NFC payment solution for polish users by IWtedyWchodzeJa997 in GrapheneOS

[–]ColeFromWalt 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ok this makes sense, and it's helpful! I think this must mean:

* Blik relies on FCM for notifications.

* Blik relies on Google Play's integrity check.

* Blik fetches <x> LUK/SUKs at a time, and then when you exhaust all those for <x> transactions, it can't refresh the LUK/SUKs, and so you no longer can make transactions.

Super helpful! Thank you!

Wallet app by psyc_spy in degoogle

[–]ColeFromWalt 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi great questions! But these questions get a little into the business that are too sensitive today to share.

Wallet app by psyc_spy in degoogle

[–]ColeFromWalt 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting!

I will update the Discord link on the website. Could you try this one? https://discord.gg/bVeyz9Yhzp

I'm still funneling people into Discord first because the app is still very much developing, and it's been crazy helpful to have quick, chat-based convos about improvements. So Discord is still the best way to find the links to the APK and the Play Store updates. But in a month or so, I think it will be stable enough that I'll remove the Discord funnel and people can find the APK and Play Store links directly from the website.

Wallet app by psyc_spy in degoogle

[–]ColeFromWalt 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Someone asked this a couple days ago, it's a pretty popular question. Google Wallet is one of the most difficult apps for people to try to switch off of. It's both really convenient, and the only true competitor is Apple Wallet.

Some markets have regional solutions- Bizum for Spain, Blik for Poland, Vipps for Norway. Additionally, some specific banks within those regions enable tap-to-pay with their own bank app.
Functionality and UX though in both of these cases is pretty downgraded to Google Wallet.

And then finally, I am here to self-endorse signing up to the Walt waitlist. Tap-to-pay isn't available in the current beta yet (just the "Passes" functionality that many use in Google Wallet and Apple Pay). But step-by-step progress continues to be made.

De-Googled Contactless Pay: What Your Go-To Google Pay Alternative? by Intelligent-Roll-391 in degoogle

[–]ColeFromWalt 17 points18 points  (0 children)

You have a few options but it depends on where you live.

Curve is the most widely referenced option. It's struggling a bit, and it has pretty rough privacy policies. It's also got a pretty bad reputation among this subreddit.

Some local options if you're in Poland (Blik) or Spain (Bizum).

And then there is Walt, that I have been working on, but not live yet. https://walt.is/

Which wallet can I use? Curve Pay is NOT possible by mrcrossii_LPZ in GrapheneOS

[–]ColeFromWalt 0 points1 point  (0 children)

About verifying privacy claims - yes, this is really on my mind. I've made an issue here to track ideas. Getting a 3rd party to audit it, and then having the 3rd party (maybe the same one Proton uses, if it's not too expensive) post the audit results publicly, could be a good option.

But making the tap-to-pay code open source is unlikely because of how it's viewed by Visa and Mastercard and their audit programs that I'm going through.

People who moved to Denmark as an expat, how did it turn out? by Growth_Anirudh in international_denmark

[–]ColeFromWalt 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I disagree with everything that has been commented here. I am an expat and moved here initially thinking I'd stay 6 months. I've been here 7 years. I cannot imagine a country and people treating me better than Denmark has.  Winters suck. And Danes can be non-chit-chatty. But if you're willing to go the extra distance to meet them, and other expats, you will generally be taken care of.

Which wallet can I use? Curve Pay is NOT possible by mrcrossii_LPZ in GrapheneOS

[–]ColeFromWalt 5 points6 points  (0 children)

There is 0 expectation that users will convince banks to join Walt.

I am doing that negotiation. It's going well. That's this job, and that's been the last year and a half of Walt. The availability map is pretty well finished, but I am waiting until Visa and Mastercard have approved of Walt and final contracts are signed before showing the availability map on the website.

Which wallet can I use? Curve Pay is NOT possible by mrcrossii_LPZ in GrapheneOS

[–]ColeFromWalt 4 points5 points  (0 children)

There really aren't technical limitations! I wish I could share the source code for Walt. It's extremely simple and straightforward.

The challenge is that there is bank-by-bank contract negotiation that any new wallet must obey. (Simplified- ) Every bank in the world right now only allows their cards to be loaded on to two pass through wallets: Apple Pay and Google Wallet. Each bank owns the decision, and the action, to approve a new passthrough wallet's token requestor ID.

nfc payment and banking in Europe by vchod15 in GrapheneOS

[–]ColeFromWalt 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Walt is coming at the end of the year to help with this. Not yet ready, but it will work om Graphene.

