Developer’s Report Dec 2020

by | Dec 30, 2020 | Development Reports

As we have Christmas behind us and look now to the end of 2020 and forward to 2021, here’s the last development update for this year.

1. Automated Android build

As already mentioned on the last newsletter, an important task was the setup of the fully automated build for Android. Finally we could say: Yes, it’s working! Besides the automatic build of the traditional wallets we now also have Continuous Integration (CI) on the Android builds. That means our CI system now generates all required artifacts to provide for direct download or upload to PlayStore.

2. First official Android release

In parallel to the setup of the CI system, we’re working hard on some very handy features, which we like to add to the first official release of our Android wallet: Usage of Biometrics [1] and optimized battery usage. All this could be implemented and tested on a bunch of phones, so we’re delivered a nice Xmas-package to all you Alias users. 🙂

With Biometric you can use the corresponding features of your Android device to unlock the wallet. That’s an improvement of credential handling, so you do not need to enter your wallet password every time. But be warned: A weak password stays weak, even if it is protected using Biometric! But on the other hand, now you have the possibility to use real strong passwords in a blink of an eye.

Optimized battery usage comes into play if you’re not staking on your Android device. Then the wallet will reduce its internal processing in such a way, to synchronize with the chain only every hour. That’s a drastic reduction in energy consumption, which will lead to longer battery runtime.

3. Some Statistics – Alias Ranks #5 Most Active Crypto Github [2]

    • 360 Commits since last release
    • 161 Commits on December 2020
    • 429 Commits in the last three months
    • 858 Commits in the last six months
    • 1246 Commits in the last year
    • 132 files changed
    • 3880 lines inserted
    • 2113 lines deleted

4. 2021

2021 looks bright for Alias’ development.  Although we have a small team, It’s very dedicated to keep the Alias network safe and secure.
Some new items will be placed on the road map in 2021.  Stay tuned.

[1] https://source.android.com/security/biometric
[2] https://www.cryptomiso.com/months_3.html