Answers to Questions From The Community
||This post is intended to answer questions regarding GetGems High-level roadmap. As we move forward things may change and we will take Gemz holder’s input on major features.||
General
Q Why was the name changed from Gems to GetGems?
A: The name of the app was changed from Gems to GetGems due to three reasons:
1. Our domain name is getgems.org - and a domain is important for branding. Adding the full domain name to the app name makes it easier to locate in the app stores.
2. The word “Gems” by itself is too popular and isn’t indicative enough. When users searched for the word “Gems” in the app stores, they received too many irrelevant search results (mostly games involving gems) and had a hard time finding the correct app. Changing the branding slightly to something more unique guarantees that the correct app will be returned in the first search results.
3. GetGems adds more information about the product.
Android / iOS / Desktop
Q: When do you expect the iOS to be in beta for users?
A: As previously explained upon careful review we have chosen to launch an initial Android app instead of an initial iOS app as originally intended. This decision did not come lightly, especially since the team has originally made significant development on the iOS front and little development on the Android front. Nevertheless, we’ve decided to bring the Android version up-to-speed and chose to deliver the first public beta on this platform.
The factors which contributed to this decision were:
- According to feedback we’ve received from the community during the pre-sale, Android seems much more popular within our target audience of early adopters. Many of our contributors were very disappointed that Android was originally pushed to the third milestone. We’ve expected the market share to be about 50%-50% between iOS and Android, but de facto analysis proved that Android wins by a significant margin.
- iOS has additional friction due to the manual review process conducted by the App Store team for every version we upload. This makes a rapidly changing public beta on iOS much more difficult. It has taken our team 3 weeks to approve our first iOS version. By comparison, our Android version was live in just one hour.
- Encryption-heavy apps require special approval by Apple. The initial version that we’ve approved with Apple did not include all the encryption layers we’ve planned for the actual launch. We’ve estimated that this review alone would cause us to delay the original timetable.
- Maintenance state of the Telegram open-source project - Our team has chosen to improve our instant messaging capabilities by integrating to the Telegram network using Telegram’s open-source API’s. The iOS Telegram source is a year old and isn’t as well maintained as the Android version. We’ve expected that our first integration with Telegram would go more smoothly if we use the up-to-date repository.
After considering these factors, we’ve diverted our development efforts towards Android. The first app milestone requirements that we’ve aimed for were the same as the original milestone goals for iOS. Even though we’ve switched between iOS and Android and are working on updates to polish the Andriod App in correspondence with the community feedback, we expect the timetable for iOS to be much sooner than the original Android timetable. This is because our iOS codebase was already in a rather advanced state before making the switch.
ETA for the iOS public beta will be announced in the near future.
Q: Any plans to create a Windows Phone version?
A: It’s all a matter of numbers and market share. Windows Phone actually declined in market share in 2014. It dropped from about 3.3% to below 3%. Until Windows Phone has a market share of 5%-10%, it will not become a priority in the project. The current app priority list is as follows: (1) Android, (2) iOS, (3) Web/desktop, (4) Windows Phone. Even after our team completes all milestones, we will probably find it more beneficial for the project to invest in improving Android+iOS rather than add a platform with such a small market share.
Q: Are you planning to have a desktop client?
A: We are considering a desktop/web client. We have not yet decided though on the exact security policy that will be enforced on desktop since desktop apps are naturally less secure than mobile apps (a mobile phone is always in your pocket and can be immediately identified using an SMS). There’s a good chance we will require users to confirm their identity via SMS every time they start a new session. In addition, there’s good chance we will decide that passphrases will not be encrypted locally using a PIN in a desktop app, and instead will have to be typed every time the user wants to send BTC/GEMZ.
Referrals
Q: Will users who invite friends to the network now be given GEMZ for referrals later?
A: Yes, users who invite friends to the network will be given GEMZ for referrals later. The system currently records every new user’s inviter. This information is saved on our backend, but currently isn’t used yet since airdrops aren’t yet operational. Nevertheless, this information is recorded. Since every new user can have a one and only inviter which is only set once, every new user that you will invite, will record you as the inviter for all future calculations. This means it’s a good idea to get a head start and start inviting friends, because all of their activity will be attributed to you as soon as airdrops start.
Q: Are you going to add invitation link for downloading the Gems app that users can share with their friends with the inviter’s username already prefilled?
