Amethyst

The most feature-complete Nostr client for Android. Three experiences in one app.

Overview

Amethyst, developed by Vitor Pamplona, is the go-to Nostr client for Android. With over 100 contributors, it offers an incredibly rich feature set while maintaining an intuitive interface.

Three Experiences

Amethyst provides three distinct modes:

Mode	Description
Feeds	Traditional social media timeline
Chats	Group chats and direct messages
Stories	Media-focused ephemeral content

Key Features

Outbox Model

Amethyst pioneered the outbox model for relay management:

Old model: User manually configures relays
New model: Amethyst auto-discovers relays based on follows

┌──────────────┐
│   Your Feed  │
└──────┬───────┘
       │ Amethyst analyzes your follows
       ▼
┌──────────────┐
│ Auto-compile │
│ relay list   │
│ from follows │
└──────┬───────┘
       │ Connect only to relevant relays
       ▼
┌──────────────┐
│ Efficient    │
│ data fetch   │
└──────────────┘

No more guessing which relays to add — Amethyst handles it.

Privacy & Security

• Android KeyStore — Private keys stored securely
• Tor support — Built-in Tor network option
• Orbot compatible — Use with Tor proxy
• End-to-end encryption — NIP-04/NIP-44 DMs
• No data collection — All traffic goes to relays

External Signer Support

Use Amber or other NIP-46 signers:

┌───────────┐         ┌───────────┐
│ Amethyst  │◄───────►│  Amber    │
│ (client)  │  NIP-46 │ (signer)  │
└───────────┘         └───────────┘
                           │
                           │ nsec stored
                           │ securely here
                           ▼
                      ┌───────────┐
                      │  KeyStore │
                      └───────────┘

Your nsec never touches Amethyst.

Content Features

• Rich media — Images, videos, GIFs
• Image galleries — Multi-image posts
• Video recording — Record and post directly
• Zaps — Lightning payments
• NWC deep links — Quick wallet connection
• Reactions — Full emoji support
• Bookmarks — Save posts for later
• Lists — Organize follows

Recent Updates (2025)

• Video recording button on new posts
• Multiple signer support
• Follow list cloning
• Missing outbox relay detection
• Image gallery improvements

Installation

Available on:

• Google Play Store
• F-Droid
• GitHub Releases (APK)

Download on Google Play

Architecture

Amethyst is a Kotlin multiplatform project:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              Amethyst                    │
│         (Android Native App)             │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│              Commons                     │
│    (Shared UI - Compose Multiplatform)  │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│               Quartz                     │
│    (Nostr Protocol - Kotlin MP)         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

• Amethyst — Android-specific code
• Quartz — Nostr protocol implementation (KMP)
• Commons — Shared UI components
• DesktopApp — Compose Desktop version

Building from Source

git clone https://github.com/vitorpamplona/amethyst.git
cd amethyst

# Open in Android Studio
# Build > Make Project

Requirements:

• Android Studio
• JDK 17+
• Android SDK

Configuration

Relay Management

Amethyst uses outbox model by default, but you can:

• Add/remove specific relays
• Set read/write preferences
• Configure paid relays

Privacy Options

• Enable Tor (requires Orbot or built-in)
• Use external signer (Amber)
• Configure DM encryption

Comparison with Other Clients

Feature	Amethyst	Damus	Primal
Platform	Android	iOS	Multi
Outbox model	Yes	Partial	No
Tor built-in	Yes	No	No
External signer	Yes	No	No
Stories	Yes	No	No
Open source	Yes	Yes	Yes

Links

• Google Play: Amethyst
• GitHub: vitorpamplona/amethyst
• OpenSats: Amethyst funding

See Also

• Nostr Protocol — The protocol
• Damus — iOS client
• Primal — Cross-platform client
• Noskey — Key generation