Hello, Zcash, privacy & cybersecurity news fans! The newest version of the zCat - the Android app was released! Please check if you run the newest version 0.1.3. Can you find there anything worthy? Let's have a look.
Halving Countdown
The feature added in the last release (when it was a hot topic) brought some additional fun. It triggered some adaptations in the current version.
Halving might be changed
The halving blocks were calculated based on previous assumptions of when and how the halving might occur. This might change with future adaptations. Thanks to Zerodartz for pointing it out.
Data endpoint issues
I decided to implement the BitQuery service to get Zcash blockchain data. It is a free API with some restrictions. Maybe I misunderstand the terms. However, the API keys should be recharged with credits every month. Currently, there are no data fetched. It might be considered a server issue. When resolved, it will work for the app out of the box.
Countdown moved to the Zcash section
I decided to move the countdown part from the Home screen to the Metrics section in the Zcash screen. It seems it fits there more, especially nowadays, when the topic is not so hot. The News articles were set back to the top of the Home screen.
Donations section
Based on this tweet, I decided to list a few projects that I am aware of and which work based on community donations. Donations are crucial for these projects, and even a little support can help them to survive and improve.
I believe the old crypto spirit is still between us. The old times of communities that support all good or crazy ideas can be brought back. Also, Christmas time is coming (or the New Year if you do not celebrate Christmas), and whoever feels generous there is your chance :)
Projects to donate
I cherry-picked a few projects that can accept crypto donations. There are more interesting projects, but they rely on centralized providers hungry for your data. If you are aware of any interesting project you would like me to include, then please let me know.
You can check and decide what project is worthy of a smaller tip and which cryptocurrency they accept. I tried to separate 'Public coins' - transparent on the chain & 'Privacy coins' - the possibility of hiding yourself.
Note1: I listed 2 of my apps: DeFi Overview and zCat. I would appreciate any small tip, but my survival does not depend on it. Whoa, I suck in monetization and marketing, but who gives a damn. Crypto spirit should not be about getting rich but about becoming free.
Note2: To motivate you to contribute I started donating to projects accepting ZEC: Internet Archive, EFF, GrapheneOS, Tor, ZecHub
Detail of projects
Each listed project has some brief description (generated by venice.ai). The translations into Czech, Russian, and Spanish were done by DeepL Translator, which I started hating & Google Translator. If you feel some texts feel unnatural, please let me know.
Each detail screen contains a list of supported currencies and links to the project Homepage, Donation page, and Twitter/X profile page.
Smaller issues and adjustments
A few smaller issues were addressed in the current version:
Websocket stability for live price
WebSockets handling could cause a crash for the live price display due to wrongly handled disabled context. This should be resolved now.
Back button behavior
I found this by accident. The contextual back button behaved strangely when moving between different sections. It might also lead to crashes in combination with the previous bug. The back button should behave correctly now.
Removed unused localizations
I decided to reduce supported languages. It feels wrong to remove it, but it is a very time-consuming task to adapt all supported languages. I can not see what users set as their language, but based on info from Google Console, the only used languages of the phone are English, Russian, Spanish, and Czech. Based on that, I decided to remove other languages. If there will be any request to return some of the previously supported languages, I can re-add it.
Nostr zCat channel
I tried to spam Nostr with cybersecurity news and Zcash propaganda. It is fun, but December is a bit time demanding. Thus, I stopped daily spamming. I might do some limited posts, but I guess no one noticed. Nostr, as a social network, looks to be just Bitcoin Maxis echo chamber and seems quite dead. I might be wrong, tho.
tl;dr
- Zcash halving countdown moved to the metric section,
- The countdown data source is currently broken anyway
- Removed unused localization
- Extended list of privacy and cryptocurrency projects with their donation links
- Fixed stability issues on WebSockets for live price tracking
- Fixed back button function to navigate across screens
- Smaller bug fixes
Summary
And that's it! If you find any bugs or if you have any idea how to improve the app, please let me know. Thanks & enjoy the app!
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!