TLDR:
- The launch of Brave rewards for iOS is a game-changer - earn crypto while you browse.
- As a result I’ve stopped using @partiko iOS app and started trialling @steempeak in Brave browser.
- I expect more mobile web development (and hopefully better UX) as a result of demand from users wanting to earn BAT within their browser while consuming content.
On Thursday a Brave browser feature for iOS that I’d been looking forward to for ages finally launched - Brave rewards. Many people will know about the Brave browser / BAT (Basic Attention Token) ecosystem. In a nutshell, users browse the web with Brave browser (which blocks ads natively), enable Ads (which are much less intrusive than most advertising on the web) and earn BAT for clicking on them whenever a notification appears. This feature first launched for Desktop earlier this year and a couple of months later went live for Australian users. Following this, it was rolled out for Android and, with the arrival of ‘Brave 1.0 browser’ this week, is now a feature in the iOS app. Yay!
The content I consume most is - of course - on steem. My app of choice has always been @partiko. However, for a while now Partiko has disappointed - the ads were disabled, notifications are flaky, the feed is glitchy and they have seemingly stopped supporting the product (no comms via social channels). Funnily enough, notifications for Partiko stopped working again the day I started using @steempeak. Coincidence? I’d heard good things about steempeak so I thought I’d give it a try. The good thing about steempeak is that it’s browser-based which allows me to earn BAT whilst consuming content on my phone or iPad. This is also a bad thing - native apps have a UX advantage over browser apps, especially social apps. I can’t really see myself using twitter or reddit with Brave browser on my phone. For all its flaws, the Partiko experience is better on a phone than any offering for mobile web (so far). That’s not to say I dislike steempeak at all. I think they’ve done a great job. I love:
- the wallet - you can view and claim steem-engine rewards (although doesn’t seem to work for SPORTS - what’s that about??) and STEEM rewards. The wallet also displays the number of SBI shares you hold.
- you can view all your account activity (it also shows a little red dot whenever there’s new activity) - don’t need to visit steemd.com as much anymore.
- cool features to customise the way you view your feed.
- a host of other features they’ve aggregated from other steem platforms.
The experience on iPad should be better (FYI steempeak devs, I did look briefly on iPad and noticed layout glitches on the feed page in Brave browser) than on a phone. For now I’ll carry on using steempeak in Brave Rewards on both my iOS devices.
Thanks for reading my first post posted via @steempeak :-)