Mobile App Development for DAO (Voting, Proposals)

We create mobile apps for DAOs that turn reading proposals and voting into a simple, intuitive process. Token holders want to quickly learn about decisions being made, vote in a couple of clicks, and not miss deadlines. Our expertise—5+ years of mobile Web3 development, including integration with Governor and Snapshot, token delegation, and analytics—cuts development time by 40% and avoids common pitfalls at the intersection of blockchain and mobile platforms.

The main technical challenge is supporting two fundamentally different voting standards: on-chain (OpenZeppelin Governor) and off-chain (Snapshot). Each requires its own architecture for requests, transaction signing, and state handling. We combine them so the user gets a unified interface without extra steps.

How Voting Standards Work: Governor vs Snapshot

On-chain (Governor): All transactions are on the blockchain. OpenZeppelin Governor is the de facto standard used by Compound, Uniswap, Aave. Voting costs gas, but results are cryptographically verifiable. Supports delegation via ERC20Votes.

Off-chain (Snapshot): EIP-712 signatures without gas. Voting data is stored on the Snapshot network, but actions are not automatically executed—a multisig or executor is needed. Gas savings up to 100%.

Most DAOs combine: Snapshot for preliminary voting (no gas), Governor for execution. The app must work with both through a single interface.

How to Implement On-chain and Off-chain Voting?

Step-by-step process for integrating both standards:

1. Determine the voting type based on criticality and budget: on-chain for important decisions, Snapshot for quick polls.
2. For on-chain, use governor.castVote(proposalId, support) with parameters 0 (Against), 1 (For), 2 (Abstain). The transaction requires gas.
3. For off-chain, sign an EIP-712 message and send it via the Snapshot API. Free—key advantage. Example implementation:

struct SnapshotVotePayload: Codable {
    let version: String      // "0.1.3"
    let timestamp: Int
    let space: String        // DAO space ID
    let type: String         // "single-choice", "approval", "quadratic"
    let payload: VotePayload

    struct VotePayload: Codable {
        let proposal: String  // IPFS hash of the proposal
        let choice: Int       // 1 = For, 2 = Against
        let metadata: String  // "{}"
    }
}

Sign via WalletConnect or a built-in wallet.

Proposal List: Data and States

A proposal goes through several states (see table). Data is obtained via The Graph (OpenZeppelin Governor subgraph) or Tally API—direct IGovernor.state() call is inefficient for a list.

To request a list, use GraphQL queries to Tally API:

struct TallyProposalsQuery: Codable {
    static let query = """
    query Proposals($governorId: ID!, $first: Int!) {
      proposals(governorId: $governorId, pagination: { first: $first }, sort: { sortBy: id, isDescending: true }) {
        id
        title
        description
        status
        voteStats { support votes percent }
        start { ... on Block { timestamp } }
        end { ... on Block { timestamp } }
      }
    }
    """
}

Tally, Boardroom, Messari—ready aggregators. For a custom DAO, we deploy a The Graph subgraph.

Why the Proposal Screen Is the Main Onboarding Point?

Most participants only vote, not create proposals. The screen should show status, timer, real-time results, and a vote button (only in Active). Example structure:

• Title and description (render Markdown)
• Status and time frame
• Results: For / Against / Abstain with progress bars
• Quorum: X of Y votes reached
• Voting buttons (only in Active)
• Event history: who voted and when

data class ProposalVoteStats(
    val forVotes: BigDecimal,
    val againstVotes: BigDecimal,
    val abstainVotes: BigDecimal
) {
    val totalVotes get() = forVotes + againstVotes + abstainVotes
    val forPercent get() = if (totalVotes > BigDecimal.ZERO)
        (forVotes / totalVotes * BigDecimal(100)).toInt() else 0
    val quorumReached get() = totalVotes >= quorumThreshold
}

Token Delegation: What and How to Check

ERC20Votes tokens allow delegating voting power without transferring tokens. Calling token.delegate(delegateeAddress) is one transaction. If not called, tokens don't participate in Governor voting even if on balance.

