Testing with testnets is seemingly open in UI but not really accessible

[romanzac]

Bug Report

Description

When I try to configure desktop to use Sepolia with Testnet mode - without using real money, I got stopped by error WR-008:

Steps to reproduce

1. Download and install latest nightly build https://ci.status.im/job/status-app/job/nightly/1028/artifact/pkg/StatusIm-Desktop-251020-063355-0da915-nightly-aarch64.dmg
2. Prepare two data folders - one for owner, one for member.
3. Start the app instances from ../Status.app/Contents/MacOS:
   ./nim_status_client --datadir=/Users/roman/status-instances/data/owner --LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG
./nim_status_client --datadir=/Users/roman/status-instances/data/member --LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG
4. Change display name for each account from random string to Owner and Member respectively.
5. Turn on Testnet mode and configure Sepolia RPC.
6. Deposit 1 SepoliaETH to the Owner's wallet.
7. Turn on "Manage communities with Testnets" - please note this step is redundant & hidden in advanced settings.
8. Create community with Owner account.
9. Try to mint the Owner token.

Expected behavior

Features in UI should deliver on their obvious meaning without a need to look at documentation or a need to posses specialized knowledge. If the user selects incompatible configuration he should be warned, ideally prevented to even reach that point. Users are not here to read our documentation unless it is impossible to tell them solely through UI design.

Actual behavior

Testnet mode not usable without specialized knowledge to test/play with communities. Limited or not possible to involce nonCCs to test App without a risk to lose real funds.

Additional Information

• Status desktop version:
  v2.34.0-dev-1095-g0da91505b commit=0da91505

• Operating System:
  Mac OS 15.7.2 - Apple M4

[anastasiyaig]

@romanzac when doing so, do you see this screen (this is nightly build) clearly saying that managing communities on test net is not feasible?

[anastasiyaig]

seeing the same picture on MacOS as well (screenshot above is from Ubuntu)

[anastasiyaig]

so this is the screen we show to user if they try to mint on testnet. in your case i see that minting was available , meaning the toggle to allow managing community on testnet is ON.
The error you see is not related to managing community configuration, but to failed check to verify your balance. This could be related to proxy issues or something else, in this case geth log + app console log files would be helpful, please provide them if you have @romanzac

what i can say, the scenario itself for minting works, as i see e2e passing and i am able to mint myself.
you might be facing with some edge case for sure, but thats not related to the UI

[anastasiyaig]

Screen.Recording.2025-12-30.at.11.55.25.mov

[romanzac]

so this is the screen we show to user if they try to mint on testnet. in your case i see that minting was available , meaning the toggle to allow managing community on testnet is ON. The error you see is not related to managing community configuration, but to failed check to verify your balance. This could be related to proxy issues or something else, in this case geth log + app console log files would be helpful, please provide them if you have @romanzac

what i can say, the scenario itself for minting works, as i see e2e passing and i am able to mint myself. you might be facing with some edge case for sure, but thats not related to the UI

Log file enclosed:
app_20251230_185407.log

[romanzac]

so this is the screen we show to user if they try to mint on testnet. in your case i see that minting was available , meaning the toggle to allow managing community on testnet is ON. The error you see is not related to managing community configuration, but to failed check to verify your balance. This could be related to proxy issues or something else, in this case geth log + app console log files would be helpful, please provide them if you have @romanzac

what i can say, the scenario itself for minting works, as i see e2e passing and i am able to mint myself. you might be facing with some edge case for sure, but thats not related to the UI

I'm personally happy to help debug and have a discussion with you. The title I picked for this issue reflects what I have felt as a user. I might chose more technical description, but I feel something is really wrong here.

Users not related to IFT have no interest in opening issues and helping out for free. Quite the opposite. If they stumble on problem, they may just silently walk away and they will tell their friends, so they don't even need to try. It is so easy to find these bugs, that they cannot be called edge cases. These bugs are non-negotiable, because there is nobody to negotiate with. I see the latest Status APP is at the essence a promising software. What is remaining is perfection, so we earn trust of users. If there is a capacity problem with QA work, features can be disabled on UI level. The bar is much higher nowadays when I use other messengers - they work flawlessly.

[anastasiyaig]

debugging the issue with balance not fetched would be beneficial, at least to find the steps to reproduce and geth log, cause now i cant reproduce

[romanzac]

debugging the issue with balance not fetched would be beneficial, at least to find the steps to reproduce and geth log, cause now i cant reproduce

This is all I have for now. Still trying to work backend for my tests.