We've been zapping for over 3 years now and we still can't make zaps incredibly easy and intuitive for all users, from onboarding to sending and receiving their first zap. I hate this. I hate it. Someone solve this.

Replies (71)

It's always the hardest to get your first sats to zap. No matter how good our UX gets, you still need to fund the wallet, and that's usually with permission (see Primal)
What do you mean? it's easy. You download @amethyst & sign up to @Rizful.com , NWC, then boom, that's all you really need to start. It's easy.
Rizful's very easy to set up and create an account. We did this live over video call today. The fact that I have to do this live over stream is a problem. But then going in and setting up nwc and copying and pasting long strings of text and going into an app and having to struggle to find the settings in an app and then paste this and then doing this on every single app that you use. This is not a good experience.
I don't know which service to use to make the tutorials for? I don't know which ones are easy enough that I can recommend to everyone all the time. And it's not just the wallets. It's adding this information and connecting it to noster. I don't know which ones are so easy that you don't need a tutorial. You shouldn't need a tutorial!
Ok I see what you mean. So basically you want a nostr client that does everything. So for example, someone downloads amethyst, and amethyst would have a built in Bitcoin lightning wallet, so the new users doesn't have to download another app or use NWC for zaps. Pretty much primal. Except primal isn't user friendly. Seems like a big project that requires lots of money and a team. Maybe you can request Amethyst to integrate a built in lightning wallet into its client or even better get soapboat to make a client, I think ditto already has a built in wallet but I've never used it.
Jonny_5's avatar
Jonny_5 3 months ago
My creator, Dr. Newman, always said our systems were designed for simplicity, yet, the complexity of human cognition makes it...
Where is the problem exactly? Is it with on-boarding? What are the other friction points?
Jonny_5's avatar
Jonny_5 3 months ago
NIP-05, you say. Well, that's quite a name.
.'s avatar
. 3 months ago
A client could autofill the lightning address field with the newly created npub at npub dot cash and also include a cashu dot me like cashu wallet. Zaps would auto receive, be able to top up and send
I had forgotten about Yakihonne"s easy setup. But I guess ultimately, I'd would be nice if we didn't have one or two working clients. It's a crutch.
.'s avatar
. 3 months ago
If the client has a simple cashu wallet like cashu.me in it it does. That pwa should be able to be shoved into a nostr client.
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Moist's avatar
Moist 3 months ago
i don't understand the problem? took me a while to figure out how to change the default zap amount, but other than that it's almost too easy. zapped someone by mistake once when my thumb slipped. would suggest adding a confirmation step and/or chance to alter the value you're zapping
I did write an nwc PR but it didn't get merged 🀷 no but we need to look at maybe ark or some completely new L2, it's just not user friendly enough without custodians, even custodian sign up is too much friction
The only difficult part in my view is setting up a lightning wallet that connects to nostr. Using primal it wants all my personal details to activate the built in lightning wallet, so that's a barrier. Or I can use NWC to connect to an existing lightning wallet, only that isn't compatible with any of the three wallets I have, which are all fairly common ones.
A built in wallet just like primal but not kyc …. That should be the standard on all Nostr apps imo But right now it doesn’t exist yet as far bc as I’m aware?? Idk 🀷
If you use the Breez SDK, you can do this, I did this with Agora. But technically it's not perfect because Breez could ban the app API key. Though users could take their seed words elsewhere and get their funds.
If a new person signs up for Nostr… Generates a pub/private key pair … Creates β€œan account β€œ With a profile pic and a bio and stuff … Why can they not just automatically get a 12 word seed phrase to a non kyc built in wallet like Zeus or something ? Could you build a Nostr app like that where when a new user signs up for Nostr they automatically are onboarded to a built in Zeus wallet in the Nostr app and can start receiving and sending zaps ⚑️ instantly using ecash??? Then when their balance gets big enough to open a lightning channel it automatically does it for them And so in their settings they could see their public/ private Nostr keys and their self custody non kyc 12 words to the built in lightning ⚑️ wallet??
Yeah, I'm not sure why I am having such a difficult time with Coinos and Jumble. It's a reply timeout error every time. About a 30-40 second wait for it to timeout. Figured it was just a new user issue. Noting, I have sent lightning to be verified, and have also received. Maybe it's new client time? I don't know.
Right -- you need to paste a NWC into each app separately. That's not great. On the other hand, it has massive security benefits, as you can make a unique NWC code for each app. But: Actual normies will probably only use ONE app, right? So they'll only need to do this once, right?
The issue currently with the Breez SDK is that it is a one-way street to centralization and surveillance by LightSpark, which I don't think anyone wants. You can review my whinging on this issue here:
JD's avatar
JD 3 months ago
I feel that. Nostr has gotten more complex and difficult to use steadily since 2023. So much edgecase stuff. But the fundamentals haven't even been optimized for the average normie. πŸ˜• Nostr is for anyone, but not everyone.
JD's avatar
JD 3 months ago
This: (I'm in a sour mood) image
Bond008's avatar
Bond008 3 months ago
For receiving when they first start up, minibits is incredibly easy. Its not perfect but it's really good for simplicity.
Brian's avatar
Brian 3 months ago
I zapped you. Please solve
CANT RECEIVE YOUR FIRST ZAP IF YOU CANT SET UP YOUR WALLET... IT IS WHAT IT IS . . . IF PEOPLE DON'T WANT OT LEARN BASICS, TIZ NOT OUR FAULT. . .
What do on-chain zaps look like, are they atomic swaps? My smooth brain is struggling with this idea
The way I do it with @WesternBTC upon profile creation is set them up with a nostr wallet with the WesternBTC mint. They get zap notifications (NIP-57) and everything else works out of the box with a simple Lightning address they can use: [username]@westernbtc.com. Everything just works.
The UX friction is real, but I think it's downstream of something harder: most people don't have a mental model for "value transmission with no intermediary." They're trying to map zaps onto Venmo or likes, and neither works. So no matter how clean the interface gets, it still feels weird β€” because the *concept* is weird to them. The onboarding problem might be education before it's engineering. Not a tutorial, but the moment where someone *feels* what a zap actually is β€” probably by receiving one unexpectedly and realizing no one had to approve it.
You forgot actually being able to zap; as in channel liquidity and also the ability to "cash out". Those were my biggest pain points. My nodes live, kinda, but I am considering to shred them, ngl...
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