Support creators with boostagrams and streaming sats using Podverse and Alby

Podverse

• 4 min read

Intro

Podverse is a Podcasting 2.0 app that integrates with Alby for sending boostagrams and streaming sats to podcasters. All Podverse software is provided under a free and open source license.

Boostagrams

Boostagrams are donations with messages you can send to creators. They are comparable to YouTube's "Super Chat" and Twitch's "Elevated Chat", except any app can send boostagrams using the Bitcoin Lightning Network.

Streaming Sats

Satoshis are the smallest unit of Bitcoin that can be recorded on the Bitcoin blockchain. 1 Bitcoin = 100,000,000 satoshis. When you "stream sats" in Podverse, the app sends satoshis to the podcast you are listening to for every minute of listening time.

Mobile Demo

Web Demo

How To

  1. Sign up for an Alby account using their Login page.
  2. Login to Alby, then go to your Account page.
  3. Press the Topup or Receive button. Topup lets you buy Bitcoin with a credit card using MoonPay. Receive lets you deposit Bitcoin from your wallet or exchange to your Alby on-chain address.
  4. Connect your Alby account to Podverse mobile.
  5. Connect your Alby account to Podverse web.

Walkthroughs for 4-5 are explained below.

Connect your Alby account to Podverse mobile

Open Podverse mobile, then go to the More screen, and press the "Value for value (V4V)" button.

The More screen in Podverse mobile.

If you agree to our Terms of Service, the Value for Value screen will appear. Tap "Alby" from the list of available wallets.

The Value for Value screen in Podverse mobile. The bottom of the list contains the available supported wallets.

You will then be taken to the Alby Wallet screen. Press the "Connect Wallet" button.

The Alby Wallet screen in Podverse mobile.

You will then be prompted to login to your Alby account with your email address.

The Alby Login screen in Podverse mobile.

After you login, you should see an "Authorize" screen

The Alby Authorize screen in Podverse mobile.

Press the "Authorize" button, and the screen will dismiss, and your Alby wallet will connect.

The Podverse Alby Wallet info screen. It shows you how many sats are in your Alby wallet, and lets you change your boostagram and streaming sats amounts.

You are now ready to send boostagrams and stream sats! Start playing a value-enabled podcast, like Podcasting 2.0 or Podnews Weekly Review.

The Player screen in Podverse mobile. The stream and boostagram buttons only appear for Value for Value enabled podcasts when you have a wallet connected to Podverse.

To stream sats, simply press the "Stream" button, and sats will be sent to the creator for every 1 minute of listening time.

To send a boostagram, press the boostagram button, set the amount of satoshis you want to send, and optionally type a message.

The Boostagram screen in Podverse mobile. The podcast title appears at the top. Below that the "Boost amount" input says 1,000 sats, and below that the "Boostagram message" input says "Go podcasting!". Below that is a Send button, and a "More info" section at the bottom.

Press Send, and after 5-20 seconds, a "Boost Sent" message should appear.

The Boostagram screen in Podverse mobile. It says "Boost sent! 🎉" and confetti falls down the screen.

Connect your Alby account to Podverse web

To send boostgrams using the Podverse website, you will need the Alby desktop web browser extension installed. I installed it by clicking the "Install Alby" button on getalby.com.

For this demo, I will be sending a Boostagram to Podcasting 2.0 Episode 100. On that page is a "Value for Value" section on the right side.

On the right side of the screen is a section with the header "Value for Value ⚡️". It shows a Terms of Service confirmation prompt, with two buttons "Cancel" and "I Accept".

If you accept our Terms of Service, the boostagram form will appear. There are 4 fields you can enter:

  1. Amount to send to the podcaster
  2. Optional: amount to send to the app (Podverse)
  3. Optional: your name
  4. Optional: the public message you want to send to the podcaster.
I accepted the Terms of Service in the "Value for Value ⚡️" section, so it now displays the Boostagram form.

Type the values you want, then press "Send Boost". Alby should then present you with a confirmation form. If you press "Confirm", the Bitcoin should be sent to that recipient.

The Podverse website on an Episode page. On top of it in a small popup window is the Alby "Approve Payment" form.

Some podcasts include multiple recipients to receive Bitcoin for every boostagram you send. Alby will prompt you to confirm each of those payments. If you would like to skip the confirmation prompts, see Alby budgets.

Conclusion

Thank you for supporting Podcasting 2.0 and open source software! Please let us know if you have any questions or feedback.

More info

value4value.info - more info and guides about Value for Value, maintained by Adam Curry and Gigi