With that said: let us always be optimistic and hope for the best, but also realistic based on the experiences of others, and prepare for the worst.

Background

This chronicle, no matter which way it turns out, will be very useful and helpful to others. If logic, fairness, moral values and reason prevail, the chronicle will be short, with a good conclusion, which will show how best to approach such matters. If it turns out to be long, then this indicates the way was not smooth, and it will be even more helpful to all manner of possible outcomes whether at worst possible future legal action against a big tech company (prepare for the worst, documentation is important and especially allies in any such fight), or a lesson in how to (or not to) approach the issues, as it raises a fundamental moral issue: honesty towards all app users.

Firstly, by way of background: this blog is from the BASED Group, which is currently developing the TonSafe app. There are 4 mainly active members of the Group involved with the TonSafe project. Exactly half of them, that is two, are primary iPhone users and Apple ecosystem supporters, and the other half are primarily (thus not exclusively), Android users, preferring Android phones to iPhones. One of the four, is a truly big fan of Apple having used Apple Mac for the first time back in the 1980s during the time of Steve Jobbs and in more recent years being responsible for sending a good amount of bug reports to Apple for bugs found in iOS and the iCloud system.

Fundamental Principles

TonSafe came into being precisely because there was not any TON wallet available which truly took care of safety issues in a user-friendly manner for newcomers to The Open Network. It should not be expected that to operate a TON wallet one has to have an education in blockchain technology: the operation should be as easy and clear as possible, also educational where appropriate, and above all else a safe experience.

TonSafe aims to build a safe ecosystem on The Open Network. TonSafe values honesty and integrity as well as high standards towards our users: we guarantee their privacy and provide extensive support, help and educational resources, and open honesty, which is a key factor in why there is no "Delete Account" button in TonSafe.

Likewise, Apple uphold the same principles of providing a safe ecosystem, support and help, and educational resources for their users. The difference is that the Apple ecosystem is huge, TonSafe ecosystem is in its infancy.

Let is be clear: we fully understand and agree with Apple's Account Deletion principles, as users we have often faced this frustration of being trapped into some account held on remote servers, which we could then not delete, and consider this an abuse.

We also understand that although there are no legal requirements for Apple to put into effect strict account deletion policies, and they are thus going above and beyond legal requirements, this is to raise the bar of safety for their users in the Apple ecosystem.

Apple provide the Safari browser for those who want to venture out into the wild west of web 2 but within the Apple ecosystem itself, users should be safe and protected. Same with TonSafe, while using TonSafe app, everything should be safe and protected, those who venture outside of it, the Safari browser window opens for you.

Why Accounts Cannot Be Deleted on the Blockchain

However, there is one fundamental difference between "web 3 blockchain", and "web 2 internet", and we cannot say we are happy with it, but it is a very important technical distinction: when you create accounts on typical web 2 web servers, you can absolutely edit and delete anything, however, on web 3 blockchain, at least for wallet smart contracts "accounts", this is absolutely impossible.

Once you create an account (such as your wallet) on The Open Network, it cannot be deleted by anyone. There is no owner or manager of TON who could even do it, it is the very nature of blockchain smart contracts, and comes with its advantages and disadvantages, like almost everything, it has a plus and a minus.

The plus side is that your account is extremely safe. No one can realistically hack into it and steal your funds. No one can delete it by mistake or on purpose. No no one, not even you as the owner of the account, can edit it to forge any transactions, or claim you did not receive a payment when you did, or sent one when you did not.

Obviously these are big advantages but there are also others, such as the absence of any "middle man", and yet those advantages are also the disadvantages, or minus points: no one can reverse a payment that has already been made, no one can assist you if you lose your 24 secret words which are used to access your account.

