User guide
Dealers
A directory of bullion dealers you can search without telling anyone — including us — where you are or what you are looking for.
Screenshots are from the iPhone app. The Android app has the same features, drawn in Android's own style.
Browse, Local, Online, Favorites
The Directory tab has four views. Browse is everything. Local is shops you can walk into. Online is dealers who ship. Favorites is the ones you marked.
Filter by region and search by name or keyword. Every dealer entry carries the details you would want before spending money: what they deal in, where they are, and how to reach them.
Finding dealers near you
Two ways, both private:
- Type a ZIP code. The app sorts dealers by distance from that ZIP. The ZIP is used on your device; it is not sent to us.
- Use my location. Off by default. Tap it and the app takes a single position fix, uses it to measure distances on the phone, and forgets it. There is no background location, no tracking, and no coordinate in any request.
How a "near me" search works without telling us where you are
This is the trick we are most pleased with. Our server never receives your location — not a coordinate, not a ZIP, not a radius. Instead it proposes a spread of dealers from around the world, and your phone answers only which of the server's own suggestions are close to you. Each round narrows the region until it is small enough for your phone to finish the job locally.
The server ends up sending you the right neighbourhood without ever learning which neighbourhood it is. We disclose this exchange in the in-app privacy ledger, including its limits.
Affiliate dealers
Some dealers carry an affiliate badge. It means exactly what it says: if you follow that link and buy, we may be paid.
What it does not mean is preferential placement. Affiliate status does not move a dealer up your results, and the badge is shown on the entry itself so you can weigh it. We would rather disclose the incentive than hide it and be discovered.
Dealer links open in your browser
Tapping a dealer's website hands off to Safari or Chrome rather than opening a browser inside the app. An in-app browser would put us between you and the dealer — able to see what you looked at. The hand-off means we cannot.
Coverage
The directory updates independently of app releases, so new dealers appear without waiting for a new version. Coverage is strongest where we have done the most work and thinner elsewhere; it grows over time.
Know a dealer we are missing, or see an entry that is wrong? Email support@abditex.com. We do not accept payment for inclusion.