Nos originated as Planetary.social built on Secure Scuttlebutt, the peer-to-peer protocol that enabled device level control of your connections as well as your data. In 2023, the team made the decision to move to the Nostr protocol and build a new app called Nos. Nostr solved several of the usability issues with Scuttlebutt, like deleting content, cross-device identities, and the initial sync time when joining as a new user.
Nostr is an acronym for “notes and other stuff transmitted by relays”. Unlike platform social media apps which are owned and controlled by a single corporation, Nostr is a public commons where users can choose between a wide variety of compatible apps and servers. Nostr apps distribute your content to many servers so no single administrator can control what you consume or create. As platforms adopt policies of removing news or political content, opportunities for public discourse diminish.
Today, Nos is a hybrid replacement for Twitter / X and Instagram allowing users to post and share text, images, and video content. In Nos, you only see content and replies from the people you follow by default, but you can opt to see replies from everyone.
Unlike platform social media, Nos allows you to own the relationship with your connections as well as the content you create. In practice this means you can choose to take your account to another app and you will retain your followers and your content.
Nos contains no ads or AI generated feeds. The content you see is of the people you follow in reverse chronological order.
