Monthly Archives: July 2014

Major Gliph Release Today

Today’s a big day, with major updates across every client on Gliph’s platform. We’ve created blog entries to support each aspect of the release, here’s a summary of each update along with a link.

Bitcoin has been Returned to the Gliph iOS Application
We’ve just released version 1.90 of the Gliph app, which was approved by Apple for the App Store late this last week. The release restores the ability to send Bitcoin between Gliph users, and adds the new capability of paying outside the Gliph network using QR codes.

New Desktop Web Application Now Available
Gliph now supports all modern web browsers with a brand new desktop web application. Whether you’re on a tablet, laptop or desktop computer you can now take advantage of everything Gliph has to offer.

Revamped Android Application
We’ve completely rebooted our Android application and it now stands in near-parity with our iOS application. We’re particularly pleased to bring this long awaited update to the Android platform.

The update includes a refreshed look, Secure Group Messaging support, Profile photos and a brand new QR code scanner. You can now use Gliph on Android to spend Bitcoin from your Coinbase or Blockchain wallet outside the Gliph network.

Introducing Secure Group Messaging
Gliph now supports secure group messaging across all of its existing clients and its new Desktop Web application. Group messaging offers the same data impermanence technology as Gliph’s existing 1-to-1 conversations.

Privacy Policy Update
With all of these product updates, we also took the time to make the first update to Gliph’s Privacy Policy since we first got started. Our entire team stands behind this policy, and it served as the basis for many of the features that Gliph continues to offer.

We improved the Privacy Policy by focusing on its readibility and clarifying language on how we handle personal data. We have a blog that explains every change in great detail, and encourage everyone to have a look.

Bitcoin Transfers Back into the Gliph iOS Application

Gliph, Bitcoin and Apple in a Love triangleThe Gliph core team is very pleased to announce that Bitcoin transfers have returned to the Gliph iOS mobile application. In today’s release, we have not only returned Bitcoin transfers between Gliph users, we’ve added the ability to scan QR codes and pay using Bitcoin.

Apple, Bitcoin and Gliph

The call from Apple Worldwide Developer Relations came just before Thanksgiving last year. Without much elaboration as to why, Apple told us the Gliph iOS app would need to remove the ability to send Bitcoin or risk being pulled from the App Store.

That event kicked off months of publicity in reaction to our blog post on the state of Bitcoin in the App Store and Google Play. The press feasted on the controversy of Apple’s behavior and Gliph became something of a poster-child for Bitcoin’s fight for mainstream acceptance.

If you wiped away the media hype, and focused on the appeal letter we made public, you would find the real reason why Apple should not have made that choice in the first place:

“By inhibiting the creation of Bitcoin apps Apple holds innovation back from the world. We are witnessing the dawn of a massive technological innovation. The potential impact of virtual currencies stretches further than any company or platform.”

Continue reading →

Introducing Gliph for Desktop Web


If you work with a desktop or laptop computer on a regular basis, you know how nice it can be to have an app designed for that lean-back experience. Gliph offers a fantastic Desktop Web experience when you visit the app from a tablet or desktop web browser: https://gli.ph/d

This full-screen experience gives you access to Gliph’s existing features, such as permanent message deletion, Bitcoin payments, and our award-winning privacy point tools. The Desktop Web App also includes support for new bells and whistles including Secure Group Messaging, Profile Photos, Retina Display support, and Chrome Desktop Notifications.

This guide walks through how to use the Desktop Web App.

Sign-up and Set Initial Facets
If you’re signing up for Gliph for the first time, you’ll see you can now set a Profile Photo. This is a new Facet type and may be set to globally public or private. (If private, you may still choose to share it with specific contacts or groups you belong to.)

Gliph desktop web app Continue reading →

Big Update to the Gliph Android Application

screenshot of the new Gliph Android app running on a Samsung android smartphoneToday we’ve released the biggest update to the Gliph Android app yet. We’re happy to announce it is now just about equal with the Gliph iPhone application in features, even goes beyond it in some cases. We want to thank all of our Android users for their patience while we brought it up to speed.

The new application is based on the new Gliph Mobile Web application, and joins the new Gliph Desktop Web and an updated Gliph iPhone application also released today.

Support for Secure Group Messaging
Gliph on Android now supports secure group messaging! You can use the app to assemble and manage your own groups from your existing contacts. You can also create a group and invite non-Gliph users to join at the time of creation. For more information about secure Group Messaging on Gliph please see this post.

QR code wallet address for donating to web comic xkcd

Donate to the XKCD web comic.

Scan and Pay QR-code Bitcoin Wallet Addresses
The new Gliph Android app now allows you to transfer Bitcoin outside Gliph’s network. This means that you can pay with Bitcoin at any business that accepts Bitcoin. Dell, Expedia and Newegg are just a few of the many businesses around the world that accept Bitcoin.

