Zcash Feature UX Checklist

If you’re building a wallet that supports Zcash, we encourage that you follow these guidelines.

Addresses

Use an address persistently for each use

Use an address like how you would use different bank accounts (spending, saving, business spending). Transparent addresses aren’t private, so we urge users to keep this in mind. We discourage using a new transparent address for each transaction; this only provides a false sense of privacy . Shielded addresses maintain the privacy of transactions, there is no added benefit of using a new shielded address per transaction.

Indicate that transparent addresses are not encrypted!

A transaction involving a transparent address (either as sender or recipient) posts the details of the transparent address and amount publicly on the blockchain.

Indicate that shielded addresses are encrypted!

A shielded transaction, where funds are sent from one shielded address to another shielded address, only reveals a transaction legitimately and safely happened. The sender, receiver, and amount are not revealed on the blockchain.

If there is no zaddr support, state so clearly

Most wallets throw an error stating, “invalid address” or “invalid input.” We suggest instead saying, “shielded address are not supported.” to indicate that shielded addresses are still valid addresses.

Provide taddr and zaddr support if possible

Shielded addresses provide privacy via encryption and is Zcash’s main feature. However, most mobile and desktop wallets don’t support sending to shielded addresses, so some users will likely be unable to send ZEC to a shielded address.

Warn users when sending from zaddrs to taddrs (deshielding transactions)

Explicitly tell users that they are about to reveal transaction information. We don’t think warnings other types of transactions are necessary.

Show an available balance vs owned balance

Show two balances, one which includes unconfirmed finds, and another not including unconfirmed funds, i.e. “Balance: 621.14321 ZEC (605.35620 ZEC spendable).”

Transactions

Clearly state the fee structure

The default transaction fee is set at 0.00001 ZEC. We encourage that you use the default fee, so that transparent and shielded transactions have the same fee–that way, privacy doesn’t cost more for users!

Disable users from setting their own transaction fees

Do not allow users to customize fees. Our network is fast enough that mining incentivization is not an issue. Unique transaction fees can cause linkability within transactions, especially for zaddrs.

Do not differentiate between types of transactions

We do not currently distinguish between different types of Zcash transactions: transparent (transparent to transparent), shielding (transparent to shielded), deshielding (shielded to transparent), and shielded (shielded to shielded) transactions. This is complicated by the ability to send to/from a combination of shielded and transparent addresses.

Use the default transaction expiry time

Transaction expiry (see ZIP here) is set to 20 blocks by default, which is ~1 hour. Use this default global runtime option so Zcash users can develop a consistent expectation of when Zcash transactions expire. We don’t support expiry time as a per-transaction runtime option.

Visibly mark newly sent transactions in a “pending” state

We suggest having a “pending transactions” or “unconfirmed transactions” section, but you can also distinguish it in the list of chronological transactions by using a color or an icon.

Tell the user the expected remaining time to expiry

Users should be able to see how much time/blocks are remaining until their transaction expires. Once confirmed (10+ confirmations), unmark the sent transaction visibly in a “complete” state.

If expired, visibly mark the transaction expired and notify the user

Rather than deleting the attempted transaction, keep the expired transaction in the log, but distinguished as such. We also encourage giving users suggestions on troubleshooting their transaction .

Viewing Keys

Use viewing keys for watch only wallets

Share a viewing key with yourself to create a wallet that tracks your funds while keeping your main funds offline. Watch-only wallets are the first application of viewing keys; we exploring additional use cases as well.

Secure communication channel

Encourage secure communication channels by supporting one; viewing keys should not be copy and pasted into a text or email.

Indicate that viewing keys are for all incoming transactions:

At version 1.0.14, a viewing key allows the holder of the key to see all incoming transactions since the zaddr was created, but not outgoing transactions.

Memo Fields

Show the memo field in the UI

Even if the memo field is empty, show that the field is empty rather than removing it from the UI. This is a good nudge to remind users that a memo field exists.

Liberal Use

The memo field is always present and is always exactly 512 bytes long; this is necessary for privacy so that an observer can’t detect the different usage patterns and memos. This means that the cost is baked in so that you don’t pay a higher fee for including a memo, so encourage users to use the memo.