Adding a wallet to telegram.
With send and request funds as core functionalities.
Imagine being able to send or request funds from your friends through your favourite social media platforms like instagram, messenger, whatsapp, telegram etc. It doesn’t sound like a bad idea right? These days people have their businesses on social media and businesses are going digital as well, so if you check properly, it doesn’t seem like a bad idea. Although it might seem to contend with the whole idea behind a social media platform, it’s something that could work and that’s why i’m writing about it.
I tried to reach out to some of my friends to know what they think about it and i’ll just share some of the feedbacks i got.
- Social media accounts are scammed on a daily basis, doesn’t seem like such a great idea cos fraud would be on a higher level.
- It would affect businesses in the fintech sector : in his words; when these popular apps integrate a wallet, they would take up to 50% of the market and that’s like a huge loss for other businesses.
- It’s a great idea and something i would want personally.
- There are so many money platforms already doesn’t seem necessary.
- I just wouldn’t want that.
- there would be too much beggi beggi ( Like a lot of people would be begging on social media) and i wouldn’t want that.
- Would help me sell my stuff easily, i wouldn’t have to start running annoying bank transfers.
- it seems like a great idea but would take some time to get used to.
- I don’t like billing, if my favourites apps are going to make people bill me i’d stay away from them.
- Would be nice to be able to pay for other stuffs too, not just send money.
I mean, being able transfer or request funds directly from your chat app, without having to open a bank app or a separate wallet app is a big flex haha, but i guess a lot of people aren’t ready for it.
So, to test this idea, Iused telegram as a case study. This article explores my quick process to integrating this feature on telegram and how it’s going to work. Of course it’s just an idea, feedbacks are welcome.
Background
This idea is actually a task for a role i opted for and happens to be one that really interests me so i decided to put down my process here. I was able to get design templates for some social apps and i had to choose which one to work with and I randomly chose telegram and tried to stick closely with their style guide.
The process:
To achieve my solution i looked closely at the design template for the telegram mobile app, and then I moved on to check out other wallets app out there to see how things work, understand the process and figure out a headstart for this idea. After getting inspiration from other apps, I made sketches of the flow and possible ways I think it could work, I moved directly from sketches to Visual design (P.S: This is not my regular process, haha)
The first option is adding a wallet icon to the bottom navigation to oversee all the activities of the wallet.
Basically from the wallet page, the major actions for a user to take is to:
- Send funds
- Request funds
- fund wallet
- withdraw funds from wallet
- Add cards
This wallet page also displays the card details, wallet balance, transaction history that shows when you’ve sent funds, requested funds, funded your wallet, withdrawn from your wallet.
The major reason for this idea is to be able to send and request funds so that’s basically what i’m going to be covering in this article. To be able to send funds, you have to setup your wallet, so you’re not forced to do that during onboarding. You can as well choose not to add a wallet and continue with your regular chats and calls; but this also means, you can’t request or receive funds.
Wallet Setup
To setup your wallet you’re prompted to :
- Add your card details; this includes card number, cvv, expiry date and full name.
- create a tag which you would need to receive or send funds in your wallet,
- create a pin you would use to confirm your transactions to avoid a third party moving or requesting funds through your wallet (Security purposes)
Send/Request Funds
From your wallet, to send or request funds you can select from your contact list or search their tag if you know it, confirm request or transfer with your pin and it’s done.
If you select a contact without a tag; i’e, that hasn’t setup a wallet yet, they get notified that you’re trying to send or request some money from them and with a link to setup wallet.
The 4 digit pin is required to ensure a third party cannot request or send funds without your consent. The same 4 digit pin is used to withdraw from wallet.
The second option doesn’t need a bottom navigation, you access your wallets from your settings page.
Everything wallet related is done directly in wallet settings from settings page. This idea came off of the thought that wallet integration shouldn’t be such a big deal in a mobile app like this. It’s only a plus and of course optional.
So from here, you choose any actions you want to perform and afterwards it takes you back to the wallet settings page. But then this option has a lot of constraints, so i don’t recommend it.
Before i conclude, I should also talk about being able to send or request funds directly from whom you’re texting or having a conversation with.
If you’ve not set up a wallet, you’re prompted to create a wallet when you try to request or send funds from your coversation page. Their should be a unique tag saved with the account so that when you try to send or request their tag is pre-filled, you just have to provide an amount, narration, pin and then send. But in any case if they’ve not setup a wallet, they get notified that you’re trying to send or request some money from them, could be via email or if their push notification is enabled.
The difference here is that it doesn’t appear with a confirmation modal, once a transaction is completed whether successfully or unsuccessfully, you’re directed back to your coversation page with a small card notifying of your transaction.
And of course, you have to fund your wallet first before sending funds. You fund your wallet directly from your account.
Conclusion:
Personally, i would go with the first option because it makes it a lot easier for a person to access their wallet and control all activities of their wallet. Also doesn’t stress someone who doesn’t want to use the wallet feature. It can be improved upon eventually and some extra features like making other payments could be added as well.
I believe this concept is a good place to start with implementation of this idea. i am putting it out here to get more feedbacks from you. While a lot of people think it wouldn’t be a bad idea, a lot other people oppose that; i’lld love to know what you think.
What do you think of this concept? Please, share your feedback in the comment section below or reach out to me on LinkedIn .
P.S. I am open for interesting projects. Reach out to me via email.
Thanks for reading!!!
