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Show HN: Cipher – Mobile Ethereum Web3 DApp Browser

76 points by raingrove 9y ago

hilalh 9y ago
Curious to know if the source code is available out there? Would love to audit it before putting it to use.
- raingrove 9y ago
  Now that it is available on both iOS and Android app stores, we will be open-sourcing a lot of code in the coming weeks - this is one of them: http://github.com/petejkim/wallet.ts http://github.com/petejkim/wallet.ts
  - shazow 9y ago
    In case anyone else is looking for the Android store link which isn't super easy to find, here it is: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cipherbrowser.cipher&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cipherbrow... (Worth adding to the homepage, btw.)
liamcardenas 9y ago
This looks cool -- good luck! (I just followed you on twitter) How is this different from Status?
- raingrove 9y ago
  Status is still unreleased and supports testnet only whereas Cipher is available on both iOS and Android stores and supports Ethereum Mainnet. Cipher is also primarily a Dapp Browser before anything else, and we try to be compatible with as many Web 3 Dapps as possible and implement the latest enhancements to Web 3 API as quickly as possible. (e.g. https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/pull/712 https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/pull/712 - eth_signTypedData) I gotta say Status is a very cool project though (and really well-funded too and I own some SNT tokens as well) and I really appreciate all the work they are doing with Whisper protocol.
- coolspot 9y ago
  Status already got their ICO Lambos, have not released iOS app. These guys are just planning to get Lambos, but app is already in AppStore.
peterkieltyka 9y ago
Nice work! btw, there is also the Ethers wallet which is open source and also in the iOS app store: https://github.com/ethers-io/EthersWallet-ios https://github.com/ethers-io/EthersWallet-ios the author is quite skilled and has spent a tremendous amount of time to consider a secure implementation throughout the entire code base. I highly recommend it.
albertgoeswoof 9y ago
This is really nice, it’s a bit annoying having to enter the entire recovery phrase during setup, could you just pick a few random words instead to enter? My biggest concern with these types of apps is the security of the wallet, given everyone is rolling their own build, so personally I probably won’t put any real funds in here for some time.
- raingrove 9y ago
  You can tap on skip button in the corner but do copy it down as soon as you are able (it can be viewed again in settings screen). Cipher uses features like the Secure Enclave chip to make things more secure, but obviously the best practice is to treat it as a hot spending wallet and use a hardware wallet to store large amounts.
  - elcritch 9y ago
    Is there a way to copy the recovery password as text? I want to store it in my password manager, but typing in 20 words (correctly) passes my threshold for trying out new apps.
raingrove 9y ago
iOS App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cipher-browser-for-ethereum/id1294572970?ls=1&mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cipher-browser-for-ethereum/... Android Google Play (Beta): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cipherbrowser.cipher&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cipherbrow...
bastijn 9y ago
Can’t get used to those iPhoneX screens. Still look awful to me. Congrats on the work though. A major item for becoming a successful anything is having a large community. Broadening access to the technology helps a lot to achieve it. US AppStore only it seems. Or at least not in NL.
- raingrove 9y ago
  Thanks! It should be available on every store except China (Apple didn't allow). Search for "Cipher Ethereum".
  - bastijn 9y ago
    That worked. Strange, normally links as on your FP redirect to the right app store (region).
dchuk 9y ago
I really feel like the #1 problem for all crypto stuff is that it is completely unapproachable without having to learn a massive amount of new terms/vocabulary. Look at this description: "The Power of Ethereum in the Palm of Your Hand Cipher Browser is the world's first full-featured mobile dapp browser and wallet for the Ethereum blockchain. Cipher allows you to interact with dapps powered by Ethereum on your mobile device and makes it easy for you to securely store, send and receive Ether and ERC20 tokens." I have absolutely no idea what this is saying. Whoever can crack the nut of user experience for the layman (hell, even just technical folks who haven't spent the time to study all of these technologies/terms enough to know what the fuck they're talking about) is going to be very rich. Until then, this is just nerds catering to nerds.
- raingrove 9y ago
