Here is my review:I installed Utopia client for the first time on my Android mobile. When creating an account, an encrytpion key was generated and I was given a public key which is needed along with my password to access my account.
Since the mobile version is still on beta phase, it only allowed adding/removing contacts, sending messages and creating/joining channels. I noticed the number of
Links wasn't stable and kept changing between 0 and 10.
Since this version was lacking many important functionalities such as
uWallet, uMail, Idyll browser..., I decided to test it on my desktop device.
I installed the client on both Ubuntu and Windows. For Windows the file name is
UtopiaX64 and for Ubuntu it's
utopia-latest. I believe the file name should contain the software version instead of "latest" to avoid any confusion and the user knows which version he is downloading.
When I was asked whether I want to create a new account or to import an existing one, I chose the second since I already have one (created on mobile). It appeared that I need either the private key or seed phrase and I didn't have any of them. Unfortunately, there is no option to extract the pk or seed from the mobile app, so I had no option but to create a new account.
After creating the new account, on the welcome pop-up window you can choose whether to launch the client automatically on OS start or not. I turned it off but, surprisingly, after restarting my PC, Utopia started automatically! I turned it on then off again and the problem got resolved.
Again, I can't find any option to export the private key/seed from the GUI! Those information are stored on the
user-name.db file but you will have to decrypt it to see it, which is not something anyone can do.
I believe it's necessary to add an option to allow users to extract their seed from the GUI after providing the correct password.
I have to mention that i faced some problems adding a contact, sending messages/files between desktop and mobile accounts. Either I don't receive the authorization request or it takes some time to arrive. Also, when trying to add a new contact from mobile, I couldn't scan the uCode. I hope these issues will be fixed when a stable version will be released. All those features work fine between the two accounts on Ubuntu and Windows.
Not sure if this is important or not, but lately when I opened my PC, a pop-up window appeared notifying me that Utopia client crashed, although I have "
launch automatically on OS star" turned off! Here is the error log:
Here is some other notes regarding some of the Utopia ecosystem's tools:
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Idyll browser: You need the uNS of the website hosted on the Utopia network to be able to access it. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any one to test it. My suggestion is to make it possible to access websites hosted on the web too whilst disabling javascript, cookies.. for privacy reasons. Also, It would be helpful if you add something like a web directory or a search engine on the main page. I tried the uNS serach feature under
Tools->uNS Manager->uNS Registry but it didn't help.
When you try to register an uNS, there is an
expiration field which is set to
never and you can't change it. If it's uneditable, why it's there!
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Deep Link: Every user has a deep link associated to his account which looks like:
https://utopia.im/public-key
When opening it on the browser it will show the user's public key with a
Start secure chat button at the bottom. The button is an URI which will open Utopia client and automatically send an invitation request to that user. It works fine on Ubuntu but on Windows it works only if the client is running otherwise it will only open the client and nothing happens after you enter your password and access your account.
Also, it would be better if it shows "user doesn't exist" if the public key hasn't been registered yet. Not sure if this is technically possible, though.
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Exchange: When I created an account on crp.is and requested an authorization code, I didn't receive it until after few retries. I received it multiple times at once and it was the same one. I think it's better if it was a different one for each request (one time code).
Also, I noticed there is a fee for depositing some coins such as USDT. I believe deposits should be for free.
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uMap: Opening the uMap shows the location and number of channels. I suppose those channels are positioned based on their geolocation but there is no map, the background is completely white.
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uBot: Unfortunately, I couldn't test it as it needs a VPS or dedicated server and you can't run it on the same device with Utopia client.
Overall and after testing the Utopia ecosystem for few days and getting familiarized with it, I can say that I am impressed by the wide range of services and tools it offers to enhance users' privacy and by how they managed to combine all these tools into one software which is really intuitive and easy to use even for beginners. There is still plenty of room for improvement, though.
Good luck to Utopia team and thank you for giving me the opportunity to know about the existence of such a wonderful ecosystem.