A: Yes. This feature will be added soon. It will become more important as we’re approaching the airdrop milestone and we’re aiming to release it before the airdrops. The first version of this feature will rely on the invitee’s phone number. Meaning your username will be pre filled only if you invite by phone number and know the phone number of the friend you’re inviting. In the second version of this feature, you will be able to generate an invitation URL that could be given to people you don’t really know and don’t know their phone number. Once these users install the app via your provided link, they will have your username prefilled as inviter.
Q: Where should I hold my GEMZ in order to influence my Airdrop reward score?
A: Currently, the natural place to hold your GEMZ is in the wallet created when you initially create your account. The system will examine the contents of this wallet for airdrop calculations.
We are aware though that users with large amounts of GEMZ will probably not want to hold all of their GEMZ in this wallet for security purposes. In order to accommodate these users, we plan to add a feature that allows connecting other wallet addresses to your username in order to influence airdrop calculations. Each existing address would be able to be connected to a single GetGems username, so only a single account will be able to receive credit for the contents of this wallet. These wallet addresses will not be used when sending/receiving GEMZ, only for airdrop calculations. We are also thinking of other possible methods to achieve this in the most efficient and user friendly way.
Q: How are you going to reward original crowdsale buyers for uninvited users? If I sell my pre-sale coins will I lost this perk? How does the system know who is a pre-sale buyer?
A: Selling your original GEMZ will not change your original crowdsale buyer status. The original crowdsale buyers perk system will be calculated based on the original participation at the time of the pre-sale end which were recorded on blockscan. Original crowdsale buyers will be rewarded relatively to their original number of coins that they’ve purchases during the pre-sale. The GEMZ reward will be sent to the original Koinify addresses.
Wallet
Q: Do you have to know the username phone number in order to send him BTC/GEMZ? will this change in the future?
A: Yes, this will change in the future. Since we currently don’t fully support unsolicited messages, the only supported GetGems related chats are with friends in your contact list (with known phone numbers). You can currently only send BTC/GEMZ to them, so effectively without knowing a user’s phone number you can’t send BTC/GEMZ. Once unsolicited messages (see previous question) are implemented, you will be able to initiate GetGems related chats with any GetGems user (via their GetGems username) - and in this chat session you will be able to send BTC/GEMZ without knowing their phone number. In addition, the next release of the app will support a wallet to wallet BTC/GEMZ transfer by wallet address. This means you will be able to send BTC/GEMZ to any wallet address that you know directly from the app. This isn’t as convenient as sending BTC/GEMZ via chat, but is still useful for sending BTC to non-GetGems users.
Q: Is it going to be possible to send BTC/GEMZ outside the GetGems application? Are you going to integrate a QR scanner?
A: Yes, it will be possible to send BTC/GEMZ outside the GetGems application. The next release of the app will already contain a feature allowing sending BTC/GEMZ to any known wallet address. This address does not necessarily need to be a GetGems user. The next release will not include a QR scanner, but one will definitely be added in the future.
Q: What happens when you try to send BTC/GEMS to a Telegram user?
A: We technically cannot send BTC/GEMZ to a Telegram user who isn’t a GetGems user because we don’t have a wallet address associated to them. If this Telegram user has his phone number registered on an existing GetGems account, we will allow sending BTC/GEMZ based on the phone number connecting both accounts.
If we don’t have a phone number connecting to a GetGems account, instead of sending BTC/GEMZ, we will automatically invite the Telegram user to install GetGems and create a GetGems account. This will be an excellent method of referral, since the inviting user will receive invitation credit for this new user. Once the Telegram user installs GetGems and has a wallet created, they will be able to receive BTC/GEMZ.
Q: Is there a tutorial how to use the GetGems app? How do I send GEMZ/BTC? How can I find my mobile wallet address?
A: We will create easy-to-use video tutorials that will help non-tech savvy users use the wallet-related features of the app. We find this aspect very important because one of the main goals of the project is to introduce the public to crypto.
Until these videos are created, there are in-app TIPS which explain how to do all of these actions. Open the wallet from the app (via the side-menu). Inside the wallet, see the TIPS section on the bottom. These TIPS explain all of the basic actions - like how to send BTC/GEMZ between users, how to find out and copy your own wallet address, etc. A tip for using TIPS: Every time you open the wallet, you will see a random tip. If you tap on the tips, the current tip will change, so just tap on the tips a few times to see all available ones.