  Your feedback is legit. Unfortunately the app has to initially cater to the early adopters of Ethereum, but making Ethereum and Dapps approachable is the #1 goal of this project. I will be spending a lot of time on further simplifying the UI/UX of the app and the what you see on the website. If anyone wants to help, please let me know.
  - dchuk 9y ago
    Sounds good. I would actually recommend just a literal glossary/"here's what all this stuff means if you're seeing it for the first time".
  - 549362-30499 9y ago
    It would help if you define "Dapp" and give a few examples of "Dapps" that people might get value from.
    - base698 9y ago
      An app whose data store is block chain based, as opposed to AWS infrastructure owned by whoever. Decentralized App.
  - 9y ago
orta 9y ago
I spent some time playing with this yesterday and showed it to a few colleagues today. It's a cool implementation - feels like the beginnings of an app store for DApps.
slphil 9y ago
I use multiple devices, will it be possible to have two installs synced together? For some reason I had some difficulty with this on Status.
- raingrove 9y ago
  Yes, use the same recovery phrase. I wouldn't recommend making transactions simultaneously on multiple devices though.
  - vkdelta 9y ago
    Why? They would be separate transactions on Blockchain
    - DennisP 9y ago
      Ethereum is different from Bitcoin in that it uses simple account balances, which are easier to deal with in smart contracts. To prevent replay attacks, each account has a nonce, which is included in the transaction. You can check the blockchain for the current nonce of an account, but if you sent from the same account simultaneously from two devices, both transactions would get the same nonce and one would fail.
      - raingrove 9y ago
        That is correct! Thanks for explaining!
tw1010 9y ago
For someone who's not at all in touch or in synch with all this, why should I install it? What is the value proposition? Just to send money to other people in an ideologically pure way?
- Cyberdog 9y ago
  > Just to send money to other people in an ideologically pure way? Ha. Never seen that put that way before, but sure. But aside from just the currency aspect of it, blockchain protocols that support distributed apps (dapps) or smart contracts also allow for programs to be run on the blockchain; a sort of distributed computing network. This app, aside from wallet/currency functions, appears to also allow you to interact with these distributed apps and see their state.
la_fayette 9y ago
cool project! is it a cordova app or facebook react? as you have typescript in there it probably is something like that?? i think this really fills a great whole. i am happy that you did this work ;) i would definitely be willing to contribute, if you open source it.
- raingrove 9y ago
  It's mostly React Native for the UI, but there's a lot of native code for crypto/secure enclave operations.
eximius 9y ago
Erm, who made this and why should I trust it? Wallet apps need a lot of trust behind them, more than a normal app. It could be really well made and still run off with my money if they're malicious or just implemented the crypto wrong.
- raingrove 9y ago
  If that's really what I wanted, there are many much easier ways than making a full app, such as writing a lame whitepaper and doing a scam ICO. You will see a lot of open-source code from Cipher soon, hopefully that puts your mind at ease.
  - ique 9y ago
    This is just a trusted RPC connection right? You're not embedding any sort of light (or otherwise) client? Are you running the nodes on the backend, as opposed to outsourcing to someone like infura? What are you running if so (geth, parity, something else) and how (single node or multiple nodes load-balanced)? Curious to hear the setup.
    - raingrove 9y ago
      The app uses Infura, just like MetaMask, but future version will allow you to specify your own RPC. Geth/Parity light clients are not quite usable on mobile yet, but they are improving rapidly, so hopefully in the future.
- guiomie 9y ago
  Just like Metamask, I wouldn't put more than a few hundred bucks of Ether in there and keep my real money in cold storage or coinbase. Similar to how I put the majority of my money in a savings account and keep my savings account lower.
- gator-io 9y ago
  Exactly. Remember the recent Parity wallet fiasco? https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/10/parity_280m_ethereum_wallet_lockdown_hack/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/10/parity_280m_ethereu...
627467 9y ago
Can't find the app in the play store . Is this country locked? Is there a apk from f-droid or a legitimate GitHub repo?
- raingrove 9y ago
  Try this link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cipherbrowser.cipher https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cipherbrow...
chejazi 9y ago
Awesome work Peter! This is leaps and bounds ahead of the competition (http://status.im http://status.im and http://toshi.org http://toshi.org)

