Hello world! I would like to introduce you a new Android app focused on Zcash, privacy & security - zCat. Why was it created and what it does? Let's have a closer look.

Why was it created?

tl;dr: I wanted to learn something and I wanted to aggregate info I am interested in at one place.

Initial idea

At the first place I wanted to try to create app which would be interacting with Tor network. Purely selfish reason to try to get familiar with Tor and learn about it. I created couple of apps before and later I thought I could reuse some parts to create more complex app, which might be useful for other poeple, too (if it will be is quite questionable, but lets see).

Evolving the initial idea

With current situation about privacy and maddnes about survilance in the whole so called free world I got interested in Zcash a little bit more. I decided to run my own node and I simply wanted to get more familiar with it.

Also, while reading about Zcash, I run into couple of interesting articles about cyber security & privacy. That led me into idea to aggregate these sources into one place together with Zcash data.

I made a similar thing with other two apps DeFi Overview and BTC Maxi. So, the reusability of some components and slight adaptation helped me to develop the final zCat version. But there was a bigger challange to add the new feature with Tor network (which works, but it limits usage of websockets for live price tracing, or is blocked by some RSS news endpoints)

What does the zCat offer?

tl;dr: aggregates market data (prices, exhanges, volumes) and network data (holders, transactions) basic info about Zcash (history of Zcash, wallets overview, links to the ecosystem) and possibility to create your own news feed and creating favorite (~archive) list of news & blog posts with possibility to route the traffic of the app through Tor network (with its limitations).

zCat aggregates data, but not yours

zCat tries to collect the data from other endpoints and provide it to the user. It collects data from exchanges, news portals and other aggregators such as CoinGecko, or Messari. I decided to avoid using any analytic tools, which is probably stupid. But since I was trying to make privacy focused app, it sounded cool to me. Even though Google forced me to flag the app as with ads, I do not use any ad network, all 'ads' are just hardcoded links to other apps created by myself, there is no tracing added from my side in the zCat app at all.

Zcash market data

zCat collects and shows the latest market data such as volume, latest prices (even live changes) or current ask & bids on exchanges. You can also track price/market cap development in time, compare all time high/low records, or even compare current offers on selected exchanges. Of course, you can find exchange rates between different assets (fiat/crypto/commodities) here, too.

Zcash network data

zCat also provides statistics of the network usage through Messari API, such as distribution of coins between holders, transaction data, mining statistics, or development (GitHub) statistics provided by CoinGecko.

Zcash introduction and ecosystem

Thankfully to Meassari API it also provides basic info about Zcash history, brief description of the technology used in Zcash and Zcash tokenomics. I tried to prepare a simple overview of wallets supporting Zcash and links to projects in the ecosystem from Zcash githubs to blockchian explorers, wikis & guides to projects building on Zcash such as Free2Z.

Build your own news feed

You can build up your own news feed to track latest news about security, privacy or current hacks. There are currently sources available in 3 languages: English, Spanish and Russian. You can archive your favorite article in your favoite list or share it through other apps with your friends.

Track latest Ycombinator news/subReddit posts

You can check the latest posts in dedicated (pre-selected) Reddit channels (until they will close their API again) or Ycombinator news. You can archive your favorite posts in your favoite list or share it in the same way as the news articles.

Track latest post on Free2Z related to Zcash

You can also track posts from this platform. I tried to select Zcash related creators. I think about the idea to make the list customizable in some future release, or maybe even to make a different app for that. Let's see.

Maintaining your favorites articles and post

You can save your favorite articles and posts and display it in your favorite list (similar to Likes section on Twitter).

Support to show data with multiple currency

This is just a small feature, but you can track Zcash statitics in your local fiat currency, or other asstes such as Bitcoin, or Gold.

Support to multiple localizations

Well, this is the tricky part. I used translators such as DeepL or Google translator for other languages. It can get a bit funny for some languages (in case you are not sure what the app tries to say/show, you can switch to English, which should be the reference language). I might publish localization files in GitHub, or similar service, if anyone would be interested in helping to improve the translation, or you can contact me via email: zcat-app@tuta.io

Usage of Tor network

Since I tried to learn how to use it and interact with it, there might be some buggy behavior. Please, be aware of that. Tor also can slow down fetching data from some remote data sources, or even it can be forbidden from getting the data at all. Another important thing to be aware of is that the Tor network is used for the traffic only inside of the zCat app. It cannot be applied for other apps. Please, bear this in mind if you decide to try this feature.

Conclusion

I got my lesson from the apps I made before and I made the app primarly for myself, to have the data and news at one place. But I also tried to collect some stuff for people who would like to get more familiar with Zcash. If it will become useful for other people, I would be happy for that.

I decided to not monetize zCat. It is free, only ads in the zCat are references to my other apps. I feel like many crypto projects gave up on the initial spirit of accessibility to every one, but I feel from Zcash that it is one of the last projects faithful to it. I would like to support it in this way, with zCat application.

Of course, if you would like to tip small amount, I am not against. Also, I will be glad for any feedback. Hate it, or like it. Enjoy the app and enjoy the freedom Zcash offers.