TonSafe Safety

This is also exactly why TonSafe provides many additional safety features, unlike any other TON Wallets, and in fact, unlike most "cryptocurrency" wallets in general. These include:

• Making sure as much as possible that you actually physically write down your 24 secret words when you create your wallet account
• Reminders at frequent intervals to train your memory from short-term to medium-term to long-term, guided by psychological and physiological factors
• Preventing logout in error or without extensive clarity to ensure you have your 24 secret words in case you wish to log back in future
• Preventing payments being sent without multiple checks and making it easy to verify that you have the correct wallet destination address and amount and any required memo before proceeding and then with an additional biometric check

These are not the only additional safety features, but these main areas serve as a summary of what TonSafe does above and beyond other TON wallets for user safety.

Being Truthful

We at the TonSafe project have an average age of 55 with our youngest being in the 30s and oldest in the 70s. The oldies among us have many decades of experience in technical, security, financial, legal and other fields of great relevance to the project.

The oldies among us do understand that values such as honesty over convenience, security over convenience, privacy over convenience, or indeed anything over convenience, as not at all what they used to be.

We know Steve Jobbs shared our values, he was close to our generation. We like to think that Apple still shares those values: most of us believe that Apple are the most secure devices to use and also the most private as well as safety out of the box.

Whether this chronicle turns out to be long or short may depend on whether these values are truly shared today. At TonSafe the decision for us is very clear: we will not lie to our users in order to increase our downloads or even access to the Stores.

For example, the Delete Account button that we're being asked to add to TonSafe. The convenient option would be to do what the other TON wallets have done: they added an account delete button but are actually lying to their users. The button does the same as logout, nothing more, since the account cannot actually be deleted.

On one of the wallets as they know this is the case, they have done something else, however it also received community backlash: they allow the user to press a button that moves all their funds out of their account into the developers account. This leaves the user account empty.

But in both cases users can easily verify that they are being lied to: as soon as they re-enter their 24 secret words on any TON wallet, lo and behold, and with no surprise to use if you have been reading this far, their account is still there. It was not deleted, because it cannot be deleted.

As mentioned before, we understand Apple's ecosystem and most of us (though not everyone on the project team) agree with it, and also we understand Apple wanting to be seen to be caring about their users safety. But we would sincerely hope that Apple would not want to lie to their users or expect us to or force us to lie to our users.

If this were the case, obviously this chronicle will turn out to be long. And we'll soon know, stay tuned to the updates.

Convenience over Principles

We cannot speak for other wallets as to why they chose the convenience route, but we can hazard a guess that they chose to go into App Stores over remaining outside and fighting on core principles, which shows where values lie, and as earlier mentioned, sadly the norm for today. We promise you TonSafe will not do that.

If the App Stores will ban TonSafe for not complying with a vaguely worded policy which we do not believe applies to such cases, then we will not cave in. There are certain other beliefs we hold which prevent us from doing that.

Here is an analogy: let us say that TonSafe ends up with a long life and a community in years to come of millions of users. Will the founders be able to stand up and truthfully say they have always put users and core principles first? Or put numbers first?

If Apple had not taken its strong foundation principles seriously it would not be where it is today, and not be able to point to a long and proud history of keeping its users safe, secure, and protecting their rights and freedoms.

The Way Forward

TonSafe will formulate a response to the Apple request and we'll see if the matter ends there are clarifications. We'll not rush to get 2.0 into App Store no matter what it costs us, as we need to do this right. If it become a longer affair, we have this chronicle to keep you all informed.

Should we inform Apple about this chronicle? Fairness dictates that we do not want to influence any decisions via any form of external pressure, such as a public blog could do. And we do not believe that Apple would bow to such pressure, nor should it, unless it was warranted by some wrong doing.

We observe from a search of the web that there is a lot of dissatisfaction among developers with the Apple review process. Our own experience has been a mixed bag, but too early to conclude one way or another. Google's is generally much faster and likely automated, but we cannot compare apples and oranges.

On the other hand it could be principled to not keep a public record without asking Apple if they wish to know about the blog and its chronicle, should this assist in a fuller understanding of the issues so that decision-makers can make better decisions.

