Farcaster previews Frames v2 ahead of 2025 launch

Dan Romero, the founder of the Web3 social protocol Farcaster, has shared updates on Frames v2, a new version of the feature that previously spurred significant user growth on the platform.  

The upgraded Frames will support full-screen applications, onchain transactions, and user notifications, enhancing functionality for the decentralised social platform Warpcast.  

Frames, first introduced in January 2024, allowed users to embed small apps directly into posts on Warpcast.  

The feature contributed to a 400% spike in daily active users in February.  

However, activity on Farcaster has since declined, with daily users decreasing by 28% over the past six months, according to Dune Analytics.  

Romero highlighted several limitations of the initial Frames version, including challenges with building larger apps, slow image rendering, and an inability to save frames for later use.  

Frames v2 aims to address these issues by enabling more advanced interactive applications and improving performance.  

“A new Frame standard that allows interactive applications, onchain transactions, and user notifications would enable many new kinds of social applications,” Romero explained in a post on November 26.  

Developers can now build browser-based applications using a Frames SDK to perform actions like saving frames or initiating transactions.  

Improvements in transaction speed and reliability on mobile are also part of the update, leveraging the Mobile Wallet Protocol and Rainbow wallet.  

A developer preview of Frames v2 will launch on November 27, with an updated version featuring additional functionalities arriving on December 6.  

The stable release is planned for early 2025.  

Farcaster currently hosts 710,000 users and processes 500,000 casts daily.  

Despite the recent decline in active users, Romero remains optimistic that Frames v2 will rejuvenate engagement and enable new interactive experiences for its community.