Nostr Reviews on Nostr: Direct messages on Nostr still need a lot of work, so many users avoid them entirely. ...

Direct messages on Nostr still need a lot of work, so many users avoid them entirely. Some clients are still using only an outdated standard (NIP-04) that leaks metadata about the message sender and recipient. Other clients only use the more recent standard that leaks less metadata (NIP-17). Users on a client using NIP-04 only won't see messages sent using NIP-17, and vice versa.

There are devs working to improve the DM spec to make it usable without leaking metadata at all, and with forward privacy, should your nsec become compromised. Most notably JeffG (npub1zuu…c2uc). Until then, it is advisable to use another protocol, such as SimpleX for direct messages.