[MICROGRANT] Phi

[robin-thomas]

1. What is your project? (max 100 words)

Phi is a decentralized, secure, end-to-end encrypted chat engine built on blockchain & IPFS.

Once logged in, you can update your profile details like name, about, and profile picture. If those are missing, John Doe and Available shall be used as the name and about respectively. Profile pictures are hosted on IPFS using Textile buckets. Profile information is stored using Ceramic Protocol (previously 3Box).

You can send chat requests to Ethereum addresses. Once they approve, they become your friends. You can then share text messages and image attachments securely with end-to-end encryption.

https://github.com/robin-thomas/phi

http://connect-phi.vercel.app/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtiIS4ZcLHE&feature=emb_imp_woyt

2. How are you planning to improve this project? (max 200 words)

• UI/UX:
  • Use mobile-friendly and responsive design
  • Dark mode
  • Read receipts
  • Online status
  • Support for broadcasting messages (send a message to more than 1 contact)
  • Privacy-friendly settings like - who can see your profile picture, about section, read receipts, online status, and so on
• Tech Debt:
  • Performance improvements
  • Improve test coverage and automation

Our previous micro-grant application was here.

3. Will the work be Open Source?

Code is already under MIT License.

4. If selected, do you agree to complete weekly updates and a grant report upon conclusion?

Yes.

5. Does your proposal comply with our Community Code of Conduct?

Yes.

6. Links and submissions

• Have you submitted to the IPFS Community Showcase (instructions)?

  [Project Submission]: Phi community#718

• Have you added your project to the IPFS Ecosystem Directory?
  Yes.

• If your project began at a hackathon, have you submitted it for the relevant Protocol Labs prizes? Include links here if available:
  https://devpost.com/software/phi-wi8deq

• Have you filled out the Interplanetary Builder Feedback Survey?
  Yes.

Additional questions:

• For each team member(s), please list name, email, Github account, and role in the project.
  Robin Thomas, robinthomas2591@gmail.com, GitHub, Developer

• If your project was created as part of an event or hackathon:

  • What was the name of the event? (e.g. ETHGlobal NFTHack, Cal Hacks hello:world, Chainlink, CivHacks, GameDevJ, ETHGlobal Scaling Ethereum)
    Chainlink Fall hackathon 2021

  • Please link to your hackathon submission, proving you're a team that submitted for a Protocol Labs prize.
    https://devpost.com/software/phi-wi8deq

[FF-FOIT]

Hi @robin-thomas, Thank you for your proposal. We will review this and get back to you, on this thread, with a status update or questions.

[FF-FOIT]

@robin-thomas, Thank you again for this submission! Can you briefly share your plans for spreading awareness and growing your user population?

[robin-thomas]

Hi @ErinOCon, In this micro-grant, I plan to research and implement various privacy-focused features (that we take for granted in web2.0 apps), along with plenty of UI improvements, into web3.0 decentralized architecture. There is no centralized authority or servers in my app. So getting those implemented alone could take a few months. The focus in this micro-grant proposal is on the engineering side.

I plan to apply for a higher grant at the end of the completion of this proposal, where the focus shall be more on marketing, beta-testing, reaching the masses, and creating a community around it.

Hope that answers your question!

[FF-FOIT]

@robin-thomas, thank you for the additional context! This microgrant has been approved! Look out for an email to submit payment details. Let's use your existing Community Discussion thread for updates.