Amethyst

Amethyst is a nostr client for Android built by Vitor Pamplona. It covers the basics you'd expect from a social app (feeds, profiles, DMs, group chats) but also supports live streams, marketplaces, long-form articles, voice notes, zaps via Wallet Connect, media feeds, and more. It ships with built-in Tor support enabled by default, so relay operators never see your IP address.

Amethyst recently moved to the outbox model, joining other clients that have adopted this approach to relay management. Instead of users manually picking which relays to read from, the app figures that out automatically based on who you follow. On mobile, Amethyst can connect to over 1,000 relays at once without noticeable battery or bandwidth cost. It also gives users granular control over every relay type: inbox, outbox, DM, search, indexer, broadcast, local, and more.

This achievement is a major demonstration of the true decentralized potential of nostr. By enabling mobile clients to automatically connect to 1,000 relays, we have fundamentally shifted the narrative. We've proven that users can be reliably served by a highly distributed network, not just a few central points.

—Vitor Pamplona

Amethyst was one of the first clients to implement NIP-17 for encrypted DMs, and it supports encrypted media uploads in private conversations. Vitor also helped design and ship NIP-85, which brings Web of Trust scoring to nostr, letting users choose trust providers to filter spam and surface reputable accounts.

Why fund it?

Amethyst is one of the most widely used nostr clients on Android and has been a testing ground for many new NIPs. Vitor writes protocol proposals alongside the client code, often shipping a reference implementation in Amethyst before a NIP is finalized. His work on encrypted DMs (NIP-17) and Web of Trust (NIP-85) has shaped how other clients approach these problems.

Beyond Amethyst itself, the project has produced Quartz, a Kotlin library for nostr that other Android and Kotlin Multiplatform projects can use.

OpenSats has been supporting Amethyst since the first wave of nostr grants in July 2023. Vitor later received a long-term support grant in August 2024, which lets him work on Amethyst full-time.

What's next?

Recent releases have shipped a high-performance local database with sub-microsecond queries for Quartz, follow lists and starter packs, a redesigned voice notes UI, and support for dozens of new NIPs in Quartz. The library has been migrated to Kotlin Multiplatform, and Amethyst Desktop builds for Linux and Windows are already shipping alongside the Android releases. An iOS port is in development.

Future work will focus on using WoT scores to filter content and replace legacy spam filters. For a detailed look at recent progress, see the Advancements in Nostr Clients impact report.