Implement feature restrictions for non-premium users

[Dianaaiym]

Restrict specific features for users without a PRO or VIP subscription. When a user without an active subscription attempts to access a restricted feature, redirect them to a dedicated subscription page.

Screen.Recording.2024-12-10.at.17.11.41.mp4

Restrict Features:

Block the following functionalities unless the user has an active PRO or VIP subscription:

1. Markets: Coin Analytics (Advanced analytics for coins).

2. Advanced Search: Custom filters for token searches.

3. Trade Signals: Access to advanced trading signals.

4. Favorable Swaps: Limit swaps to basic options (e.g., only allow 1inch swaps).

5. Transaction Speed Up Feature (faster transaction confirmations).

6. Security - Duress Mode: Emergency access feature.

7. Privacy Mode: Blocks data analytics for enhanced privacy.

8. Support & Community:
   VIP Support: Priority support for VIP users.
   VIP Club Group: Access to exclusive VIP community group.

[Arian8j2]

Is Unstoppable planning to restrict access to some features by placing them behind a paywall?!

[serrq]

I fully don't agree with the points 6 and 7.

You can't do this. I haven't a job and you send my data to analytics without my permission? Security is put behind a paywall?

I understand Premium features, but these are privacy and security, not Premium features.

High betrayal.

[serrq]

29€/year I can think about a Premium subscription (just to support your work, not for Premium features).

For more money you have to involve companies that believe in open source philosophy.
Like Signal and SimpleX Chat do.

I earn less than 80$/month just enough to cut my hair, refill my phone, etc.

You are unfair.

[Arian8j2]

I recognize the need for a subscription model to support the project, but placing features behind a paywall in open-source software raises some concerns. Additionally, restricting essential security features and existing functionalities will appear untrustworthy and negatively impacts the project's public image and community.

Points 4, 5, 6, and 7 is excessive and will probably lead to forks that bypass them, which could ultimately erode trust in the project and split the community. Furthermore, point 2 is rather vague and would benefit from clarification regarding which filters will be restricted.

On the other hand, I find points 1, 3, and 8 to be reasonable, as they likely require access to specialized Horizontal Systems APIs.

[serrq]

I don't think they are responsible for anyone's financial problems! You earn or not is your problem to solve by yourself.

Yes, you are right. But with consequences in adoption. I am start to watch other project from now.

[esengulov]

@Arian8j2 @serrq @grichee thanks a lot for the feedback. We do pay attention to it. The feature is currently in progress and evolving , we will review your concerns and might change something. That said, please keep in mind that we are not really profitable company or have some kind of VC budget. Over the last 6-7 years this was a fully self funded project so we need to find ways to sustain and ideally grow further. Lemme share my quick take on each premium feature. These are not complete list and we have number of other features that are currently in consideration.

re: 1-3:
[Markets: Coin Analytics (Advanced analytics for coins)]
[Advanced Search]
[Trade Signals]

All of those are meant at traders. Those who can't afford the feature are unlikely to have a need for them.

re 4
Favorable Swaps: Limit swaps to basic options

That feature is useful to those who do high value transfers. For low value transfers the provided option would be the best anyway, in most cases. On th other hand if you're swapping 50kUSDT >> ETH then enabling this premium feature would make sense.

re 5:
Transaction SpeedUp/Cancel Feature (faster transaction confirmations).

The reasoning here was that this feature becomes relevant when it involves high value transactions. although, I see how this can be debatable.

re 6:
[Security - Duress Mode]

The development and use case of this feature was built around the idea that someone has a fairly large amount to hide (say 15K and above). That's where it shines. On the other hand for lower amounts there are other ways within the wallet such funds can be hidden without using this feature (simply disabling the coin for instance on balance screen, works as hide feature).

re 7:
Privacy Mode: Blocks data analytics for enhanced privacy.

Our reasoning goes as follows. If someone likes our product and wants us to keep growing then sharing anonymous usage patterns won't really affect the user's privacy. We don't collect balances or transactions but simply tracks usage pattens. For instance, all WWW websites collect such data. Also, if user doesn't have a substantial balance then there is literally zero privacy risk for him. On the other hand if user has large balances and privacy conscious we give a fairly cheap way to output from all data collection and more will provide him with VPN, TOR etc capabilities. For instance, some people asked us to add TOR (to iPhone, now it's android only ) and to integrate Monero but adding these features are neither easy nor quick. Both are fairly advanced tasks which will take us weeks of grinding). So, we are keen on building those but we need resources to move on.

re:8
[VIP Support & Community:]

The problem is that the support tasks are now taking way too much of manual time AND also creates some security risks both for us as well as users. We are already being targeted with fairly sophisticated phishing attacks, as well as some of our users. Our plan is to create an AI based tool that in our opinion would be fairly effective at addressing most concerns and provide human to human interaction only to VIP package subscribers. I am pretty sure once we implement this as envisioned the automated support we provide would be even better than manual direct communication we currently have.

