Your First Steps in Tanari: A Complete App Guide

Welcome to Tanari! Whether you’re joining through the Citrea Unfreeze campaign or just discovering the app, this guide will walk you through setting up your account, securing your funds, and unlocking the full power of self-owned Bitcoin finance.

Our goal is to show you that with the right tools, Bitcoin can be simple, secure, and intuitive for everyone. Let’s get started!

Step 1: Download & Secure Your Account

1. Download the Tanari app from the App Store or Google Play
2. Create a username. Your username is your identity on Tanari. It's how other Tanarians will find and send funds to you, so choose it carefully because you can't change it later.

1. Log in with a passkey. Instead of a clunky password or a complex seed phrase, Tanari uses passkeys. This is a cryptographic key secured by your device's native biometric authentication, like Face ID or your fingerprint. It's the most secure and user-friendly way to log in. Your private key never leaves your device, so you're always in control.

You’re now logged in! When you first enter the app, you’ll have a Starter Account.

2. Exploring Your Starter Account

When you log in for the first time, you’ll be taken to your Starter Account. This is the basic version of Tanari. It allows you to receive Bitcoin, but other advanced features remain locked until you activate your account.

From here, you’ll notice two immediate options:

• Take a Tour → a guided walkthrough of the app’s main features.
• Add Funds → your path to account activation.

3. Activating Your Account

To unlock the full Tanari experience, you need to activate your account. Tap Manage Funds button and you will see two ways to add BTC:

1. Testnet Faucet – During the testing phase, we provide faucet funds to help you activate. These are not real Bitcoin, but they let you explore the app. Once Tanari is live, activation will require real funds.
2. Receive from Other Tanarians – Share your username with someone in our Discord community or on Twitter (X), or with your friends, and ask them to send you test funds. Because usernames replace addresses, they can simply type @yourname instead of copying a string of letters and numbers.

Once your account is funded, you can tap Activate Account. At this point, the full app unlocks. You’ll be given the choice to take another guided tour, set up a Guardian, or continue straight into the app.

💡 This small activation cost is what registers your account securely on Citrea’s Bitcoin rollup.

4. Sending and Receiving Bitcoin

Once activated, you can send and receive Bitcoin directly from the app. Here’s where Tanari’s design really shines: your username is your new address.

Instead of copying and pasting a 30-character string or scanning a QR code, you can simply type @janedoe and send funds instantly. This small change dramatically improves usability, and it was one of the most praised features in our early Beta.

You can also add contacts inside Tanari, making frequent transactions even easier. Just like saving a phone number, you can store usernames of friends, family, or community members you transact with often.

Every transaction is visible in the Transactions tab, where you can filter and review history as needed. Whether you want to see only incoming payments, or just your larger transfers, the filters give you control and clarity.

The home section also offers a small but useful feature in the upper right corner: the ability to toggle between sats and BTC when viewing your balance. For example, if you receive 0.001 BTC, you can choose to see it as “100,000 sats” , whichever format feels most natural to you.

💡 1 Bitcoin (BTC) is equal to 100,000,000 satoshis (sats).

Step 5: Social Backup and Guardians

With your account activated, you’ve unlocked Tanari's core security feature: social backup with Guardians. You'll find this option in the hamburger menu on the left side of the app.

A Guardian is a trusted person you appoint to help you recover your account if you ever lose access to your device. Unlike traditional wallets that rely on a single, insecure recovery phrase, Tanari’s social backup system uses the people you trust to secure your account.

Your Guardians can be anyone you trust: a close friend, a family member, or even your other devices. For example, you can add your tablet as a Guardian for your mobile phone, or your sibling can be a Guardian for your account.

You will soon be able to add multiple Guardians for stronger protection. For example, you might add both your brother and a long-term friend, ensuring you always have redundancy.

This approach replaces the outdated “write down a seed phrase” method. Instead of worrying about losing a slip of paper, you create a safety net that fits real life.

How Guardians Protect Your Account

If you ever lose your phone or it gets damaged, your Guardians are your lifeline. Here's the recovery process:

1. On a new device, go to Tanari and start the account recovery process. You will be prompted to enter your Tanari username and then the username of one of your Guardians.
2. Tanari will generate a unique recovery link using the security of your new passkey.
3. You send this link to your Guardian.
4. Your Guardian opens the Tanari app, goes to the "Social Backup" section, and selects the "Recover Account" option. They will be prompted to paste the link you sent them.
5. Once your Guardian confirms the recovery, your account will be instantly recovered on your new device. You can then set up a new passkey. For security, your old passkey on the lost device will be disconnected and will no longer be able to access your account.

You can also remove a Guardian at any time through the social backup section. This gives you complete control over who has access to help with your account.

7. Looking Ahead

Right now, Tanari allows you to store, send, and secure Bitcoin with ease. But more features are coming step by step:

• BTC-backed stablecoins
• Native lending and borrowing
• Fiat on/off ramps
• Seamless payments

Our vision is to make Tanari your home for Bitcoin finance.

Tanari is built on a simple idea: if you can use a modern banking app, you can use Bitcoin finance ,without ever giving up ownership of your funds.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I change my Tanari username later?

No. Your username is permanent and becomes your identity inside Tanari. Choose one that you’re comfortable keeping long-term, the same way you would with an email address or social handle.

Q: Who can be my Guardian?

A Guardian should be someone you trust, such as a close friend, a family member, or even one of your own devices. In the future versions, you will be able to add multiple Guardians for extra security. Guardians never control your funds, they only help you recover your account if you lose access.

Q: What happens if one of my Guardians loses their Tanari account?

Right now, you can add only one Guardian. If that Guardian loses their Tanari account, you would need to remove them and set up a new Guardian from within your app.

In future versions, we’ll introduce multiple Guardians and threshold recovery, so you can rely on more than one trusted person or device for extra security.

Q: Why does it cost to activate my account?

Account activation registers your account securely on Citrea’s Bitcoin rollup. This small cost ensures your account is anchored and functional. During the testing phase, faucet funds are available, but once Tanari is live, you’ll activate with real Bitcoin.

Q: What’s the difference between a Starter Account and an Activated Account?

A Starter Account allows you to receive funds but does not unlock the full Tanari experience. Once you activate your account, you can send transactions, add Guardians, and access advanced features.

Q: Do I need to copy long Bitcoin addresses to send transactions?

No. Your username is your new address. Instead of copying and pasting long strings, you can simply type a username like @janedoe. This was one of the most popular features during our Beta testing because it makes Bitcoin feel as easy as sending a message.

That said, Tanari is fully compatible with traditional Bitcoin addresses. If you want to, you can still send or receive BTC using standard addresses, the choice is yours.

Q: Where can I see my past transactions?

Your transactions appear in the Transactions tab. You can filter them to see incoming or outgoing transfers, or sort them by size and time.

Q: Can I view my balance in sats instead of BTC?

Yes. In the top right corner of the home screen, you can toggle between BTC and sats. This way, whether you prefer to think in whole Bitcoin or smaller units, you always see your balance in the way that makes sense for you.

Q: What happens if I lose my device?

You can recover your account using your Guardians. By generating a recovery link and having your Guardians confirm it through their Tanari app, you can safely set up a new passkey on your device. For security, your old passkey will no longer work once recovery is complete.

‍