UX REVIEW: INSTAR WALLET
By Crypt_Malone
In this weeks article I am looking at a cryptocurrency wallet that isn’t just a wallet. The project named Insights Network have created a multi-purpose wallet which does much more than just storing, sending and receiving tokens. In fact you can actually earn tokens in a way that isn’t staking.
In a nutshell, anybody can sign up to Instar Wallet and complete short surveys with the reward being in $INSTAR tokens. There are many services like this in the ‘real world’ that pay in fiat but there are centralised restrictions such as “you cannot withdraw any funds until you reach $50” which could take quite some time. Instar Wallet gives you full control of your wallet and your rewarded tokens at all times.
I want to clarify that this wallet is currently in public beta and improvements will be made before the team officially launch the final product. For this review I will be giving some key insight into the signing up process followed by giving some views of the key pages of the wallet from a user experience perspective.
What is Instar Wallet?
“Insights Network is building a secure infrastructure for decentralized data exchange, that allows individuals and organizations to exchange data in a trustworthy, compliant, and mutually beneficial way.”
“Recent advances in decentralized storage, digital currencies, and smart contracts enable us to create a decentralized, incentivized platform for conducting marketing research and securely storing consumer data.”
Signing up
From a user experience perspective, the signing up process was one of the better processes when it comes to KYC. KYC is mandatory which some users will naturally be against but once you have given your email address, and uploaded the front of your driving license/passport, the KYC is approved extrememly quickly. My KYC was approved within 8 minutes. I have known certain exchanges and other services to take days to complete this process so 8 minutes really isn’t too bad in the grand scheme of things.
The only concern I have is that when going through the KYC process, it is not made clear what the information is needed for and there is no reassurance that my details are going to be stored securely. Some will say it is a given that details are secured safely but it’s never a bad thing to reassure a worrying user. This information should be prompted clearly at the beginning of the process in my opinion.
Dashboard The dashboard is essentially the homepage for the app. My first impressions of the dashboard is that it isn’t too complex nor overwhelming. You can see your $INSTAR earnings, surveys available to complete (survey) and surveys that you have already completed (total activity). I personally think that these titles could be named a little more descriptively as it isn’t exactly clear what survey and total activity mean just from reading the titles. I personally wasn’t sure which one represented my completed surveys or surveys that are available to complete. However, I think these are the key details that the majority of users will want to see on a dashboard so I do believe that it does meet a popular user requirement.
Activities
The activities page is arguably the most important page. It is where users can view specific surveys(rather than just a figure) that are available to complete and surveys that have recently been completed. Again, I think this information alongside the name of the survey and the reward upon completion meets the users requirements. I personally don’t think anymore information is required here which contributes to the simplicity of the wallet.
Again, I think renaming ‘surveys’ to something like ‘available surveys’ would just clarify what the user can expect from this column. Simiarily with ‘Recent activity’ maybe ‘Completed surveys’ would be more appropriate. There seems to be an inconsistency across the wallet with reference to ‘Survey’ and ‘Activities’. I think some consistency and clear naming here would avoid a lot of confusion.
However, when going through the process of completing surveys it is extremely quick and easy. It personally took me under two minutes to complete two surveys which earned me around 10 $INSTAR. Granted that this is around $0.10, who knows what it may be worth in the future and I personally would rather have 10 $INSTAR tokens than 10 cents. I like the idea that these surveys can be completed on-the-go (maybe on the daily commute) seamlessly and effortlessly. With new surveys being added on a daily basis you could soonxaccumulate a decent amount of $INSTAR for the minimal effort that is required. For me this is a huge factor towards creating a positive and rewarding user experience.
Learn
The learn page is somewhere that offers a range of educational resources to help users become more familiar with the Insights Network and more specifically the Instar Wallet. It is much more visual and interactive than a standard support page although a support page is included in the main menu. This means that you have the option of support in either visual or text format. Cryptocurrency and wallets can be quite overwhelming for new users but I feel that these free resources along with the simple user interface will definitely help put these new users at ease.
The learn page is a clever addition in my opinion. It diversifies the platform which meets a wider variety of user needs and essentially opens up the wallet to a wider audience. I feel the Insights team have definitely thought about what features users will benefit from with little to no experience in this area. The only recommendation I have for the team here is to keep adding more unique and informative resources to further help users.
Conclusion
Overall I do feel that the Instar Wallet has a genuine and unique use case to be on the blockchain. For people who have that spare 10 minutes a day on a commute or on their lunch it is perfect to earn and accumulate tokens that are near enough free for the work that you put in. You then have the option to wait and see what the tokens will be worth in the future, or simply send them to an exchange and trade them for $BTC or $ETH.
Although it is a difficult task for the team, the biggest change I would recommend is creating an application for iOS users. Although it is not as easy to get certain apps on the App Store than the Google PlayStore, I think it is fundamental in the growth of this wallet going forward. I have to give credit where due to the extremely responsive wallet on mobile browsers. As I am an iOS user I have completed this review using Safari and have had little to no issues. For the record, it is equally as user friendly on desktop browsers.
I have highlighted a number of design and content tweaks to the team which is to be expected in a beta version. These tweaks will be amended before official launch.
Lastly, the referral programme is extremely rewarding in comparison to the rewards gained for completing survey’s. You can earn 50 $INSTAR per referral and it is a great way to get friends and family involved whether they are already in the crypto community or not. I personally think that this is a great foot through the blockchain door for many people due to the wallets simplicity to earn tokens. The idea of earning may just spark an interest!
Article written by Crypt_Malone
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This article was originally published on ElevateUX
