Volla has shipped their new Quintus smartphone with a Holochain-based app pre-installed.
I repeat, TL;DR: you can have a phone with a native Holochain app on it today.
That’s it. That’s the key takeaway of this article. Details below.
Volla Quintus
The Volla Quintus, a privacy-first smartphone, just began shipping and customers will be receiving their devices in the coming days. This phone runs both custom Android and Ubuntu Touch software, for a “Google-free” experience. Designed as an alternative to the surveillance-focused tech giants, Volla’s phones provide a realistic option for opt-out.
The Quintus is Volla’s most recent model, but they have been producing user-centered phones since 2020. They are dedicated to a distraction-free user experience, with interface tools like their Springboard which is a search-first launcher that allows you to interact with your applications without the overwhelming attention traps of the applications, notifications, and socials pushed on other platforms.
The App(s)
The Holochain-based Volla Messages is shipping with the Quintus in a beta version. While the front end of the app is relatively unremarkable (it’s a chat app where you can message your contacts one-on-one or create groups), the back end is something totally new.
Volla Messages uses Holochain for its networking and data storage, bypassing the need for central servers. The smartphones are networked together into their own cloud, with your data encrypted and held amongst your peers.
Volla Messages also uses Holochain’s membrane proof feature, limiting spam by requiring you to consent to join a particular chat that you’ve been added to. Web3 doesn’t need to mean a free-for-all; it can mean privacy, security, and agency. You should only be in the chats you want to be in.
In the coming month, Volla will be releasing a second Holochain-based app. Volla Recovery is a personal cloud app that allows you to backup the data from your phone without relying on a company’s servers, and without subjecting you to anyone’s data policies. Instead you can encrypt and backup your data among your peers, providing a seamless user experience alongside the privacy and security that your data deserves.
Why did Volla Choose Holochain?
Volla built on Holochain because we provide scalable cloud-style apps without central servers. They are thinking about user privacy through the complete stack, from hardware, to software, to cloud services and edge computing. Holochain is a critical piece for this.
Here is what they have to say about it:
The big picture of Volla is a secure and independent communication infrastructure. A smartphone is an elementary component. The cloud is another important element. The only way to prevent external influence is distributed, highly encrypted edge computing.
—Dr. Jörg Wurzer, founder of Volla Phone
How to Access
Volla Messages isn’t exclusive to Volla devices. While the download links aren’t live yet, any Android user can download and use this software. After an upcoming revamp of the Volla website you should be able to download the beta Volla Messages app for your Android device. Eventually they’ll push the stable version of the app out to the major app stores so everyone can access this truly peer-to-peer tech.
Buy the Phone Now
Want a privacy-first phone? You can buy the Volla Quintus now. For those of you in the EU, use our discount code HOLOCHAIN10 on the Volla site. If you are outside the EU, then you can access a discount through this special link to their Indiegogo.