UX: on first login, check delegation via token.delegates(account). If not delegated, show a banner "Activate your voting right". Example code:

func getDelegatee(for address: EthereumAddress) async throws -> EthereumAddress {
    return try await governanceToken.delegates(account: address)
}

Push Notifications for Active Participants

Subscribe to events via APNs/FCM: new proposal, upcoming vote close (24h warning), quorum reached, proposal executed. User configures filters—we don't spam.

Creating a Proposal: When Needed

Creating a proposal via Governor requires specifying targets, values, calldatas, and description. We simplify the interface with templates or a call builder for technically proficient users. Check the minimum token threshold (proposalThreshold) before submission.

What's Included in the Work

• Technical documentation for Governor and Snapshot integration
• Source code for voting and delegation modules
• Push notification and analytics setup
• Repository access and CI/CD
• Team training for modifications and 2-week support

Timelines

MVP (list + voting + delegation): 3–4 weeks. Full app with proposal creation, history, analytics: 8–12 weeks.

Contact us for a detailed discussion of your DAO app. Get a consultation from engineers with over 5 years of mobile development experience and 30+ implemented Web3 projects. We guarantee compliance with App Store Review Guidelines and secure private key storage. Order development and reduce time-to-market by 40%.

Payments in Mobile Apps: In-App Purchase, StoreKit 2, Google Billing, Stripe, RevenueCat

In every monetization project, we balance App Store and Google Play policies, PCI DSS requirements, and purchase verification logic on the backend. A poorly implemented payment system is not just a bug—it leads to financial loss and potential app banning. Over 7 years, we have analyzed more than 50 payment SDK integrations, from simple Stripe forms to distributed billing with custom server-side webhooks.

In-App Purchase: Two Platforms, Two Different APIs

If your app sells digital content or subscriptions, Apple and Google require you to use their payment systems. This is non-negotiable: violating App Store rule 3.1.1 or Google Play Developer Policy results in app removal. Physical goods and offline services are a different story.

StoreKit 2 (iOS 15+)

StoreKit 2 is a complete overhaul of the original StoreKit with async/await API. Product.products(for:), product.purchase(), Transaction.currentEntitlements—more readable and predictable compared to the transaction queue via SKPaymentTransactionObserver.

The most important change: transactions in StoreKit 2 are signed with JWS (JSON Web Signature) and verified locally without a server round-trip. Transaction.verificationResult returns .verified(Transaction) or .unverified(Transaction, VerificationError). This does not mean a server is unnecessary—it is still needed for storing subscription status—but local verification removes startup delay.

StoreKit.AppTransaction verifies the actual app download from the App Store. Required for paid downloads or non-renewing purchases.

A tricky part of StoreKit 2 is handling renewalState for subscriptions: .subscribed, .expired, .inBillingRetryPeriod, .inGracePeriod, .revoked. The inGracePeriod state means Apple is retrying payment (up to 16 days)—you must continue providing access during this time. Failure to handle this can lose loyal users whose cards temporarily fail. Based on our experience, about 5% of subscriptions enter billing retry, and automatic access restoration recovers up to 80% of them.

Google Play Billing Library (v6+)

Google Billing is more complex than StoreKit in terms of scenario handling. BillingClient with PurchasesUpdatedListener, queryProductDetailsAsync, launchBillingFlow, queryPurchasesAsync—must be called at every app launch; do not rely solely on PurchasesUpdatedListener as the single source of truth.

Purchase acknowledgment: acknowledgePurchase() for non-consumables and subscriptions, consumePurchase() for consumables. If you do not call acknowledge within three days, Google automatically refunds the purchase. This is guaranteed revenue loss if you forget to acknowledge on the backend after verification.

