A straightforward overview of on-boarding new users for **crypto-payments**.

The **"looking glass"** (or **"rabbit hole"** if you prefer) for **entering** into the (somewhat magical) **world of crypto** is **the wallet**. 

People nowadays use mostly their mobile phones for online interactions, and are less often than before in front of their computers. In this post I'll focus on on-boarding **smartphone users**.

On a smartphone, **the wallet is an app**. 

This post is therefore about **installing and using a smartphone app** as a **wallet** for receiving and **paying with crypto** in restaurants and shops.

## With a friend
Entering the crypto world may seem a bit uncomfortable. It always feels better when one can rely on a friend, whether **nearby** or even **far away**!

You'll first need to install the **Hive Keychain** app from Google Play or Apple AppStore

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmPnaarUeaa2TnJPvYF44Y8SBNFgQ2T8P94qUHNnq7B3wp/image.png)

After installation, launch the app. 

Keep in mind, a crypto wallet is just like your **mobile banking app**. You'll first be required to choose a six-digit PIN code.  Then choose "New Account" and you'll be offered to **Create with a friend.**

You'll then be invited to **choose a name** for your account. The name must:
1. be unique, 
2. start with a **lowercase** letter,
3. be between 3 and 15 characters long

It can contain letters and digits, dots and dashes (but no underscore or other fancy characters).

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmRprtzFPjkdjCWBAhbcDtJYh9LV81zVTPpSAm2wHvNq1w/image.png)

You'll reach a cluttered screen with lots of "Keys". Make sure you click **first** on the **grey button** left, **"Copy"**.

We recommend you then minimize the Hive Keychain app and launch WhatsApp (or Telegram, or Signal, or even your e-mail application) and **paste** a copy of your keys into a **message to yourself**, so that you have a copy in case you lose the phone.

After you've sent a copy of the keys to yourself, return to the Hive Keychain app and tick the two boxes:

_"I have safely copied my keys and saved them outside of Keychain"_ and
_"I understand that Keychain should not be considered as the primary place of storage for my keys"_

After you've done that, you can click on the **red button** on the right, **"Generate QR Code"**

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmd5Jfwn6YSWGUPc9snsMXzSKzZP4Sa5cnHCT6t4YsvTaf/image.png)



#### A friend nearby
If you have a friend with a Hive wallet already installed next to you, he can **offer to onboard you**. At our **OffChain events**, do not hesitate to come to us, **we'll be happy to on-board you**. 

All that is needed is that your friend reads the freshly generated QR code with their own Hive Keychain app and ... "voilà!" You should see a notification telling you that the account was successfully created.

Creating your account will cost your friend a bit, but that's what friends are for, right?

#### A friend far away

But what if there's no friend nearby, or if the friend cannot pay the price of creating your account, however small?

Well, the fun thing is that you can **take a screenshot of the QR Code** and **send it as a mere image** (via [WhatsApp](https://chat.whatsapp.com/DpyqRtWdjFA0YMedDncXck), [Telegram](https://t.me/+oP-XBIf_8QgzMTJl), a [LinkedIn message](https://www.linkedin.com/company/offchain-luxembourg/), [e-mail](mailto:info@offchain.lu), etc.) **to OffChain Luxembourg asbl**! 

One of us will be able to create your account **simply by reading that QR Code screenshot** with their own smartphone, **regardless of where they are!**

Once you have your account, you can click on "HBD" then "Transfer" and then "Receive": you enter the sum in HBD you have acquired and your friendly OffChainer transfers it to you. 

Now you are ready to pay your bill in HBD and claim cashback from [Distriator](https://distriator.com/)! If you want to learn more about the pros of paying with crypto, you can find more information in [this post](https://peakd.com/hbd/@offchain-lux/you-are-a-customer-).

For a more condensed presentation of on-boarding through Hive Keychain, see [this post](https://peakd.com/hive-167922/@paulo21/for-all-hive-users-who-are-looking-to-onboard-more-peoples-).

## On their own
For users who want to install and configure a wallet by themselves, we recommend the Ecency app.  Ecency is another "decentralized application" based on the same Hive blockchain. 

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmVg7Nsjyfobhi9dpqSqqkLqwTEf3R8BN1VJvCHDLwmGMS/image.png)

Ecency targets different users than Hive Keychain. I wrote this on the Ecency.com app for the desktop. It's _slightly less well-suited for payments_ though. But its big advantage is that it **sponsors new accounts**. That's right, if you want to create an account on your own, **for free**, you can install the ecency app and request a free Hive account. 

Once you have created a free Hive account sponsored by Ecency app, you can continue using the app: Ecency has a QR-code scanner that can read invoices / bills and perform payments, like Keychain. 

It is important to note that the accounts are not "Keychain accounts" or "Ecency accounts". They are accounts on the Hive blockchain, and **can be used identically** with both **Ecency** and **Keychain** and **many other "decentralized applications"** that exist for computers, such as [Splinterlands.com](https://splinterlands.com).

If you want a more in-depth explanation of on-boarding, you can read [this post](https://peakd.com/hive/@paulo21/hive-onboarding-using-keychain-wallet)

## Conclusion
This post is intended to support as simply as possible the on-boarding of people who want to use their smartphones in order to try out crypto (HBD, HIVE) payments.