Apple might not like it, but “Zapple Pay” finds a workaround for Bitcoin $BTC tipping Damus

Damus inventor William Casarin eventually conceded and resolved the standoff by removing the app’s ability to sink posts or notes; Users could still tip each other at the profile level.

But now two independent developers seem to have found a workaround – and they think Apple won’t be able to stop them this time.

On July 6, barely two weeks after Casarin’s concession, the new Zapple Pay service went live – the brainchild of two Bitcoin developers who claim to be unaffiliated with either Casarin or Damus. They say they discovered a way to activate Zaps via emojis.

Because emojis are allowed on posts, users of the app can send Zaps on posts again, despite Apple’s restrictions.

The two Bitcoin developers behind Zapple Pay are Ben Carman and Paul Miller. The couple is also the co-founder of Mutiny Wallet, a browser-based, Lightning-enabled, and self-managed Bitcoin wallet.

Users who want to try the new service simply provide their Nostr public key (npub), an emoji, and a link to a wallet. Nostr is an acronym for “notes and other things transmitted by relays”.

“When they respond to a post with this emoji, we initiate a zap on that post,” Carman told CoinDesk.

Since Zapple Pay is a third-party service, it’s not clear if Apple can or will take action against Damus and engage in a game of whac-a-mole with Carman and Miller.

“If Apple is that petty, you can’t really placate them in the long run,” Miller said. “We could build exactly the same functionality on any social network.”

Casarin, the creator of Damus, insists that he was not involved in the development of Zapple Pay nor had any connection with the developers.

Damus is popular with Bitcoin users, including for its tipping feature, and cryptocurrency advocates lobbied on Apple’s behalf after Apple’s crackdown. Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, whose current company Block (SQ) is largely Bitcoin-centric, even went so far as to denounce Apple CEO Tim Cook on the matter.

On July 8, Dorsey appeared to acknowledge the efforts of the Zapple Pay developers by posting on the Damus app, “Zaps always find a way,” with a link to the team’s website.

Before Apple forced Casarin to remove Zaps for Damus’ posts, he recommended that he enable Zaps, which use his mobile payment service Apple Pay instead.

“Apple’s ban on Note Zaps is like trying to ban hyperlinks in browsers,” Casarin told CoinDesk. “It’s just a piece of technology and they have no power to stop it.”

CoinDesk reached out to Apple for comment and the spokesperson had not responded at the time of publication.

“We could develop the same thing for Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram,” Carman said. “So if they’re after Damus, we’re going to replicate it on Twitter and try to force them into action.”

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