Let is be clear, we are not going to publish correspondence to and from Apple as such correspondence is privileged and it is morally wrong to share private or even business correspondence without mutual consent.

We also aren't going to make a big issue out of this at the outset, this opening article was produced simply to cover several bases in advance, in case things to not work out. This makes our life much less stressful later, if that be the case.

Consequently we won't (at this stage) be giving TonSafe users a blow-by-blow account, though we'll update such things in general in the comments, or via hidden posts only visible by clicking on a link. Major updates will produce a new post.

We also invite those of you who can translate this to another language, to kindly do so and post your translation into the comments below. This will again greatly assist many, should this series indeed become as long or longer than this initial post.

And whatever the outcome the outcome will of course be notified to TonSafe users.

Firstly, the color scheme is traditional: green (generally a color meaning good, safe) indicates incoming TON and red (generally a color meaning danger), outgoing.

It is easy to glance down the history of TonSafe payments and find incoming and outgoing payments based on the color.

The different wallet addresses are easily identified as unique by the 2 characters inside the circle, these are the last two characters of the address. The chances of another address having the same last two characters are 1 in 4,096.

To be sure, this is followed by the last four characters of wallet addresses, the chances of the same being 1 in 16.777 million.

Usually, wallet incoming and outgoing icons have a tray symbol and an arrow going down into it, or going up out of it.

However, this means that a lot of vertical space is used to make such symbols clear, and here we want to fit them in minimal vertical space.

Here, TonSafe takes a different design approach.

For the main receive and send wallet icons, we show a green arrow going into the wallet, from the left (so it also looks like coming into the phone from the left side, as the mind will associate your physical phone with your wallet in your hand) and going out of the wallet as a red arrow to the right, and thus also leaving the phone.

Hopefully this explains the thinking behind our Wallet symbols, and whey they have these large clear green and red arrows. It is automatically intuitive, especially for people who have never before used a mobile wallet, much more intuitive.

And what about the small arrows inside the red and green payment history circles?

Again, the arrows point in the direction of in or out of the phone itself, as we keep with the idea that the physical phone is your physical TonSafe wallet held in your hand.

A closer look will show:

Outgoing payments, red circle, and as this is on the left side of the phone, the arrow points left, as the payment is exiting the phone (your TonSafe wallet). Also, it is pointing away from the transaction amount (also in red) indicating it is going out.

Incoming payments, green circle, and as this is on the left side of the phone, the arrow points right, as the payment is entering the phone (your TonSafe wallet). Also it is pointing towards the transaction amounts (also in green) indicating it is incoming.

Of course, the main thing is the color: green and red are clear to the mind and traditional (even in trading candle sticks for those familiar with crypto trading).

For those that are color blind, the arrows should help, and is always simply understood when picturing your phone as if it is an actual wallet being held in your hand.

Like all things, if you are familiar with something different, it takes time to adjust, however, it does not mean it is inferior to other wallets that use other conventions, in fact, we believe that the above logic makes it more universal and safer, even superior.

Now that we have released TonSafe let's share some of the history and reasons for developing TonSafe.

History

It all started when one of the current BASED Group, which did not yet exist at the time, discovered TON. One of the few channels he followed since many years, and never put into the archives or on mute, was that of Pavel Durov, co-founder of Telegram.

His reason for following Durov over the years was a combination of admiration for Telegram which was the only messenger that he would use, refusing to use all others for their lack of privacy and security, and a liking for the content of Durov's posts.

It was thus, as with most of those who came into TON at the end of 2021, that he (re) discovered TON after thinking it had died some years earlier. Full of enthusiasm based on Pavel's post, he immediately invested all savings in TON and downloaded a wallet.

This was now the start of a rather unsatisfactory experience, to put it politely. The wallet was the most popular at the time (and still is), and he went on to try out all the other available TON wallets for Android, iOS, MacOS and web.

