In October 2019, The Swash app launched in beta. Since then, it has grown to over 1,000 active members who have chosen to collectively sell their browsing data on the Streamr Marketplace. The team have been busy gathering user feedback to combat bugs, add features, and prepare for the app’s long term future as it moves out of beta. This move out of beta also depends on Streamr finalizing and debugging its Data Unions framework backend. We expect that to happen in the next few months.
But from Swash’s end, this is what you can expect.
Table of Contents
New and upcoming features
- A fresh onboarding process will be added to an upcoming version of Swash that helps users configure their privacy preference upon installation. Check out a preview of the process below:
2. Because user preferences in Swash (deciding which data to sell or not) take some consideration to set up, we’re allowing users to import and export their Swash application settings to existing popular platforms. This will ease the migration process for Swash users. These are the options:
3. The process of withdrawing tokens has been improved. It’s now simple to withdraw DATA tokens earned to any address users choose.
4. The menu has been updated in this version of Swash for a better user experience. The advanced menu has been removed and a new Wallet menu option has been added.
5. A Spotify module is also coming to Swash. Users will be able to capture and send information about the songs, artists, and playlists they are listening to.
6. The most exciting change in this version is support for Firefox for Android. Many of you have asked when Swash will be coming to mobile, so this is a big step for the app, considering around half of all website traffic comes from mobile today (and that’s predicted to rise to 75% by 2025).
The team is also testing support for Kiwi and Yandex browsers (Chromium-based browsers for Android).
An upcoming feature nearing completion is the option to donate earnings to a chosen cause. This is currently on hold for ongoing testing but the team aims to have it rolled out sometime this quarter.
A referral program to target new users was on the roadmap for this release, but the team decided to postpone the program until the Data Unions backend server is more stable and reliable.
Bugs
A number of users identified an issue with their DATA earnings incorrectly displaying a balance of zero. After working with the Streamr team at the start of the year, this issue has now been resolved.
There was another prominent bug in the smart contract that was fixed by Streamr devs and is currently under review. When it is finished, a migration will start to move users from the old smart contract to the new one in preparation for launch.
A number of other bugs and usability improvements have been made following user feedback.
Data buyers
The closing of Jumpshot over data privacy concerns means that the largest competitor to Swash is now gone. This is a promising opportunity for Swash. Jumpshot closed because it was caught monetizing data without explicit user permission. Swash solves that head-on. We think it will be an incredibly effective replacement to Jumpshot because gaining user consent and respect for privacy is built right into the business model.
Swash has hired Reza Naeeni to join the team as Business Development Manager. Reza has started work in Finland to source potential buyers and project funders. There will be updates on this progress in the near future. Look out for an AMA with Reza in the coming weeks.
Data Union Governance
Governance is potentially a big issue for all Data Unions. Who buys the data, how it is used, what features are most needed — these are all questions that data union members will want to have a say in answering. Swash has been working with community collaboration startup, Colony, to manage tasks and payments through the Swash colony. So far, tasks have been created in the colony and assigned to a developer. The aim is that tasks such as functionality testing, which require help from the community, can be managed in this way as well.
Stay tuned for more updates — and don’t forget to tell your friends!
For more information about the Swash app, please check out the Swash FAQ