It goes without saying there are a number of community friends i.e, @serrq (there are many other as well :)) here who have been around for along time and for all of them we plan on providing 100% discount promo codes.

[serrq]

@esengulov

I value your work, and even though I am in financial difficulty I want to do my part.

This month I earned something from capital gains here is my donation in your favor.

I would be happy to finance the entire project if the economic circumstances allowed me to do so but unfortunately I speak from a perspective of economic inferiority and therefore I necessarily have to find a situation that allows me to survive despite the adversities.

[esengulov]

@serrq @grichee thank you guys, we do value your feedback and input! We'll do our best to ensure that premium feature rolled in a manner where all truly involved parties are happy.

[serrq]

rolled in a manner where all truly involved parties are happy.

It is called win-win strategy.

[deutrino]

Thank you for sharing more details, most of those seem pretty reasonable. I would want to keep tx accelerate/cancel and access to favorable swaps, but I'm also in the mostly broke category and not doing high-value transfers/swaps.

[kineita]

I think horizontalsystems team can consider other features to create premium feature like multsig service, news tab, ... instead of privacy & security. Because it is core feature, it will take risk if we let users use the app without it.

[DMantis]

People who have TOR always enabled will be effectively locked out of their funds usage in the wallet without exposing their real crypto to network addresses mapping. New changes shouldn't affect already used funds anyhow.

[TheFuzzStone]

While reading this post, please keep in mind that I am in favor of monetizing Unstoppable Wallet.

---

Subscription-based monetization is simply the worst possible monetization option for Unstoppable, and here's why.

Yes, I understand that the company needs to make money to have such a cool wallet, and I'm all for monetization.

Going the subscription way and hiding important features behind a paywall can only drive users away from Unstoppable Wallet, which can lead to even better phishing (which @esengulov mentioned earlier). How? Very simple:

1. users don't like having important features hidden behind a paywall
2. bad actors make a “communist fork where everything is free”
3. as soon as they gain n number of users - they steal money
4. double blow to Unstoppable's reputation.

---

I have been using Unstopabble Wallet for a long time, I will tell you my current view of the subscription.

1. Markets: Coin Analytics (Advanced analytics for coins).
2. Advanced Search: Custom filters for token searches.
3. Trade Signals: Access to advanced trading signals.

These are all useless to me. Even if these features were free now, I would disable them. And if they could not be disabled, I would create an issue on Github and explain from a practical point of view that users should be given the freedom to disable them.

Even for a person who wants to do his own research on a particular token/coin, he will go to Google, Medium, Reddit, Twitter to get a bigger picture of the project he is interested in.

What % of users do you think, just by looking at items №1 and №2, will decide that yes, the project is not a scam, I can buy/use it?

It goes without saying that they will need to do a more detailed analysis, which means that items/features №1 and №2 lose their appeal.

I'm in favor of Unstoppable having a maximum number of useful integrations that users will use and the Unstopabble team will get % of profits from those integrations.

For example:

• fiat on/off ramps (of which there are actually a lot);
• all sorts of swap providers;
• bridges;
• built-in gift card purchases (which are popular among crypto people!)
• etc.

And not shady “Trade Signals” which reminds me of 2017 and a bunch of scams and spam related to Trade Signals and naive people who lost money.

By the way, if I lose money on “Trade Signals” who will take responsibility for a bad trade signal? Unstoppable Wallet I hope? /s

How do you explain to a newbie that he is responsible? And if he is responsible, then why does he need these “signals” from outer space and buy a subscription, if he can find the same signals in Telegram and lose money in the same way?

4. Favorable Swaps: Limit swaps to basic options (e.g., only allow 1inch swaps).

This is so weird... (from any UX designer's point of view).

Instead of integrating more useful providers so that users are happy to run and install your wallet (because they see the value and convenience of the integrations), and have those providers share % of the profits with Unstoppable team, you want to limit users... because they don't have subscriptions... with trading signals... 🤦🏻‍♂️

5. Transaction Speed Up Feature (faster transaction confirmations).

Another bad move that tells users: “Don't use our wallet, choose something else because if your transaction gets stuck = you will have problems”.

6. Security - Duress Mode: Emergency access feature.

So you're okay with your users being at risk? This feature is already integrated and there is no need to hide it behind a paywall, it does not create any additional load on Unstopabble infrastructure.

