris caches profiles, follows and the latest notes for a faster and better user experience.

Features disappeared or missing?

See try this first.

Keyword search

Keyword search works with the relays that have implemented it.

Local storage

Iris stores a few of the latest messages, contacts and metadata for a better user experience.

NIP05 verification failed

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. See try this first.

Relays

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.

The Iris account has usually between 8-13 active relays and runs smoothly.

Relay requests

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.

Umbrel

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).

Timestamps

Iris saves the notifications and DM threads' last seen timestamp for easier client synchronisation.

What is NIP-05

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).

Troubleshooting

Try this first

Browser

• force refresh on your browser (cmd/ctrl + R in some browsers)
• delete the local Iris site data
• log out and in again

Mobile (Android, Apple)

• quit the app (iOS; Android)
• log out and in again (or switch accounts)
• (delete and install the app again)

Posting does not seem to work

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 (direct messages) 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 a read-only access (usually with paid relays).

Video is not playing on note

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.

Why what I am posting from one device is not always visible to others?

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.

Why my picture is not showing up on other devices?

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.

Questions and support

Please note that this FAQ section is a work-in-progress. The information may already have 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.

Iris developer

Martti Malmi develops Iris full-time.

The name Iris

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.

Iris Telegram group

Join the Iris.to telegram group: https://t.me/+u-qC51vCUWQ3NmRk

Language options

If you would like to contribute to better translations, please visit.