Nano Community Spotlight: WeNano
Warmly welcomed by the Nano community at launch earlier in the year. WeNano is a well-designed new wallet, with a collection of highly engaging new features, presenting users with the ultimate digital treasure-hunt experience to spend, transfer, share, and even earn Nano.
We carved out time for a chat with lead developer Anders — AKA ’robotn’, to find out more about what sparked the creation of the new app, understand why it has been so successful since launch, and have a peek into what the future holds for the platform.
Live for three months and an instant hit with Nano users, what was your initial inspiration for creating the WeNano platform?
Two years ago, I started thinking about different use cases for a digital currency, and I found the freedom Nano gives to develop with cryptocurrency intriguing. When you have a protocol with no fees and instant transactions, the use cases are limited only by our imagination.
I believe that for a digital currency to succeed you need three things, good tech, a large and active community and developers integrating it in different ways. Nano has all of that, so I’m really excited to contribute to the future of Nano!
The idea of geolocated Spots with payouts was always in the back of my mind as I wanted to create a Nano app specifically designed to spread awareness. If people have a memorable experience when discovering Nano, they are more likely to realize the potential of digital currency.
It was an awesome opportunity to acquire new skills, building WeNano opened the pathway to create and learn alongside talented developers in the Nano community making the project just that more exciting.
So I started working on WeNano for iOS around a year ago and began to gain some significant ground when a seasoned developer from the Nano community, “rwol” started contributing in late 2019. From then on, development went pretty fast until we released in early 2020.
The Spots feature has captured the imagination of the Nano community and attracted attention from the wider space. Many will have already seen WeNano on Twitter announcing the newest Spots, and plenty have set up Spots of their own. Why do you think this is such an important feature?
I believe that people need to experience Nano to really get it, and I wanted to come up with a creative way for people to get their first Nano. Getting Nano into the hands of new people can be quite the task, as most people are put off by having to create an account at a fiat exchange to try it out. The ability to find Nano through a user-friendly app like WeNano makes the discovery and acquisition fun and simple.
The ability to reach people anywhere in the world is a huge part of spreading awareness and fits nicely with Nano’s goal to become a global currency. Providing everyone with the ability to set up a Spot, wherever they like, is something that will be a major part of how Spots are used now and in the future.
The connection to Nano merchants also has incredible potential. We are building an easy way for shops to quickly register their business and popup on the WeNano map. We plan to connect those merchants with Spots in a couple of creative ways, which we are very excited about exploring.
With 250+ Spots and over 4000 payouts already, have you been surprised by how enthusiastically people have embraced this feature?
I have! The number of Spots that were added all over the world within just a couple of days of the launch was incredible and more than we could wish for. The next step is to raise awareness, especially in developing countries, we need help from community managers to get the word out about WeNano and find more cities and areas where there is interest in setting up a Spot.
A lot of people are already doing a great job with this, asking people on twitter where they want a Spot, it’s a great conversation starter. We love to see people talking about WeNano!
The social aspect of the WeNano Wallet is also very interesting. Making digital money palatable for larger userbases is critical to expanding the network, why do you think WeNano does this well?
It was fundamental that WeNano had a social element to encourage continued usage. Moreover, we wanted to include features that showcase why Nano is perfect as digital cash.
The ability to send Nano to someone near you in less than a second using QuickTip, without you knowing them already, is something we hadn’t seen before. It’s a convenient way to tip a waitress, cab driver, street musician, etc. A simple act of kindness, can go a long way.
We have built a solid foundation for this and as Nano and WeNano grow, it will gain more adoption.
“Wen Android?” is a question synonymous with most well-received iOS apps, and WeNano has not been spared its own rendition of this particular chorus. What steered the decision to focus primarily on developing for iOS?
Haha, yeah, “Wen Android” is definitely the number one question we have received since release. I am, first and foremost, an iOS developer, so I worked to my strengths when beginning the project. We originally planned to release an Android Light version of WeNano within a couple of weeks of the iOS release. Still, we opted to dedicate more time to reflect on what we had already achieved and refining the popular Spots feature after the initial launch.
We are delighted to have now released the Android Light app, which enables access to Spots for a lot more people.
Are there any plans to expand the Android Light version to include the range of features available on iOS?
Yes, for WeNano to succeed, we need a complete version for Android as well. Much of the foundational work has been completed on the light version, but a fully optimized release is still in early development. We’re looking at options on how to accelerate development, as the Android user base is by far the most popular mobile OS.
EDIT: New features arrived on Android on June 5th, including Spot creation:
We want WeNano to be available to everyone all over the world.
A big thanks go out to the WeNano team for making the time to share their passion and motivation for this exciting and original project and to everyone contributing to the platform!
If you are excited to try WeNano for yourself then download the fully-featured app on iOS and start experimenting with Spots today.
Android users, pick up WeNano Light to start exploring the WeNano map and claiming payouts from Spots in your area.
And keep on top of all platform updates by following WeNanoApp on Twitter and get notifications on new Spots and payouts from WeNanoSpots.
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