ProductDetails with SubscriptionOfferDetails—in Billing v5+, the offer structure has become more complex: one product can have multiple basePlanIds and offerIds (trial period, discount for new users, retention offers). BillingFlowParams.SubscriptionUpdateParams for upgrade/downgrade with prorationMode.

Why Is Server-Side Verification Mandatory?

Never trust only client-side code when unlocking paid content. Client-side verification can be bypassed by modifying the app.

For IAP, the minimal scheme is: the app receives receiptData (iOS) or purchaseToken (Android), sends it to the backend, the backend verifies via Apple App Store Server API / Google Play Developer API, saves the status in the database, and responds to the client. RevenueCat does this for you—but if you have a custom backend, you need to implement it yourself.

Webhooks are more important than they seem. Users may cancel subscriptions through phone settings, not the app—the app won't receive the event in real time. Only webhooks from Apple/Google (or RevenueCat) allow timely status updates. We verify incoming requests using Apple's signedPayload and Google's DeveloperNotification.

How Does RevenueCat Simplify Integration?

Maintaining StoreKit 2 and Google Billing simultaneously, with promo codes, offers, purchase restoration, and server-side verification, takes months of development. RevenueCat handles most of this layer.

RevenueCat is not just a payment SDK. It offers:

• A unified API for iOS and Android (and Stripe for web)
• Server-side verification and subscription status storage
• Webhooks for events (purchase, renewal, cancellation, billing issue)
• Analytics for cohorts, MRR, churn
• A/B testing of offers via Experiments

Purchases.configure(withAPIKey:) at startup, Purchases.shared.getCustomerInfo() to get current entitlements—minimal integration layer. Purchases.shared.purchase(package:) instead of directly calling StoreKit/Billing.

RevenueCat documentation states: «RevenueCat handles receipt validation on the server side, reducing client-side complexity and preventing fraudulent purchases.»

Limitations of RevenueCat: it is paid (free up to $2.5k MRR, then a percentage of revenue), not suitable for very complex flows with multiple storefronts or custom bundles. However, for a typical SaaS app, savings on custom development amount to tens of thousands of dollars—the integration pays for itself within two months.

Stripe in Mobile Apps

Stripe is used for physical goods, services, and B2B payments where IAP is not required by platform policy.

Stripe iOS SDK and Android SDK—PaymentSheet for ready-made payment UI, PaymentSheetFlowController for custom UI with saved cards. Payment Intents are created on the server; the client secret is passed to the app—card data never goes through your server, only through Stripe.

Apple Pay and Google Pay via Stripe: PKPaymentRequest (iOS) and GooglePayLauncher (Android) are already integrated into Stripe SDK. Apple Pay conversion rates are 1.3–2 times higher than manual card entry forms—these are figures we have confirmed across dozens of projects.

Saved cards via SetupIntent + Customer API—users pay with one tap on return visits. Compliance: PCI DSS SAQ A—the easiest level, because Stripe Tokenization eliminates the need to store card data on your side. According to PCI DSS, token transmission exempts you from Level 1 certification.

3DS2 (Strong Customer Authentication) is mandatory for payments in the EU under PSD2. Stripe handles it automatically via PaymentIntent.confirmPayment, but you need to correctly handle the .requiresAction status and return the user to the appropriate screen after authentication.

What Is Included in the Work (Deliverables)

Process and Timeline

We start by clarifying the business model: subscriptions, one-time purchases, consumables, freemium. The architecture depends on this. Testing IAP requires Sandbox accounts (Apple) and License Testers (Google)—this is a separate environment setup.

Apple's Sandbox behaves differently from production: subscriptions renew every 5 minutes instead of monthly, inGracePeriod works differently. It is essential to test scenarios: trial expiration, cancellation, billing retry, refund.

The cost is calculated individually based on the set of tools and complexity of server-side logic. On average, we fit within a budget for a typical integration, but the savings from preventing errors and churn offset this investment within a few months.

Get a consultation for your project—contact us. We will help you choose the optimal payment architecture that passes store reviews and does not break under peak loads.