After making contacts with the two main mobile wallets some months later, to offer advice on UX problems and UI issues, as well as safety issues with one of the wallets, both wallet teams were not positively responsive, and so this idea was abandoned.

Realizing that TON will never reach the aim of "mass adoption" in a positive UX sense unless the first and primary interface with The Open Network blockchain - the wallet - is a positive experience to non-crypto newcomers, he determined to fix that issue.

This is how he called us together: from past projects and ongoing relationships over the years, two different teams (one UK based and one US based) were called upon and briefed with an introduction to TON and a vision and roadmap for a new TON wallet.

These two teams from two different companies allocated some human and financial resources to create a BASED Group to work on the task of bringing TON to the wider communities around the world, via a better wallet user experience.

Thus BASED Group was formed in early 2022 and the project to build TonSafe started.

Policy

To answer this question, let us first look at what we as outsiders to the other main mobile wallet teams, and thus wallet users, perceive are the strong points of the main TON Mobile non-custodial wallet products: Toncoin, Tonkeeper and Tonhub.

Tonkeeper

Without Tonkeeper, TonSafe would not be here today. Every new technology requires pioneers who bravely lead the way. If we did not have those aviators who took risks, pushed the boundaries into flight, and flew by the seat of their pants, we would not have modern day aviation with all its comforts and safe, secure travel for the masses.

Tonkeeper blazed the way, and continues to do so, with its bold willingness to tackle newest features on the TON blockchain, and to develop those features. Naturally this results in more bugs and issues that inevitably are tested on their users, who likewise take the credit for taking risks for progress and giving feedback to assist development.

Current examples of this would include NFT (still fairly new on TON blockchain and certainly new in wallets), DNS domains which can be used as wallet addresses, before that, Subscriptions, just to name three examples.

Tonhub

Without Tonhub, TonSafe would not be here today. Produced by the Whales team, Tonhub has set the example for all TON wallets in providing its code as open source so that it can be inspected, improved upon, utilized and checked for errors by anyone at any time. This is another major contribution that cannot be under appreciated.

Toncoin

Another open source wallet, with less features than the two above mentioned, was produced by the TON Foundation, and this is certainly a safe wallet to use provided the underlying operating system and device used is safe, as with any wallet.

It is thanks to these three wallets that TonSafe was able to come into being, for without the willingness to develop and experiment, and without the good features and lacking areas of these wallets, there would be no TonSafe, or, no need for TonSafe.

TonSafe

TonSafe was thus born thanks to both the positive aspects of the above policies of other wallets, and thanks to the negative aspects of areas perceived to be lacking for the professional and business markets, as well as the general non-technical public.

We actively listen to our users and we care about each and every one of you, to have a positive, safe and reliable experience. We do not assume that users will not face any issues or questions, so we published an extensive FAQ and offer pro-active Support.

Thank you for reading, and we hope you will follow our blog, as well as TonSafe.

Often developer teams are composed of teenagers, or at most, those in their 20s. Full of energy, enthusiasm and abundant confidence, they rush to develop cool and great things, at least, from the developers point of view.

Therefore we can see many apps which have really been designed by the developers according to their wishes and desires, and for a market which is aimed at their friends, other developers, and other technically savvy teens.

The problem with such an approach, is it cannot be applied to products and services which require use among the broad public or sections thereof, such as professionals, business owners, house husbands and wives, grandfathers and grandmothers, etc.

Depending on who is using the product, it should be designed accordingly, and a knowledge of the use case scenarios, expectations, wishes and needs of the end users, is a must. Rather than being led by developers, we should be led by end users.

Now, obviously, this is not such a clear cut case as that, not black and white. But it does require compromise: or at least, some clever placing of items such that the new user is not overwhelmed, and the advanced user can find or enable things in Settings.

