Updates on the Android app

Hey - do you guys still need testers? Very keen to get involved if I can

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Sign up and you will see

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Done!

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:eyes:

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Loving the notes below the screen by the way :joy:

ā€œandroid stuffā€ :ok_hand:

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A long overdue interview with @greg, our Lead Android engineer.

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Hi there,
Iā€™m waiting to use this app, but the list doesnā€™t go down. Is there anyone that already using the Android app? It is working?

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Weā€™ll share the timelines soon! Weā€™re working on locking them down.

The status is, all team members are using the app, and we plan to start early testing soon.

Thatā€™s iOS though - we have the above Android thread and our Lead Android Engineer @greg will give updates here. :eyes:

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Hi Viktor,

Is there any update on this - I appreciate you are all working hard to get the apps sorted as soon as possible but Iā€™m just keen to get cracking with the android app!

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Hey there,

In the latest Blog Post, Adam, the CEO has stated the following:

Weā€™re putting intense effort into refining the product for full launch as soon as we can. With Ian on board, weā€™ll release a timeline within the next few weeks.

Assuming the timeline will involve a date for Android too. Stay tuned and the news will follow!

Hope that helps.

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Iā€™m hesitant to make this point because I love Freetradeā€™s ethos but I feel strongly, so it has to be said: I hate it when companies treat Android users as second-class citizens by releasing on iOS first. Given that Freetrade is all about equitable access, I think youā€™ve missed a trick. Anyway, itā€™s just my two penniesā€™ worth.

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Hey Christopher, that certainly is frustrating. And the problem lies with Androidā€™s development process in comparison to iOS. The latter is much more streamlined and intuitive. I could copy-paste the full answer but thought I would just leave this by Trausti Thor Johannsson from Quora.

The good news for yourself if you are an Android user (and that is my assumption, @Freetrade_Team said it at some point recently): whilst the iOS app is ready but not yet publicly released, the Android version is still in development (both have always been simultaneous). This leads to the fact that the lag between iOS and Android release will inevitably be shorter than originally planned.

Albeit your concerns are perfectly valid, I guess the aim is to start getting a number of customers in asap, simply to check the viability of the current systems in place and to make necessary adjustments if needed. And when the Android will come into play, you will have a much better overall experience, potentially almost bug-free! :wink:

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When we started, we were extremely lean (we still are to a large extent, but nothing like those days). It was important to narrow the focus, and we went with iOS, because of the reasons listed by Vlad. But the Android release and feature parity will be the primary objectives when the iOS public rollout progresses.

Last we polled it, >40% of the waitlist was on Android (for an iPhone-first product!), and the younger community members had Android in significantly higher numbers (Iā€™d have to look it up, but I recall >60% in one age bracket). Iā€™ve been using and :heart:ed the operating system ever since it existed, and I think Ian and (obviously) Greg are Android fans as well. So definitely no intention to treat anyone as a second-class citizen!

The timeline weā€™ll publish imminently is for iOS, but weā€™ll have more Android updates as soon as possible.

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Many thanks for such quick and thorough responses. One of the things that marks Freetrade out as a first-rate company is its eagerness, never mind willingness, to engage. Iā€™m sure you can understand the frustrationā€”Iā€™m just itching to get my hands on itā€”but good things come to those who wait and all that.

I have a couple of quick follow-up questions, if thatā€™s OK: will Freetrade work, if not supported, on non-standard operating systems, such as Lineage and Replicant? How about rooted devices? I ran into problems with HL, even though the app was not granted root privileges. I suppose itā€™s understandable given the potential security flaw but my bankā€™s app works and it was as if HL had blacklisted certain OSes.

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Right now the plan is for the initial launch app to not support rooted devices as part of the security model. We wonā€™t be specifically blocking non-standard operating systems but also not officially supporting them, and they may be detected as being rooted even when they are not.

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According to dabbl their Android version is due out ā€˜before the end of summerā€™.

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@Freetrade_Team With 3 weeks (and a day!) to go until the iOS release, are you able to give any word on a timeline for the Android release? Even a very rough estimate such as will we see it in 2018, or at least before the tax year ends? Cheers.

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Hey :slightly_smiling_face:

Weā€™ll release an update on the Android timeline some time after the iOS rollout starts. That rolloutā€™s our immediate focus but thereā€™s quite a lot of crossover work so weā€™re getting tasks done for Android too

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Thanks, Iā€™m sure youā€™re getting tired of us nagging! :stuck_out_tongue:

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