Integrating Donations Into A Mobile-First Web3 App

A huge segment of the global population interacts with Web3 via mobile devices, by using mobile wallets. At the present time, most Web3 applications are oriented towards desktop users, sometimes not even having a mobile-specific UI. Even if they do have dedicated mobile UIs, users still need to use a wallet application to be able to use these apps — that’s not user friendly.

We sought to build a truly mobile-first Web3 application, allowing users to interact in Web3 without needing a wallet or tokens. As a result, Grill.chat was created, and we have since implemented features such as donations, common to many social applications like Twitch or YouTube.

However, if people use Grill.chat from their native mobile browser, without wallets or tokens, how can they perform donations? They obviously can’t, as tokens are required in order to perform a donation, and a wallet is needed to manage them.

The advantage of building a mobile-first application from the start is that you can always add more features later, which may require a wallet and/or tokens, but which also does not limit people from using the application in a Web2 manner. This is exactly the route we have taken.

Anyone, anywhere, can use Grill.chat to communicate on-chain, and if they want to send a donation from their mobile device, they can set up Metamask or another mobile wallet. Then, once they tap the Grill.chat donation button in their native browser (such as Chrome), their wallet will open, prompting them to sign the donation.

This method allows everyone to enjoy the benefits, speed, and streamlined experiences offered by excellent mobile browsers such as Chrome (anyone that has used Metamask’s mobile web browser knows it is a bit slow) in order to power their Grill.chat experience, while only using Web3 specific tools for actions that explicitly require them.

The journey to onboard a billion users to Web3 will be an interesting one. We think one of the best ways to go about it is to get people using Web3 tech without realizing it, and then slowly lead them into becoming a crypto user with specific, valuable Web3 features implemented into their favorite blockchain-based applications, such as Grill.chat.

While we have started with donations, we will continue applying this approach to new features that we roll out in the future, increasing the likelihood of Web2 to Web3 conversions among users, alongside our continued marketing efforts outside of the Web3 bubble. In the meantime, we’ll see you on-chain!