Q: Will you add notification that someone has sent you GEMZ/BTC?
A: Yes, this will be added in one of our next releases. The notification is planned to appear as a regular text message in the relevant conversation. This method means that you will receive both a push notification and the message will also remain in your chat history until deleted explicitly.
Q: Is it safe to hold GEMZ in the mobile wallet?
A: It is safe to hold GEMZ in the mobile wallet. The app makes significant effort in securing the wallet, encrypting all secrets and making sure your sensitive data never leaves the device.
Having said that, we recommend to look at the mobile wallet the same way you look at your physical pocket wallet. Your pocket wallet is different than your bank account. You will usually hold day-to-day spending money in your wallet, but keep the bulk of your savings in your bank account. The recommended practice is to keep a relative low number of GEMZ in your mobile wallet, and use if for sending to friends. If you own a significant amount of GEMZ, it’s a good idea to hold it in a different wallet which is harder to access and easier to secure.
You should be aware of the following security consideration when holding a large number of GEMZ in the mobile wallet. The passphrase for accessing your wallet is encrypted locally on the device. This makes usability better because instead of typing in the entire passphrase every time you want to send BTC/GEMZ to friends, you just need to type in a PIN. But, this also means that if a thief gains access to your physical device, they will have an encrypted copy of your passphrase. In order to decrypt your passphrase, the thief will have to guess your PIN. It is true that a PIN only has 4 digits, but after several failed attempts to guess the PIN, the server will lock your account and prevent decryption. This makes your passphrase extremely secure, but still, having the passphrase completely absent is even more secure.
Q: Can I log with my GetGems 12 word passphrase to counterwallet.io? How can I extract my private key from the GEMZ andriod app?
A: In order to log into your wallet via Counterparty’s web wallet, all you need is your 12 word passphrase. Once you type the passphrase there, you will have full access to the contents of your wallet without any additional keys. To view your private key in counterwallet click on the blue “Address Auctions” button and than on “Show Private Key”, please make sure nobody can look over your shoulder or see your screen.
It is not possible to extract any keys from the GetGems app. The app does not save any relevant keys in cleartext directly on the device. All sensitive data on your device is saved in encrypted form and cannot be decrypted manually.
Q: Can a new user that just received this first GEMZ from a friend send GEMZ without having BTC in his wallet?
A: our plan is that GEMZ will be settled offline through the GetGems internal hosted wallet. This is a hybrid semi centralized database system meant for smaller balances and to allow for speed, security and zero transaction fees. GEMZ will be able to withdrawn to any external counterparty wallet which will be processed using our secure counterparty gateway server.
The hybrid solution is good for the "Airdrop" and for new users while not taking from the security of users that want to have their GEMZ only on-chain. The fee to send GEMZ/BTC on chain is 0.0005 BTC per transaction.
Bugs
Q: When will users be able to search for GetGems usernames and start an unsolicited chat? Why can I find some usernames but other not? is this a bug?
A: Currently, the in-app search mostly relies on users from your contact list and existing chat conversations. We also have username search, but this currently fallbacks to Telegram username search. Since you cannot set a Telegram username in the app, the search results you are seeing are actually for users who set the same username for this phone number in a previous Telegram account that they have. This means it’s not really a bug, but more that it isn’t currently searching for the correct usernames.
Regarding the implementation of unsolicited messages and searching for GetGems usernames - we are currently working on this feature. In the future, our model dictates that sending unsolicited messages to users who don’t necessarily want to receive them, will cost GEMZ (this is part of the attention economy model). The first implementation of the feature will not require a GEMZ payment to send unsolicited messages, and unsolicited messages will be open for everybody. But, since we want to be able to add the GEMZ payment in the future, we have to plan this feature carefully.
You can expect to see the first version of this feature (searching by GetGems username and free-for-all unsolicited messaging) in the next couple of weeks.
Q: Location Sharing is not working for the recipient, will you fix this?
A: Yes, this will be fixed just like any other open bugs during our public beta. Be sure to report all open bugs to our team to make sure they are known and being worked on.
Q: Sending GEMZ/BTC is not working, when will you fix this?
A: This will be fixed in the next immediate release of the app. The problem was caused by changes made by Counterparty to their protocol that we’ve had to address.
