One of my biggest challenges, while juggling being a full-time student, was getting permission from Apple/Google to use advanced native features such as Tap to Pay (for in-person donations) and Push Provisioning (for adding your card to your digital wallet). It was months of back-and-forth emails, test case recordings, and also compliance checks.
Even after securing Apple/Google’s permission, any minor fix required publishing a new build, which was time-consuming. After dealing with this for a while, I adopted the idea of “over the air updates” using Expo’s EAS update service. This allowed me to remotely trigger updates without needing a new app build.
The 250 hours I spent building this app were an INSANE learning experience, but it was also a whole lot of fun. Give the app a try, and I’d love any feedback you have on it!
btw, back in March, we open-sourced this nonprofit neobank on GitHub. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43519802
I do actually believe that zero teenagers should make banking apps or run non-profits.
That sounds like a lot of fun and should be a pretty social experience.
Also I'm going to assume his parents are proud, which should put his family at ease.
its the controvertial takes that bring readership...
Click the date on the post, and if you have a button saying "vouch", click that.
We should judge software by the quality, not by authors age.
It is a deliberate advertisement to VCs to find "the next Mark Zuckerberg" which the entire point is that there is only one.
For every 1,000+ startups there is exactly only *one* exceptional founder.
Bonus points for the wordplay.
Did it help to be a non-profit?
Great work! Keep building OP!
I'm curious whether you were able to build the app using backend APIs that were already built, or whether building this app created new requirements for those APIs?
I actually did have to end up creating most of the backend APIs myself too or with the help of fellow engineers at HCB! What I like about HCB Mobile is that I'm not only creating a mobile app but also expanding our API infrastructure to allow for future integration with our platform.
My son is 9yo and loves to make little animations in Scratch. He recently started to learn a bit of Python (just the syntax so far, no projects).
I wonder whether you can share anything about your journey, especially if you have any tips for the stage my son is at.
Be careful with this. If Apple finds out for instance, your app will still be taken down.
Interpreted code may be downloaded to an Application but only so long as such code: (a) does not change the primary purpose of the Application by providing features or functionality that are inconsistent with the intended and advertised purpose of the Application (b) does not bypass signing, sandbox, or other security features of the OS; and (c) for Applications distributed on the App Store, does not create a store or storefront for other Applications.
https://github.com/hackclub/hcb
Excellent work on the mobile app though I would wonder, since HCB runs on Hotwire, why it was not written as a Hotwire Native app which would leverage the existing Rails Hotwire app and not require a complete rewrite?
Both are 2 completely valid and separate paths you could take when building an app and I'd actually be curious what'd HCB Mobile look like if we did use Hotwire Native.
I get that you want to be "open", but is everyone involved in these transactions ok with them being shared? Even if they are, this doesn't seem like a good idea security wise. I see partial account numbers and other IDs/numbers that I assume you'd prefer not be public, regardless of how insensitive they may seem now.
EXPENSIFY, INC. VALIDATION XXXXXX5987 THE HACK FOUNDATION +$0.89
FRONTING $10,000 TO CHRIS WALKER FOR GITHUB GRANTS MADE FROM PERSONAL ACCOUNT -$10,000.00
CHECK TO LACHLAN CAMPBELL +$800.00
Transfer to Emma's Earnings -$1,923.08
The numbers and amounts used for account validations and adding it to be able to pull or push money . Should not be shown public..
Not sure if all the organizations using their software know this.
You've found an optional feature called Transparency Mode!
I admit, this is A LOT of information being made accessible. We at Hack Club (the nonprofit organization behind HCB, and the owner of the transactions above) have chosen to make our finances publicly available on the internet. You can read more about it here: https://blog.hcb.hackclub.com/posts/transparent-finances-opt...
That link (https://hcb.hackclub.com/hq/transactions) shows our donations and spending down to the cent since we believe donors deserve to know what their contributions are funding. As a nonprofit, you can talk about what you’re spending money on, but transparency in every transaction builds trust for supporters. This level of transparency is definitely atypical, and I can see why it may raise concerns.
Other organizations using HCB (such as Reboot) can choose to enable this feature too (it's off by default), and they're briefed on the potential risks and level of exposure to decide whether it's right for their organization/team. HCB supports 6.5k nonprofits, and roughly 64% of organizations have chosen to enable this feature.
> I see partial account numbers and other IDs/numbers that I assume you'd prefer not be public, regardless of how insensitive they may seem now.
> EXPENSIFY, INC. VALIDATION XXXXXX5987 THE HACK FOUNDATION +$0.89
Good catch! Thanks for flagging that verification deposit. I've pushed a fix here: https://github.com/hackclub/hcb/pull/12336
As for the account numbers (e.g. XXXXXX5987) visible in some transactions, these are our own defunct operating accounts, and we're aware they're out there on the internet. We have a new way of managing account numbers via Column.com, so these older transactions are less of a concern for me.
I very much appreciate you bringing these to my attention! We're always looking to improve, so I'd love to hear if you find anything else.
Given how famed HN is for its pedantry I thought you may find this useful as sooner or later someone in your industry might make a judgement on it.
MM is million, BTW.
Some people do use `MM` but it's far from a standard.
> In accounting
Only in America.
The average person like you or me would never get the approvals rammed through at Google.