Pre-Proposal: Dash Explorer Android App

roomservice

roomservice

New member
Dear DASH community,

today i wanna submit a Pre-Proposal for a possible Dash Explorer Android App, would love to hear your feedback and discuss if this idea is worth a funding.

Description and Goal Statement
The Dash Explorer Android App is designed to be a mobile information hub for DASH interested user. The first release scopes basic market and network stats and will integrate Dash Force news into a native user experience for smartphone users. On top of this, the app will come with DASH wallet watcher, to keep track of balance and transactions of specific addresses without the need to import a private key into an existing Dash Wallet app – perfect for hardware- or offline wallets.

After the release of the first version, the app will be further improved with additional features which are already scoped for future proposals.

Stakeholders
  • Dash User who are interested in DASH news, market or blockchain data and stats.
  • Dash User who use hardware- or offline wallets and want to keep track on their balance and transactions without the need to import their private key into an existing Dash Wallet app.

Project Scope Statement
The Dash Explorer Android App will improve the awareness of DASH in the Android ecosystem, which is currently present on over 80% of all smartphones worldwide. This app brings DASH relevant information into a single information hub for Android devices – DASH newcomer doesn’t even have to know all those websites about news, market or blockchain data and stats. It will also bring features for advanced users like a wallet watcher and a native, fast and responsive user experience – optimized for mobile usage – even better than browsing mobile websites.

Objectives (in business terms)
Dash Explorer Android App will be released in version 1.o on Google Play Store. Source code will be published a public GitHub repository and released under the terms of the MIT license. An optional code review can be done by a third party before published into the Google Play Store. This proposal includes support and maintenance for 6 month after release.

Key Deliverables
  • Native Android app based on Java, developed with Android Studio
  • Fast and responsive user experience while following the Google Material Design guidelines
  • Branded with DASH identity and of course ad-free
  • Privacy - User specific data is stored on the device only – no registration or account required

  • Features:
    • Dashboard with basic DASH market- and network data
    • Explorer for DASH blocks, addresses and transactions
    • Integrated DASH Force News viewer
    • Monitoring balances of specific addresses including transactions
    • Notifications on specific events like new transactions on monitored addresses or new DASH Force News, which can be configured by the user
  • Support and maintenance for 6 month after release
Scope
As described before the scope of this proposal is reaching those goals described under objectives and key deliverables.

Not in scope of this proposal – but planned for future releases to give an outlook:
  • Supporting multiple currencies
    • User can define his foreign currency instead of USD as exchange rate for dash.
  • Supporting multiple languages
    • App will support multiple languages based on Android device locale or user setting.
  • Integrating data from DASH Budget Information Network (DBIN)
    • List all active proposals
    • Get detailed information for each proposal including comments
    • Push notifications on specific events like new proposals or proposal reaches funding threshold
  • Optimized Layouts for larger devices like tablets
  • Transition into an iOS app to provide the same benefits for the Apple ecosystem
Please note, that the proposal owner is specialized into native Android development, that means a port into iOS depends bringing an iOS developer on board – which could happen in a future proposal if there is demand from the community.

Project Milestones and Schedule
Project start: As soon as Pre-Proposal passes
Timeframe: 3 month

Milestones:
After 4 weeks – Basic prototype including working APIs
After 8 weeks – Advanced version including most features
After 10 weeks – Release candidate ready for community review

Success Criteria
The goal of this proposal is achieved when:
  • The Android app is published into the Google Play Store with all features described in version 1.0
  • Support and maintenance for 6 month after release has been delivered
Major Known Risks (including significant Assumptions)
Since the app doesn’t run come with an own backend, it relies on data providers like APIs from cryptocompare, blockcypher and dashforcenews. There could be a risk that an API doesn’t respond in time, stops working or even will be shut down, which will affect the functionality.

Constraints
Since the project will developed by one person there is the possibility that the timeframe must be extended because of circumstances not planned yet (for example unexpected illness).

External Dependencies
As described as a risk above there are dependencies on various APIs and data provider for this app:

cryptocompare.com API (https://www.cryptocompare.com/api/)
blockcypther.com API (https://www.blockcypher.com/dev/dash/)
dashforcenews.com RSS Feed (https://www.dashforcenews.com/feed/)

Communication Strategy
This Proposal was discussed and consulted by Mark and has got a consent from the DASH Force Team.

If the proposal will be approved, this project and the DASH Force Team will work hand-in-hand in order to bring high quality DASH Force News even more present into the smartphone market and the app will be promoted on DASH Force News.

Reviews Planned
Project progress can be monitored anytime on a public github.com repository after the project has started.
An optional code review can be done by a third party before published into the Google Play Store.
Click to expand...

PDF Version: https://goo.gl/erurrf

About me:
I'am fairly new to the Dash community - about 2 month now. Guess you can call me a "switcher" since not long ago, with all the struggle about the Bitcoin scalability issues - i looked into alternatives on the crypto-market and found DASH. The self founding government system is a true innovation and in my opinion, it's only a matter of time until this currency conquers the crypto market.

