Clinkle, a much-hyped mobile payments startup which raised $25 million in funding ahead of having a publicly available product, has been notoriously secretive about its user interface and the details of how it all works. TechCrunch has been able to grab some screenshots in the past that demonstrate how the app functions, and spoke with beta testers and former employees to get a sense of its differentiating elements. But nothing comes close to this tell-all video which appeared a few days ago giving away much of Clinkle’s secrets.
The video’s creator is currently unknown, but it appears to be someone with direct knowledge of Clinkle’s plans. There are a lot of people who worked for Clinkle for a short time, while strung along with promises of equity and then dropped, we’ve heard. That’s why it makes sense that there’s some potential for a leak of this nature to occur. However, tipster who sent in the video claims they were able to bypass the Clinkle waitlist in the app, which is how they were able to see all this functionality.
For starters, the video shows off the Clinkle user interface in action. These images include a lot of shots where photos of America’s founding fathers are used in the place of “dummy” user accounts. This correlates with the placeholder images we had previously pulled out of the app’s APK, again lending credence to the video being either a direct capture, or at least a very knowledgable recreation.
The video demonstrates how Clinkle can manage cash, credit and debit cards, transfers and withdrawals, as well as other things, like peer-to-peer payments, and transaction histories. Toward the end of the video, it also shows a screen that says “Aeorlink enabled,” which refers to an ultrasound connection between a phone and an iPad acting as a register – basically the app sends encrypted sound waves that act as the payments. A Register app had earlier appeared in the iOS App Store before being pulled.
From the details on an accompanying tell-all Tumblr blog, a tipster explains that with Aerolink, the ultrasonic sounds encode a store, register, and transaction identifier but the process may be open to security vulnerabilities. It also may be technology sourced from a third-party, the post states. (The video and Tumblr blog were sent in by the same tipster, but we can’t be sure at this point that his or her claims to be the author of both are legitimate.)
This Tumblr blog reveals that Clinkle’s accounts are actually being held by Zions Bank, which is why the app asks for things like your driver’s license photo and Social Security number. That allows Clinkle to transfer money to your real bank account with the app’s “ATM” functionality. Using a real bank behind the scenes is not altogether different from how other startups, like Simple and Dwolla, operate. It’s very difficult for a startup to actually be a bank itself, so it instead innovates on the front-end.
The phone number 1855CLI-NKLE, also featured in the Tumblr blog, when called, did respond “hello this is Clinkle,” when tested a few days ago. It appears to be an office number.
To be clear, most of the leaks confirm functionality we already knew about, but now it’s a case of being able to see how it works, rather than just hearing about the details from sources.
The potential for more leaks around Clinkle continues, as the company is not planning to have some grand launch event, but is rather quietly expanding its tester base while launching around college campuses.
We’re reaching out to Clinkle for comment on the leaks now and will update with their response.
Leaked YouTube Video & Tumblr Blog Reveal All About Stealthy Payments Startup Clinkle
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