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Decentralized Social App Damus Remains on Apple App Store after Removing Tip Button

Following a threat from Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) to remove Damus from its online marketplace, the Bitcoin-friendly app has agreed to adhere to App Store’s guidelines to avoid ejection. Two weeks ago, Damus announced that Apple might take the platform off the App Store due to its in-app payments. To prevent the removal, the tech giant gave the decentralized social app 14 days to halt some specific in-app payments.

Apple Lets Damus on App Store

Days after the revealing plan to appeal the matter with Apple, the founder of the Damus app, William Casarin, announced that the team had removed the tip button in compliance with instructions from Apple. Quoting Jack Dorsey’s tweet on the same matter, the developer wrote:

“Had to remove the tip button to stay on the app store. I will still build damus on iOS as a vanilla nostr client, but it you want to zap post, apple says nah.”

Now, the new version of Damus will not have zaps on posts since Apple likened it to selling digital content. However, users can still send zaps to one another at the profile level. While some Bitcoin community members see the end of the 2-week long battle as a partial win, others have been attacking Apple for imposing rigid guidelines.

Apple vs. Damus

Before now, Damus users could exchange tips via Bitcoin using the Lightning Network. The payment processing is done directly between users without any input from Damus. Also, the app operates on the Nostr platform, and these payments are called “zaps”. Announcing its case with Apple on the 13th of June, Damus posted a tweet, noting that Apple disapproves of zaps. Hence, the iPhone maker warned that the social network had 14 days to comply with the App Store Review Guidelines or be removed from the platform. The App Store requires that in-app payments go through Apple and retain a 30% fee. However, Damus clarified that the payments are strictly peer-to-peer.

On Monday, Damus wrote that the app may be removed from the App Store despite updating its app. The pro-Bitcoin app emphasized that no digital content gets unlocked when users are tipped. It says that Apple’s idea about the content being sold is “nonsense”, as users only get tips after posts are made. According to the Damusapp tweet, the decentralized social app will file an appeal as the tech company’s guideline is being “abused and misapplied”. It attached screenshots of a message from App Review stating that Damus’ submission does not comply with “Guidelines 3.1.1 – Business – Payments – In-App Purchase”.

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Decentralized Social App Damus Remains on Apple App Store after Removing Tip Button