As an Android developer it's hard to find use cases where there aren't already lots of apps out there. Looking into available apps that cover DASH as a cryptocurrency - there are already great wallet apps out there.

The basic idea for this app came, when i recognized that it can be really annoying to check my wallet balances which aren't stored on my phone with the private key. I don't really want to carry larger amounts of DASH in a mobile wallet for saftey reasons - but how cool would it be, if there would be an app that informs me about me balance or incomming transactions of my offline wallet (i use a Nano Ledger S).

That was the moment i started investigating how an such app could be possible and what improvments on top of the wallet watcher feature could be made - the result is the current Pre-Proposal.

Here are two demo apps, that created in my spare time:
Popular Movies
App that pulls data from APIs and presents them in a mobile friendly way (tablet support included)

MegaTimer
App that can be used to run and manage unlimited timer at the same time (Notifications included)

As i said before - i would love to hear your feedback on this!
 
No support here as any missing functions should be added to the DashCentral app instead... You can get w/ @rango if you want to brainstorm a different proposal for DashCenral integration...
 
Great job on the PDF proposal project report @roomservice . There are a lots of additional features and functionality with this app so I would strongly advise everyone to give it a good read and go through the details.

I'm very excited about this project. I've already had a few Skype chats with Christian aka @roomservice to discuss some ideas and I think this project has great potential.

Christian was open and considerate to my feedback and suggestions. So please don't feel shy to express your views as Christian fully understands that he is providing a service and solution for the community.

I look forward to reading comments and making sure this app solution is the best it can be for the Dash community :)
 
@mastermined had the fantastic idea of adding features and functionality so it performs like http://blockfolio.com/ app where you can insert how many Dash you hold and it will reflect in price plus also have a Dash Force News feed. Custom alerts and push notifications are a welcome addition as well.

If you have other ideas for features that you would like to see (especially masternode owners). Please comment and contribute so we can make this app great.
 
joezippy said:
No support here as any missing functions should be added to the DashCentral app instead... You can get w/ @rango if you want to brainstorm a different proposal for DashCenral integration...
Click to expand...

DashCentral app in its current state is specificly targeted for masternode owners, for what it works really great - no doubt about that.

The idea of Dash Explorer is to bring both useful information and usability about DASH to the Android eco-system in order to improve DASH on the smartphone market and bring many more user who want to use dash as a currency.

That's why i don't know if it's a good idea to improve an app which is designed for a few thousand people when we could make an app which will benefit millions (masternode owners included) on the mass market.
Maybe I'am missing something and DashCentral app gets a whole overhault in order to get into the mass market.
 
I like the fact it will have currency and language support. It would be good to consolidate as many features as possible.
 
Thanks for your feedback so far!

Already started creating the app - will go for a proposal with a working app. At this time, i can tell how much work was done and how much to ask in case of funding.

Here are some early screenshots of the app, if you are interested:
  • Basic market data and Dash Force News are done
  • Navigation Bar with give you a sneak peak on those use cases in first release

Screenshot_20170510-205654-e1494443280805.png
Screenshot_20170510-205700-e1494443459480.png
 
Really great proposal. On top of the fact that it will be beneficial for our network and Android users (myself included), you've made a really fascinating job writing down the actual proposal. I love the clarity and your style. Hope you'll get enough people who can support it :)
 
How will this app keep track of a Wallet?
1. Through individual addresses
2. Through xpub (for HD wallets)?

I have worked with an app that was watching addresses/xpub for a different coin that was forked from Bitcoin. The original app for Bitcoin made queries to Blockchain.info and I modified it to use chainz.cryptoid.info. The xpub api was added to chainz for Groestlcoin, but may work (or could be made to work) for Dash also.
 
HashEngineering said:
How will this app keep track of a Wallet?
1. Through individual addresses
2. Through xpub (for HD wallets)?

I have worked with an app that was watching addresses/xpub for a different coin that was forked from Bitcoin. The original app for Bitcoin made queries to Blockchain.info and I modified it to use chainz.cryptoid.info. The xpub api was added to chainz for Groestlcoin, but may work (or could be made to work) for Dash also.
Click to expand...

The app will support individual addresses (1) in the very first version. You could copy / paste an address or browse the blockchain and add it into a list of "watched" addresses.

Adding support for HD wallets (2) could be a feature for later versions - if community wants it. The api used, seems to support it - according to docs: https://www.blockcypher.com/dev/dash/#hierarchical-deterministic-hd-wallets
I'am not sure yet how HD wallet support would work out from a user experience perspective - since you have to import the extended public key from your HD wallet (which could be an privacy issue).
Haven't investigated yet, how easy normal joe can obtain his extended public key from an HD desktop or hardware wallet.
 
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