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Comment by prmoustache | Hacker News Reader

They got me until I read about a smartphone app.

Also, how can they get testimonies from customers when it hasn't launched yet? Sounds like a scam.

> Proudly powering 1500+ rental bikes Since 2022, Gouach Infinite Battery has powered free-floating fleets in the roughest environments: snow, rain, heat, cold, shocks. Now that we have figured out the perfect battery, we want the public to access it.

It doesn't look like a scam to me. What's wrong with the app?

The battery pack's usable life is determined by how long the company offers and maintains the app. I'm willing to bet that the app will not be around for more than 3 years.

That would be solvable by making the app open source, or by publishing the protocol so third parties can make software for it.

Hi! We might open source it at some point, although the app itself is just a thin client, and most of the code is on the battery and the backend

The main concern is confidence that the product will remain usable even if the company goes out of business or pivots and abandons this product. Being a thin client is great from that perspective because there's little incentive to keep it proprietary, and it should be easy for a third party to maintain if the company abandons it.

Hi! Thanks for your comment! The app does exist, and the video of the app is from real data! It’s our « admin app » and a « client app » just for end users is being developed

hello, not really, the app just gives you info about the cells and is useful to update the firmware but you can live without it. If we die before, will put it open source

I don't want yet another app on my smartphone just to manage a battery. I don't want yet another smartphone app that tries to collect data from me. I want to be able to use it even if the company goes bankrupt, the app disappear from the playstore and I have a new phone. I want to be able to use it even if android and iOS disappear from the landscape because smartphone tech change.

Or at least give me an api documentation and an open source SDK.

You can thank apple for that. If they would just implement WebBLE all of these remote config apps could just be webpages. Currently no one is doing that because you'll need an iOS app anyway, which coincidentally lets apple claim their 30%.

But Apple would collect 30% of zero. Unless remote config apps want to adopt a subscription model which would be even worse IMHO.

The app is not needed at all! The battery works perfectly fine without it don’t worry!

It’s just used if you want to have extra features like safety alerts

I'm interested in the security of the app. Is it authenticated? How? Can an attacker change cell types and start a fire or other dangerous situations?

Yes it’s authenticated, and no you cannot make random changes to a battery!

For those complaining on this topic it’s stated on the site that there is an API available, which I presume means you don’t need the app. Personally I think this is a really nice design and I’ve been hoping for something like this for ages.

Thanks for your comment! Indeed the app (or even the API) is not needed to use it, it’s just for extra features like safety alerts

Sorry for the testimonies they look bad but they are true! We’ve been mostly working with our B2B clients for the past two years but we have had B2C customers on our first prototype and requested their comments!

You can see that we’re a real company, we even fundraised 3M two years ago for initial développements !

https://www.breega.com/gouach-secures-e3-3m-seed-funding/

hello, what's the problem with the iphone app ? you can go on the app store and see it exists

we are launching this new model but we make batteries since 2021 check https://docs.gouach.com/ you'll se we worked a bit

Yeah, this is a deal-breaker for me. I would rather have a single button I have to click exactly 35 times to encode the battery type I read out of a manual over needing smartphone infrastructure. The point being, please give us an alternative even if it requires very technical work.

the app is just if you need to go deeper but you can definitely use the battery without the app

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