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Welcome to this basic preliminary review of the hello.app decentralised & encrypted cloud storage service, made after an afternoon of testing. Please be advised that the service is still in beta and most of its functionalities don't work properly yet. Let's begin.
hello.app and bye bye data monopolies?
We have become accustomed to leaving our data in the hands (or servers) of large centralized corporations for several years. Little by little, with the advent of web3 and the decentralization of information, new projects begin to emerge that allow us to have greater control and ownership over our data. Among these innovative projects is hello.app, a commitment to overthrowing information monopolies, which seeks to return autonomy and information management to users. The project is created by two Catalan students and entrepreneurs, Alexander Baikalov and Alvaro Painted.
To know the objective of this project, how it works, and what technology they use, just read the documentation in the following link: https://docs.hello.app/
In this article we will focus on the current state of usability, interface, features and operation of hello.app, which is still in beta status. To accompany this review, you can create your hello.app account by following this link, which I appreciate: https://hello.app/space/login?ref=0xc7A833933dB7592589C44e6a1B4AA0786d8aA8Fc
Simple Graphical Interface, We are Used to It (and it can still improve!)
When signing in with our wallet (or with our email), we will find a practical and simple interface. It is a familiar interface for any user of cloud storage services. It is good to remember that being a beta version, not all features work. As you can see, I was uploading a few copies of my profile photo both to the root of the cloud and within a folder.
In the left side menu we find the main functions of this service. Typical buttons such as “Upload File” or “Upload Folder”, the possibility of choosing whether what we upload is encrypted, and whether it is done automatically or manually (I deduce that this feature is not yet implemented in this beta version).
The “Dashboard” option takes us to a dashboard where the percentage of storage used, the types of files and folders that we have shared with the nodes are indicated with graphs (see below). “My Storage” is the main window that you see in the previous screenshot, where we can see a summary of the characteristics of our files. The referral option allows us to share an account creation link, and for each referral, you get 10GB of storage (up to 100GB). Not bad for a free cloud storage account! Even better, it is decentralized. Options such as “Shared”, “Api key” (surely a function that allows us to interoperate and interconnect our cloud storage with other networks and platforms, increasing the degree of decentralization) and “Migration” are not working yet. Below, a link to documentation. Simple to understand, easy to use.
These attractive graphs give us an overview of how much storage we are using, how many files are public and how many are encrypted, the number of folders and the way our files are distributed. Also for some reason unknown to me, a planet earth made of hexagons and some cities marked in green are shown. Is it perhaps the places in the world that are using this service? Please comment what you think that planet is for.
I was very surprised to see that by referring the service we will get 100gb of free storage. To get the extra 90GB, you just have to share your referral link with nine people. Remember that centralized services are offering much smaller amounts of storage space, therefore hello.app is ensuring a strategic advantage when incorporating new users to its service. As I have read in other reports, they plan to address ten million users by 2024, which is not unreasonable. With a free storage offer like this, they might easily reach that goal.
Here you can see some of my files. I decided to test the interface's responsiveness to changes in resolution and window size, and it adapts wonderfully to any size and zoom level. The left side menu is reduced to a three-line icon at the top right, as is usually the case in the graphical interface of many apps and dapps.
Something that seemed strange to me is that the delete files option seems to not work in the root of the storage. I can only delete files that are inside folders. Now that you know, be careful what you upload to this platform. For now, what you upload (within the root, at least) cannot be deleted once uploaded. However, deleting files that are in folders does work. Why should you be careful with what you upload to the root? The encryption technology used by hello.app makes it impossible for project creators and developers to view the encrypted content of your storage. No one but you, with your private wallet key, can access the encrypted content. However, I assure you that it can be frustrating for you if you upload something as a joke, to test the service, and then realize that you can't delete it. In this case you would make an awkward joke on yourself. Remember, in this beta version you cannot delete files in the root storage. Only those inside folders. I imagine this will change in the near future. In any case, it is good to remember that this service uses IPFS and SIA technologies, therefore, although encrypted, your data will continue to exist in the universe as long as there is a single node that hosts it.
Download times are usually fast, having tested hello.app on a public library's fiber optic network with at least 15mb/s download, I can assure you that the distribution and decentralization technology makes downloads fast and efficient. To understand how downloading and uploading files from this service works, remember the link docs.hello.app. Everything is explained there in great detail.
Uploading files is simple, you drag, drop, or click to go to the file selection context menu. In that sense, hello.app feels the same as using a centralized cloud storage service.
Hello.app encrypts uploaded files at very high speed! As this notification indicates, uploading a 631kb photo took just a millisecond to encrypt. Super fast and very efficient.
1685eb164e643ee817df52aabfa93c4cc62ce83249866190bc56eb82b8395216.png
In summary
hello.app aims to position itself as the default decentralized cloud storage in the new web3 ecosystems, providing positive and necessary aspects for user autonomy, such as decentralization, data distribution, and encryption. Its offer of 100GB of storage makes it an attractive option for new users, and as the news shows us that large centralized corporations are abusing our trust, the existence of this project becomes all the more necessary for the evolution towards a more free internet. The effort is noticeable, and hello.app, although it is now in beta version, will surely become one of the reference platforms of the future. CryptoXoide does not recommend the use of this storage platform for daily use, since it does not yet have the necessary functionalities. In that sense, you will still have to look for other alternatives or continue using the centralized ones, until hello.app is polished enough to go from being a diamond in the rough, to whatever its developers and users decide it to be.
Could hello.app become the cloud storage service that overthrows current information monopolies?
The enthusiasm seems to be there, but as always, the reception and feedback from users will be what determines the success or failure of this venture. For now, CryptoXoide considers that it is a step forward in the right direction, but the project still has a lot to grow, the GUI can improve a lot more, tbh. Furthermore, I have not yet been able to test most of its functions, so this edition serves as a brief reference review so that you can learn about this project and explore it at your leisure as well.
Thank you very much for reading this edition of @CryptoXoide
Disclaimer
CryptoXoide is an independent crypto journalism project envisioned by artist Haru Vitalis. The companies reviewed and the interviewees have no editorial input on the published content nor they make any financial endorsement of any kind.
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CryptoXoide makes journalistic observations and dissertations for entertainment, educational and research purposes only, and does not endorse nor recommend any of the projects or the people reviewed or intervieweed. This content is not financial advice. Please, always #DoYourOwnResearch
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