76 points by raingrove 9y ago

hilalh 9y ago

Curious to know if the source code is available out there? Would love to audit it before putting it to use.

raingrove 9y ago
Now that it is available on both iOS and Android app stores, we will be open-sourcing a lot of code in the coming weeks - this is one of them: http://github.com/petejkim/wallet.ts http://github.com/petejkim/wallet.ts
- shazow 9y ago
  In case anyone else is looking for the Android store link which isn't super easy to find, here it is: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cipherbrowser.cipher&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cipherbrow... (Worth adding to the homepage, btw.)

liamcardenas 9y ago

This looks cool -- good luck! (I just followed you on twitter) How is this different from Status?

raingrove 9y ago
Status is still unreleased and supports testnet only whereas Cipher is available on both iOS and Android stores and supports Ethereum Mainnet. Cipher is also primarily a Dapp Browser before anything else, and we try to be compatible with as many Web 3 Dapps as possible and implement the latest enhancements to Web 3 API as quickly as possible. (e.g. https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/pull/712 https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/pull/712 - eth_signTypedData) I gotta say Status is a very cool project though (and really well-funded too and I own some SNT tokens as well) and I really appreciate all the work they are doing with Whisper protocol.
coolspot 9y ago
Status already got their ICO Lambos, have not released iOS app. These guys are just planning to get Lambos, but app is already in AppStore.

peterkieltyka 9y ago

Nice work! btw, there is also the Ethers wallet which is open source and also in the iOS app store: https://github.com/ethers-io/EthersWallet-ios https://github.com/ethers-io/EthersWallet-ios the author is quite skilled and has spent a tremendous amount of time to consider a secure implementation throughout the entire code base. I highly recommend it.

albertgoeswoof 9y ago

This is really nice, it’s a bit annoying having to enter the entire recovery phrase during setup, could you just pick a few random words instead to enter? My biggest concern with these types of apps is the security of the wallet, given everyone is rolling their own build, so personally I probably won’t put any real funds in here for some time.

raingrove 9y ago
You can tap on skip button in the corner but do copy it down as soon as you are able (it can be viewed again in settings screen). Cipher uses features like the Secure Enclave chip to make things more secure, but obviously the best practice is to treat it as a hot spending wallet and use a hardware wallet to store large amounts.
- elcritch 9y ago
  Is there a way to copy the recovery password as text? I want to store it in my password manager, but typing in 20 words (correctly) passes my threshold for trying out new apps.

raingrove 9y ago

iOS App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cipher-browser-for-ethereum/id1294572970?ls=1&mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cipher-browser-for-ethereum/... Android Google Play (Beta): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cipherbrowser.cipher&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cipherbrow...

bastijn 9y ago

Can’t get used to those iPhoneX screens. Still look awful to me. Congrats on the work though. A major item for becoming a successful anything is having a large community. Broadening access to the technology helps a lot to achieve it. US AppStore only it seems. Or at least not in NL.

raingrove 9y ago
Thanks! It should be available on every store except China (Apple didn't allow). Search for "Cipher Ethereum".
- bastijn 9y ago
  That worked. Strange, normally links as on your FP redirect to the right app store (region).

dchuk 9y ago

I really feel like the #1 problem for all crypto stuff is that it is completely unapproachable without having to learn a massive amount of new terms/vocabulary. Look at this description: "The Power of Ethereum in the Palm of Your Hand Cipher Browser is the world's first full-featured mobile dapp browser and wallet for the Ethereum blockchain. Cipher allows you to interact with dapps powered by Ethereum on your mobile device and makes it easy for you to securely store, send and receive Ether and ERC20 tokens." I have absolutely no idea what this is saying. Whoever can crack the nut of user experience for the layman (hell, even just technical folks who haven't spent the time to study all of these technologies/terms enough to know what the fuck they're talking about) is going to be very rich. Until then, this is just nerds catering to nerds.

