I think it’s fair to say that we broke new ground with our iOS remote signer. People have been trying to build something like this for a long time (even predating Nostr) and afaik all those attempts have been shut down by Apple. Some of our well informed users are concerned that our implementation breaks Apple’s rules and that Primal might get banned from the App Store. I’ll share our experience here so that other builders can benefit from it. First and foremost: we didn’t try to sneak this feature in. We provided a detailed explanation to the app store review team outlining exactly what we are doing and how. The technical tldr is: the only way to keep your iOS app running in the background is to play sound or dox user location. There is a history of developers trying to hack their way in by playing silent audio tracks or attempting to trick the reviewers (and confuse the users) in other ways. The key to our success was that we actually built a polished ambient sound feature for our signer. Some users might actually want ambient sound for their remote sessions, so we took great care to pick the appropriate sounds and build polished UI that enables users to control those sounds via the dynamic island or the live activity UI on the lock screen. We also designed an informative sound opt in screen at the beginning of the session. This is important: the user is fully informed and totally in control every step of the way. I am not sure, but it might be helpful that Primal was already a multimedia app so this feature doesn’t feel out of place. In any case, that’s how we did it; hope it helps other builders. 🫡 View quoted note →

Replies (31)

using audio is fucking dope. i once had a dream of doing something similar for point of sale integration . i can't remember what it solved. but probably same thing. well done. so cool.
Thank you for all the efforts. This is really huge what you have achieved. Not only have you created the first usable signer for iOS, but you also managed to be the only signer for iOS and Android that is directly available in the normal app stores. This gives us for the first time ever a way to onboard new users smoothly into the ecosystem. Really huge for the Nostr ecosystem 💜
Thank you. Hopefully this paves the way for more signer implementations and the "Login with Nostr" button becomes ubiquitous.
ZharlieW's avatar
ZharlieW 3 days ago
Thank you, this is very helpful. I’m also planning to submit Aegis - nostr signer to the App Store. Aegis also uses background audio playback to keep the app alive.
Benking's avatar
Benking 3 days ago
Big respect 🫂Thanks for sharing the journey and the lessons. Appreciate the transparency and care you put into this 💜🫡
how does this make it CIA ware? they did manage to collect all the influencial people like a rolodex with their well-trained & sophisticated slick marketing team.
You can mute the sound via the dynamic island or lock screen UI. Also the signer should be running only while you have remote sessions going.
is there a uri scheme or something that apps should be using to "trigger" the device's signer? i think this is a great feature, but in reality a lot of people are just trying to use another nostr app on the same device so the qr scanner and even the keyboard option feel a bit clunky and not the best ux flow for such a scenario
Yes, you can easily trigger the signer by using the standard nostrconnect:// uri scheme. That's what a "Login with Nostr" button should do. We even added support for a convenient "callback" parameter, so Primal will redirect back to your app immediately after establishing the remote connection. If it's a browser app, simply use callback=https://[your_app_login_progress_page] to get redirected back to your app. @Derek Ross implemented this flow for some of his web apps; it works great. Derek, maybe you could share a quick video of this in action?