A well rounded team should have experience in as many fields as possible: business, education, sciences, arts, programming skills and knowledge, quality assurance, customer service, communications, management, discipline, and more besides.

Even knowledge of cultures, religions, economics, geo-politics, psychology, which are not typically associated with developing applications for example, are very helpful to being able to meet challenges and markets that would be outside smaller team skills.

Balance is also important: we have to balance our experience with nurturing and patience to the younger ones who lack the experience but are full of energy and enthusiasm, and the young ones should have a healthy respect for their elders.

In this way the team is learning and applying their knowledge and not closed to new ideas, corrections, and improvements. Think of it also like an aircraft crew: they need to work together to get airborne, have a safe flight, reach destination and safe landing.

Again at BASED we can consider ourselves truly blessed to have a tight team that resolves issues together, has patience and respect, as a strong family, based on sound principles. We're very happy with our work and our team, which is a true blessing.

We did not reach here overnight, we had to let go of those who lacked the required skills, did not make the effort, lacked in commitment or consistency, at the end of the day you can not work with everyone in any serious business.

This is also what shapes our decisions on business partnerships or relationships with the BASED Group. We don't rush into things if the other party cannot demonstrate a history of sound established projects or maturity and excellence, as well as stability.

With youth and start ups, there is a lot of risk involved and this can affect reputations. Youth lacking experience are often over-optimistic, volatile. One minute deeply in love, the next committing suicide. Driving 200 mph down the road on a bike without helmet.

Many of us have been there, and so we do understand. We're the fortunate ones who survive the trials and tribulations of youth with a lot of "luck" and make it to old age and thus gained experience. Let us also explain this in a pilot's example:

"My flight instructor told me you have two cups, one full, one empty, when you start out. The first cup is full of luck, the other is empty of experience. As time goes on, you start using up the luck pouring it into the experience until that is full, the other empty."

Every member of the BASED team has sufficient and often extensive experience. So we do not need to rely on a lot of luck. Thus, we do not need to take gambles. We prefer that we are judged by what we do and by the quality of our products.

We cannot embark on joint projects and start ups that consume much time at high risk. If a smoker tells you they gave up smoking, you ask "how long ago?" If they answer, five years, well, you can believe them. "Last week"? OK, good luck. Carry on!

We cover 3 continents, multiple nationalities and languages, areas of expertise with sufficient redundancy, among us a pilot, a data scientist, doctorates, professors, full stack developers, authors, community leaders, quite a range for a technology team.

In this random "BASED Insights" journal, one of our authors, shares some of our insights for those interested in more than just development and technology.

We hope you enjoy it, long reads are not for everyone, and that it benefits you in some way. We enjoy writing from time to time, to give and share some "BASED insight".

Follow TonSafe.net via the Telegram, Google, VK, or Facebook button etc, for updates!

If your motivations are for profit, then please also make a donation here.

START HERE

Development of applications and web services includes front-end (interface) and back-end development (directly functional).

The interaction between the front-end and back-end occurs through the API.

The back-end of decentralized applications is different from the back-end of web 2.0 applications, however, most of the technical principles remain the same.

In the blockchain, data processing is carried out by smart contracts - a code that is automatically executed in a decentralized network, according to algorithms of predetermined conditions (if-then).

TON smart contracts are written in [FunC https://ton.org/docs/#/func/overview] and [Fift https://test.ton.org/fiftbase.pdf] languages, and executed on the TON virtual machine - [TVM https://ton.org/docs/#/smart-contracts/tvm_overview?id=tvm-is-stack-machine] (Telegram Open Network Virtual Machine).

To interact with the blockchain, you must use the lite-client (guide for its installation). https://ton.org/docs/#/howto/getting-started

Interaction with the blockchain occurs through the API and SDK. https://ton.org/docs/#/apis/

Useful apps and tools:

To write a smart contract, you will need the TON Development [https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/18541-ton-development] plugin. — IDEA, Sublime Text, VS Code.