raingrove 9y ago
Your feedback is legit. Unfortunately the app has to initially cater to the early adopters of Ethereum, but making Ethereum and Dapps approachable is the #1 goal of this project. I will be spending a lot of time on further simplifying the UI/UX of the app and the what you see on the website. If anyone wants to help, please let me know.
- dchuk 9y ago
  Sounds good. I would actually recommend just a literal glossary/"here's what all this stuff means if you're seeing it for the first time".
- 549362-30499 9y ago
  It would help if you define "Dapp" and give a few examples of "Dapps" that people might get value from.
  - base698 9y ago
    An app whose data store is block chain based, as opposed to AWS infrastructure owned by whoever. Decentralized App.
- 9y ago

orta 9y ago

I spent some time playing with this yesterday and showed it to a few colleagues today. It's a cool implementation - feels like the beginnings of an app store for DApps.

slphil 9y ago

I use multiple devices, will it be possible to have two installs synced together? For some reason I had some difficulty with this on Status.

raingrove 9y ago
Yes, use the same recovery phrase. I wouldn't recommend making transactions simultaneously on multiple devices though.
- vkdelta 9y ago
  Why? They would be separate transactions on Blockchain
  - DennisP 9y ago
    Ethereum is different from Bitcoin in that it uses simple account balances, which are easier to deal with in smart contracts. To prevent replay attacks, each account has a nonce, which is included in the transaction. You can check the blockchain for the current nonce of an account, but if you sent from the same account simultaneously from two devices, both transactions would get the same nonce and one would fail.
    - raingrove 9y ago
      That is correct! Thanks for explaining!

tw1010 9y ago

For someone who's not at all in touch or in synch with all this, why should I install it? What is the value proposition? Just to send money to other people in an ideologically pure way?

Cyberdog 9y ago
> Just to send money to other people in an ideologically pure way? Ha. Never seen that put that way before, but sure. But aside from just the currency aspect of it, blockchain protocols that support distributed apps (dapps) or smart contracts also allow for programs to be run on the blockchain; a sort of distributed computing network. This app, aside from wallet/currency functions, appears to also allow you to interact with these distributed apps and see their state.

la_fayette 9y ago

cool project! is it a cordova app or facebook react? as you have typescript in there it probably is something like that?? i think this really fills a great whole. i am happy that you did this work ;) i would definitely be willing to contribute, if you open source it.

raingrove 9y ago
It's mostly React Native for the UI, but there's a lot of native code for crypto/secure enclave operations.

eximius 9y ago

Erm, who made this and why should I trust it? Wallet apps need a lot of trust behind them, more than a normal app. It could be really well made and still run off with my money if they're malicious or just implemented the crypto wrong.

raingrove 9y ago
If that's really what I wanted, there are many much easier ways than making a full app, such as writing a lame whitepaper and doing a scam ICO. You will see a lot of open-source code from Cipher soon, hopefully that puts your mind at ease.
- ique 9y ago
  This is just a trusted RPC connection right? You're not embedding any sort of light (or otherwise) client? Are you running the nodes on the backend, as opposed to outsourcing to someone like infura? What are you running if so (geth, parity, something else) and how (single node or multiple nodes load-balanced)? Curious to hear the setup.
  - raingrove 9y ago
    The app uses Infura, just like MetaMask, but future version will allow you to specify your own RPC. Geth/Parity light clients are not quite usable on mobile yet, but they are improving rapidly, so hopefully in the future.
guiomie 9y ago
Just like Metamask, I wouldn't put more than a few hundred bucks of Ether in there and keep my real money in cold storage or coinbase. Similar to how I put the majority of my money in a savings account and keep my savings account lower.
gator-io 9y ago
Exactly. Remember the recent Parity wallet fiasco? https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/10/parity_280m_ethereum_wallet_lockdown_hack/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/10/parity_280m_ethereu...

627467 9y ago

Can't find the app in the play store . Is this country locked? Is there a apk from f-droid or a legitimate GitHub repo?

raingrove 9y ago
Try this link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cipherbrowser.cipher https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cipherbrow...

chejazi 9y ago

Awesome work Peter! This is leaps and bounds ahead of the competition (http://status.im http://status.im and http://toshi.org http://toshi.org)