That is, conditional “trading signals” can still be somehow justified behind a paywall, because some scripts will collect some information and transmit it to the wallet (i.e., additional load on the infrastructure and people who will maintain it), but there is no justification to put Duress Pin behind a paywall, except to put your users at risk.

I'm all for monetizing your labor, I need the Duress Pin feature and I want to buy it separately, without the turbo-diesel signals that will make me a billionaire. Let's agree on a price, I'll buy Duress Pin separately, get the code in style:

6290898c33c526cb98b2fdf2415fc4c36d5eed48d6cdb8549a5f2ff508aff64af839c723370f2892ceb41aaa74dab57c1767ec5e50c2e5075ae8ce9e3c0da4cf

This is the SHA512 of the USDT transaction (TRC20) that will enable Duress Pin in my wallet.

7. Privacy Mode: Blocks data analytics for enhanced privacy.

Our reasoning goes as follows. If someone likes our product and wants us to keep growing then sharing anonymous usage patterns won't really affect the user's privacy. We don't collect balances or transactions but simply tracks usage pattens. For instance, all WWW websites collect such data. Also, if user doesn't have a substantial balance then there is literally zero privacy risk for him. On the other hand if user has large balances and privacy conscious we give a fairly cheap way to output from all data collection and more will provide him with VPN, TOR etc capabilities. For instance, some people asked us to add TOR (to iPhone, now it's android only ) and to integrate Monero but adding these features are neither easy nor quick. Both are fairly advanced tasks which will take us weeks of grinding). So, we are keen on building those but we need resources to move on.

Okay, let's take it one step at a time.

If someone likes our product and wants us to keep growing then sharing anonymous usage patterns won't really affect the user's privacy.

I like your product. Why don't you put a price on each individual feature, so it can be bought separately from the others?

For example, I don't want to participate in analytics collection, the price is 10 USD, I can buy it for BTC, ETH, XMR, USDT, USDC, etc., and I'll get a code to put in my wallet that will disable me from analytics collection.

This code will not be tied to an account (because I use F-Droid, but still - I want to pay to you because I like Unstoppable Wallet), and will only be available for 1 wallet. So if I have 2 phones and 2 Unstopabble wallets, I won't be able to disable analytics in the second wallet with the same code. Simple, right?

On the other hand if user has large balances and privacy conscious we give a fairly cheap way to output from all data collection and more will provide him with VPN, TOR etc capabilities.

Ok, let's agree on a price how much this feature will cost separately. I don't need trading signals that will make me 123 billion dollars, I just want to buy Duress Pin feature.

For instance, some people asked us to add TOR (to iPhone, now it's android only ) and to integrate Monero but adding these features are neither easy nor quick.

I have not, do not, and will never own any products from Apple, on principle. I don't want to pay for Unstopabble users who use it on iPhone.

Why don't your team do like Monero CCS (https://ccs.getmonero.org/)?

For example, Tor integration price for iPhone = 20k USD, time to integrate = 4 months, and then let users donate, encourage other people on social media to donate, and when 20k USD is collected, then start the process of integrating a specific offering.

8. Support & Community:

• VIP Support: Priority support for VIP users.
• VIP Club Group: Access to exclusive VIP community group.

The problem is that the support tasks are now taking way too much of manual time AND also creates some security risks both for us as well as as users. We are already being targeted with fairly sophisticated phishing attacks, as well as well as some of our users. Our plan is to create an AI based tool that in our opinion would be fairly effective at addressing most concerns and provide human to human interaction only to VIP package subscribers. I am pretty sure once we implement this as envisioned the automated support we provide would be even better than manual direct communication we currently have.

@esengulov

It goes without saying that support is needed, first of all for newbies. Also, live (human) support is needed when let's say a person makes a swap and for some reason it will not be confirmed for a long time.

Here I would also suggest to make several options:

1. the price of a one-time call to live support (human) // this approach will reduce the load on live communication with support (human)

2. the price of a separate subscription to support (will be useful for beginners), without the need to buy signals that will make the user a billionaire.

---

Again, I want to support you because I use Unstoppable Wallet every day.

I've never had a single “subscription” and I just can't believe the coolest mobile wallet wants to integrate... a subscription model.

[nahuhh]

4 5 6 7 are an instant delete. Thanks

[J0J0XMR]

People who have TOR always enabled will be effectively locked out of their funds usage in the wallet without exposing their real crypto to network addresses mapping. New changes shouldn't affect already used funds anyhow.

Tor usage is going to be wrapped behind paywall? WTF