Envelop

Share private files easily, without losing their ownership.

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Inspiration

We love that Blockstack allows you to keep the ownership of your data and files. So we thought about apps that we use everything day, and that we would prefer to control where our data is stored.

What it does

Upload a file, get a download link and share it. That simple.

You can take advantage of the Blockstack platform and choose where you want your files to be hosted. Use the default storage (infinite space with a 25MB file limit) or setup your own storage.

We started with an Android app, available on Google Play, but we've built a web app as well.

How we built it

The Android app is a native built with Kotlin and the blockstack android library. The Web app is serverless and was built using React, Material components and, of course, the blockstack javascript library. All code is open source: https://github.com/envelop-app

Challenges we ran into

The blockstack android library works fine, but it's pre-release and behind the javascript library. It adds some bloat to the android app and it could be easier to use. So there were some challenges getting around that.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • We invested a lot in the UI/UX of the app. We want to make sure anyone can use the app easily, every day.
  • The app is fully decentralised, serverless and open source. Therefore it's easy to replicate if needed.

What we learned

Ideally the share links would be something like "envl.app/abc123", but that would required some data to be centralised on our server. So we're starting out with "envl.app/username/abc123" links and maybe make shorter centralized links opt-in in the future.

What's next for Envelop

Our goal is to get make Envelop as useful as possible, so it can help its users every day.

Here are some of the things we're working on next:

  • Chrome extension (drag and drop files from your computer or any website, to easily upload and share them)
  • Support for files larger than 25MB
  • File previews (thumbnails)
  • Quick share tools like the ability to take a screenshot or record the screen and share it.

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