No. Stax is not a bank. Stax is not a wallet. Stax moves money to help you do things faster, easier, and with more transparency than your bank or mobile money system. We don't hold anyone's money.
When you move money with Stax, the app automatically dials pre-existing USSD codes in the background and interprets the results.
Stax needs SIM permissions so we know which banks or mobile money providers to show you. When you view your balances, move money, or buy airtime with Stax, the app creates an overlay to show you progress. We need the overlay permission to do this. Beneath the overlay, Stax dials the right USSD flows in the background on your phone to move money. To do this, we need accessibility permissions. We then look for the SMS message from your bank or mobile money provider to see if the transaction was successful. To do this, we need permission to see your SMS inbox.
Stax can show you balances, transactions, and fees for the top banks and mobile money systems in Africa. You can also buy airtime on those networks, send money between them, and create links that other people with Stax can use to send you money.
Stax never stores your PIN. We never see your PIN. Your PIN never leaves your device. Whenever you are asked for your PIN in the app, we encrypt the PIN on your device with Android Key Store, which is trusted by thousands of banks all over the world, and delete it as soon as you give it directly to your bank or mobile money provider's USSD system.
Stax does not show ads in the app. We do not sell user data to other companies so that they can target you with ads. Stax takes as little data as possible, which is why you don't need to create an account to use Stax.
Stax will never charge you extra fees. Sometimes your bank or mobile money provider will charge you fees for moving money with Stax. Stax keeps track of how much money they charge you.
Stax is backed by some of the best venture capital firms in the business. They invest in us because they share our mission: to create a more inclusive internet. We plan to eventually refer third-party services in the Stax app (e.g. loans) and will make money from commissions.
Every time you open Stax, you secure your session with the same unlock pattern, fingerprint, or passcode that you use to secure your device. Stax also lets you hide your balances and history for when you are in public.
Stax uses 2-factor authentication by design for every single transaction. Every time you refresh a balance, send money, or buy airtime, you need your unique SIM card, and your bank or mobile money PIN.
The company that builds Stax is called Hover Developer Services Inc. We are a globally distributed company of skilled developers, designers, and technology experts from 4 countries in Africa and North America.
For now, we support English, French, and Swahili, but we plan to add more language coverage soon.
Yes. Have a look at our code on GitHub.