As before, you must attach a Coinbase or Blockchain wallet to your Gliph account in order to use the feature. You’ll find it in the Bitcoin screen, which you access using the menu. Simply tap Scan in the top right corner and the Gliph Android app will guide you through completing the payment. Continue reading →

Introducing Gliph for iOS 1.90

Screenshot of the new Activity View for Gliph for iOS version 1.90We’ve just released a fantastic update to the Gliph iPhone application which you can download the update from the App Store today!

The update, (version 1.90), is part of a larger release that includes an a new Gliph Android application and the introduction of a brand new Gliph Desktop Web app.

This is also Gliph’s first iOS release using ReactiveCocoa and Gliph’s new and improved backend system. You can read more about that effort here.  OK, on to the updates!

Bitcoin is Back

This is such important news, it has its own blog post. But let’s dig into exactly what the Gliph iOS App can do with Bitcoin. With the new Gliph iOS app you can:

  • Attach a Coinbase or Blockchain Bitcoin wallet to your Gliph account
  • View balance wallet and past transactions performed using Gliph
  • Send Bitcoin to any other Gliph user that also has a Bitcoin wallet attached
  • Send Bitcoin to any QR code Bitcoin wallet address using a new QR code scanner

Support for Secure Group Messaging

Screenshot of a group messaging conversationGliph now supports secure group messaging! That’s right, you can now assemble and manage your own groups on Gliph! In this version of the iOS app, you can participate in groups, though group creation needs to be done on the web.

For more information about secure Group Messaging on Gliph please see this post.

Profile and Group Photos

You can now add a Profile Photo facet as part of your Gliph profile. It has the same privacy options as other Gliph facets, like phone number or your name. You can have it be Public, Private or Private and shared with specific people or groups.

All new users are offered the ability to set a Profile Photo, but you can do this now by visiting the menu and choosing Profile.

Refreshed Activity View

The Activity View has been refreshed with a new message unread indicator and the display of Profile photos. The view should also refresh more quickly to accurately reflect the read status of the messages there.

Coming Soon

There are a few things we left out of 1.90 to get it out the door for you. This includes message delay and timed expiration. We also weren’t able to get the complete Create Group capability into this version, but you can still do that using the mobile web.  We plan to fill in these gaps, and continue to refine this experience over the next few releases.

Privacy Policy Update

Today, we published an update to Gliph’s Privacy Policy. Privacy is a foundational aspect of the Gliph platform, so we’d like to explain exactly what changes have been made and why.

Introduction Section

Changed: “Your Privacy is our Mission” to “Introduction”
Reason: We felt this was too splashy. This document is an outline of privacy considerations for Gliph users.

Removed: “Your Facet information is, by default, kept private.”
This graphic shows the difference in what it is like to have a Name or pseudonym versus only having a gliph.Reason: Many users have given us feedback that it is too confusing to see people as Gliph’s only. In our own use of Gliph, we notice that in the great majority of cases, people do want to be seen as either their First Name or Pseudonym, rather than a symbol-based username. It is just much easier to recognize who is who.

For this reason, during sign-up and while editing profile we will set certain facets to Public by default if we feel it dramatically improves the overall Gliph experience. We will still provide you the option to set them to Private before they are saved the first time, or at any time after initial setup.

Removed: “We provide the platform; you have the control.”
Reason: We don’t feel like this adds information to the privacy policy. Continue reading →

Gliph Adds Secure Group Messaging

Today we’re releasing secure group messaging for Gliph! We’re excited about this release for two reasons: Gliph users have been requesting group messaging and because group messaging is our first release to leverage the powerful improvements we made recently to the Gliph platform.

There are many group messaging apps to choose from, so what makes group messaging on Gliph unique?

  • Strong Identity Controls – Leverage Gliph’s unique privacy capabilities to show your real name to one group on Gliph, and a pseudonym to another.
  • Data impermanence / Deletion – Erase history by deleting any of your messages permanently from a group conversation, removing it for all group members.
  • Protection from Group Snooping – Keep your conversations completely private to you and your group members using Closed Groups in combination with Lockdown Privacy Protection.

It also has some terrific features that make it a great choice for all your Group messaging needs:

  • Cross-Platform – Include Android, iOS, and web users in your group conversations. Access the discussion from your mobile, tablet or desktop computer.
  • Group Profile Photos – Represent your group with a nice photo. (Admin set)
  • Group Notification Preferences – Choose whether to get notifications from any given group.
  • Group Invitation Links – Open groups have single links that allow people new to Gliph to sign up and automatically join your group.

These features also come with new System Messages, which helps show when someone has been invited to or removed from the group.

Group messaging has been requested by Gliph users for a long time, so we’re very pleased to bring it to market on all of Gliph’s clients. Enjoy!