API bridges for functional integration — Toncenter.

Free HTTP API — Toncenter.

Tools for working with smart contracts in the browser — Tonsc.

Smart Contract Development Toolkit — toncli.

Catalog of applications and tools -  — Ton App.

You can run a local blockchain directly on your computer via  MyLocalTON, or use a test network.

Materials FOR study:

— Documentation for TON developers; https://ton.org/docs/#/

— Basic recommendations on smart contracts; https://ton.org/docs/#/howto/smart-contract-guidelines

- A step-by-step example of deploying a smart contract. https://telegra.ph/Hello-World-smart-kontrakt-dlya-TON-za-15-minut-11-19

• FunC contest tasks - from simple to complex. https://github.com/ton-blockchain/func-contest1

As examples of smart contracts for TON, you can use repositories from Github:

— Smart contracts; https://github.com/newton-blockchain/ton/tree/master/crypto/smartcont

— Contract simple purse. https://github.com/ton-blockchain/wallet-contract

Developer communities for TON:

— Russian-speaking; https://t.me/tondev - English: https://t.me/tondev_eng

— Question and Answer repository: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/ton

— Unofficial about the development of smart contracts. https://t.me/tonsc_chat

What do we look for on the BASED teams? Within the BASED Group?

We don't look for ordinary people, nor those whose motivations are shallow.

We aren't motivated by money, of course, it is a means to an end, it helps.

Instead we are motivated by a vision, of what should be, and what can be.

This requires patience, tolerance, empathy, resilience, sacrifice, endurance...

And all these can only be acquired and applied with the adequate motivation.

Now picture the outcome: being part of a powerful team with high standards!

A leadership that runs a tight ship demanding of the above values and results.

A qualified and experienced team of directors which give everything direction.

The result is what they call "killer apps" — those that will touch billions.

Financial Rewards

There are many start ups which start first with venture capital or other funding, and then produce based on that funding. They come and go.

Some are successful others not.

This of course makes it harder to get started and this can only be done with those who share the values and vision and hold to the basic BASED principles.

We must ALL invest our time and money into this project.

The rewards will come when each BASED supporter does what they are good at.

Commitment?

There is nothing worse than volunteering, similar to working on a potential high future reward, deferred payments or deferred salaries, but acting as if you are doing a favor.

This attitude will not be tolerated: work agreed to, time lines committed to, promises made, times set aside for BASED work, should be given as if you are already paid.

With that level of commitment we will achieve results and when we achieve them, there will be greater rewards than if we had been and remain mere "wage slaves"!

Also ask these following questions, and reflect upon your personal answers:

• Do I believe in the vision of contributing to the making of a better world?
• Do I want to be part of a loyal, committed, powerful, international team?
• What is my motivation?
• What do I want to achieve?
• Are my answers based on deeply held convictions, or are they temporary?

Encouragement

Joining a new team, with unknown comrades, and a new venture that can not yet be fully clear to those who are new and learning the ropes, is not a walk in the park.

Do not be discouraged and communicate with BASED team elders, reach out for support where you need it. Be resourceful, do what you can without dependance.

But do not let problems or worries or concerns fester and stress you. Be balanced. Exercise often, even if it is a walk, this is one of the best forms of exercise.

Take regular breaks so that you don't suffer burn out and stress.

If you are an empathetic person, ups and downs, highs and lows in mood, from elation down to depression, can occur in life. The key here, is to do the following:

This is why it is also so important to put aside relax, family, prayer, meditation, exercise time in the schedule, not only your work commitments.

Remember that others also rely on you being part of the team, so taking unexpected time of to deal with problems, or stress, burnout or recovery, will be expensive for everyone, the projects and the outcomes will be delayed, or not achieved.

Instead follow the above advice to prevent such issues from occurring, and if or when they do, to be able to better handle them. Your elders also suffer from such things.

Stability is important and not easy to achieve, real life is not a computer.