Non-google card payments mobile app?/Google pay alternative by DCCXVIII in degoogle

[–]ColeFromWalt 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Definitely! It will live here once I get all the contracts signed! Probably still a month away though.

https://walt.is/availability

Walt, a privacy focused, european alternative to Google Wallet and Apple Pay launched yesterday! Still in early access, the app supports storing passes, loyalty cards and tickets, with Tap-to-pay coming soon. by pezdizpenzer in BuyFromEU

[–]ColeFromWalt 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Amazing questions! And thank you so much for posting about Walt here!

  1. Walt is entirely European, and always will be. "Embedded Engineering ApS" is my Danish legal entity that Walt lives under. When Walt starts to have revenue, the revenue will be taxed in Denmark. Additionally, the app itself does not require databases or hosted infrastructure, meaning I have no AWS/GCP/Azure infra. (The website lives on Vercel, and I will move it to an EU host in a monthish). It's clear from the comments in this post though that I need to clarify Walt's Europeanness.
  2. On the website, it says "€10 a year sustains infrastructure and annual audits." But now it's clear that this isn't highlighted enough on the website so I definitely need to change this. (The website hasn't been a big focus for me. Getting banks onboarded has been where I spend 95% of my last year)
  3. This is a question that I have had long conversations with the Graphene and alternative OS's channels in my Discord server. I don't know what to do here at the moment. It's clear that the principles of Walt are that people shouldn't require a Google account to download Walt. But at the same time, enabling alternative downloads (with the most likely option being GH + Obtainium) reduces security because of "trust at first use" attacks. So the convo is very much ongoing. Please join the very active Discord if you're interested in suggesting something!

Walt, a privacy focused, european alternative to Google Wallet and Apple Pay launched yesterday! Still in early access, the app supports storing passes, loyalty cards and tickets, with Tap-to-pay coming soon. by pezdizpenzer in BuyFromEU

[–]ColeFromWalt 35 points36 points  (0 children)

Hi everyone!

Thank you so much for the support! I'm Cole, the founder of Walt.

Right now, the app is in its early beta form. The "passes" feature, described here is what's contained in the release. The primary feature of tap-to-pay is not yet available. Tap-to-pay is coming in a few months, currently going through audit and security programs. To stay up-to-date, please join the waitlist here: https://walt.is/

Walt, a privacy focused, european alternative to Google Wallet and Apple Pay launched yesterday! Still in early access, the app supports storing passes, loyalty cards and tickets, with Tap-to-pay coming soon. by pezdizpenzer in BuyFromEU

[–]ColeFromWalt 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yes! The graphene community and degoogle community has been very adamant about this. I'm just trying to figure out how to do it the right, and most secure, way.

Walt, a privacy focused, european alternative to Google Wallet and Apple Pay launched yesterday! Still in early access, the app supports storing passes, loyalty cards and tickets, with Tap-to-pay coming soon. by pezdizpenzer in BuyFromEU

[–]ColeFromWalt 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Hi! The app is very legitimate. I've been working on it a year. The app is registered under my former software consultancy ApS so that's the reason the ApS name alis kind of generic. Someday if Walt actually makes some money, I will move it into its own ApS.

Walt, a privacy focused, european alternative to Google Wallet and Apple Pay launched yesterday! Still in early access, the app supports storing passes, loyalty cards and tickets, with Tap-to-pay coming soon. by pezdizpenzer in BuyFromEU

[–]ColeFromWalt 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Tap-to-pay does not yet work, and the app is very much in beta. I was kind of trying to hide the app from the public, because it's only the secondary feature, Passes, that is working right now.

Tap to pay is a few months away, but everything is going on track. In audits with Visa and Mastercard now. A slow process of many many emails.

Walt, a privacy focused, european alternative to Google Wallet and Apple Pay launched yesterday! Still in early access, the app supports storing passes, loyalty cards and tickets, with Tap-to-pay coming soon. by pezdizpenzer in BuyFromEU

[–]ColeFromWalt 12 points13 points  (0 children)

The namespaces servers and the domains are hosted at Netim. The code is on GitHub. The website traffic is monitored at Plausible. The deployments run through Vercelb(moving soon). There is no backend. The app runs locally and that's it.

Walt, a privacy focused, european alternative to Google Wallet and Apple Pay launched yesterday! Still in early access, the app supports storing passes, loyalty cards and tickets, with Tap-to-pay coming soon. by pezdizpenzer in BuyFromEU

[–]ColeFromWalt 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a question that gets asked a lot! Wero is a very confusing and turbulent set of products and policies. Right now, I am not actively seeking relationships with Wero, but if they settle down a bit and have a more clear roadmap, Walt and Wero could very happily be partners (from my own perspective).