Tools for Humanity, the for-profit company behind the World Network that powered Sam Altman’s Crypto, has updated its “mini app” with Mini App 1.2. The company is also launching a $300,000 developer rewards pilot program. This is a tool for humanity that is shared exclusively with BlockWorks.
Mini Apps version 1.2 speeds up mini app loading within the World Mobile app, adds haptic feedback, allows for customization, and allows for your favorite mini apps to pin to your phone’s home screen without the need to open the WorldCoin wallet app. The mini app can also be accessed from the iOS search bar. The app is currently available in 30 countries, including the US.
According to data provided to BlockWorks, World supports over 150 mini apps. Most of them come from third-party developers.
The Humanity Developer Compensation Pilot Program tool begins on April 1st, allowing Dev to earn money from a $300,000 worth of WorldCoin or WLD pool to develop and update mini apps.
WLD Prices from BlockWorks Research
Developers can earn up to $25,000 a week with Worldcoin if they’re building top-performing apps, Tiago Sada, chief product officer of humanity, told Blockworks.
Rewards are distributed based on the number of global ID verification users engaged in each mini app.
“The game was popular,” Sada said of what’s trending within the global ecosystem. AI Apps/Assistants, Finance Apps, Lending Apps, AirDrop Apps, Payment Apps that enable payments with WLD, and ESIM Apps are also gaining traction. They can be used in Stablecoins or WLD and are transactions made in the world Ethereum L2, the world chain.
World chain transactions, world-wide
Sada said many of these mini-apps are rewarding for users, rather than extracting funds from users. User monetization will ultimately occur, but that is not the focus for now.
Concepts such as play-to-yearn, tap-to-alene, and travel to Yijan are difficult to balance over time, and token prices often crash as the winner pays cash (such as Pegaxy’s PGX, Notcoin, or Stepn’s GMT).
“It was really difficult to have a sustainable system,” Sada said, adding that “we see emergence instead of apps that can actually reward users for actions that are valuable to something.”
For now, the transactional side of things can be a little difficult due to Apple and Google’s App Store rules. For example, Apple’s rules for mini apps state that “digital products or services to end users” require in-app purchases.
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“All transactions that we support in a mini app are sent directly to the developer. There are several types of transactions, such as purchasing NFTs. This requires in-app purchases. We do not currently support in-app purchases in a mini app,” explained Sada.
However, he said that transactions such as using credit cards in the mini app to purchase plane tickets and ESIM cards will not result in so-called “Apple Tax” within the world app.
The main attraction of the current world to Telegram or X/Twitter is that it’s easier to know people who aren’t, not bots. Telegram can feel a little overwhelming if you’re new to that world, and X is a sea of politics, memes, bots and chaos these days.
When asked Sada what he thought of competitors like Telegram, which employs bots throughout the app, he said: “I think chatbots and AI are great. You just want to know what.”
